G.R. No. 46615 ; September 27, 1939
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellant, vs. ALBERTO AQUINO, defendant-appellee.

FACTS

The defendant, Alberto Aquino, was charged with serious oral defamation allegedly committed on September 8, 1935, against Marcial Kasilag. The offended party learned of the defamation and filed a complaint on March 4, 1936. The case was provisionally dismissed by the Court of First Instance of Bataan on January 21, 1937, “without prejudice” to its refiling, due to the complainant’s official absences and upon motion of the defendant. On February 13, 1937, the offended party filed a new complaint for the same offense. The provincial fiscal filed a corresponding information on June 10, 1937. At trial, the defendant raised the defense of prescription, arguing the crime had prescribed because more than six months had elapsed from March 4, 1936 (the date of discovery) to February 13, 1937 (the date of the new complaint). The trial court dismissed the case on the ground of prescription.

ISSUE

Whether or not the crime of serious oral defamation had prescribed.

RULING

No, the crime had not prescribed. The period of prescription for serious oral defamation is six months, computed from the day the crime is discovered by the offended party. The filing of the first complaint on March 4, 1936, interrupted the running of the prescriptive period. The period commenced to run anew only from the date of the provisional dismissal, January 21, 1937. Only twenty-three days elapsed from January 21, 1937, to the filing of the new complaint on February 13, 1937, which is well within the six-month prescriptive period. The appealed order was reversed, and the case was ordered to proceed in the court of origin.

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