GR 134504; (March, 2000) (Digest)
G.R. No. 134504 ; March 17, 2000
JOSELITO V. NARCISO, petitioner, vs. FLOR MARIE STA. ROMANA-CRUZ, respondent.
FACTS
Petitioner Joselito V. Narciso was charged with parricide for the death of his wife, Corazon Sta. Romana-Narciso. During the pendency of the case, while the presiding judge was on leave, Narciso filed an urgent ex-parte motion to post bail. The Executive Judge, acting on the motion and noting the public prosecutor’s lack of objection, immediately granted it on August 3, 1992, allowing a cash bond of P150,000.00. No hearing was conducted on the application for bail. Respondent Flor Marie Sta. Romana-Cruz, the sister of the deceased, through a private prosecutor, filed an urgent motion to lift the bail order. The trial court did not act on this motion, prompting the respondent to file a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals.
ISSUE
The primary issue is whether the Court of Appeals correctly annulled the trial court’s order granting bail to the accused charged with parricide, a capital offense, without a hearing. A secondary issue is whether the respondent, as the victim’s sister, has the legal personality to challenge the bail order.
RULING
The Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the Court of Appeals. The grant of bail was void. When the charge involves a capital offense like parricide, where the prescribed penalty is reclusion perpetua to death, bail is not a matter of right. The court must conduct a hearing to determine whether the evidence of guilt is strong. The executive judge’s order, issued summarily based solely on the prosecutor’s lack of objection and without any hearing, constituted grave abuse of discretion. The requirement for a hearing is mandatory to safeguard the prosecution’s right to present evidence against bail.
On the issue of legal standing, the Court ruled that the respondent, as the sister of the deceased victim, qualifies as an “offended party” with the personality to assail the void order. In parricide, the accused spouse is not considered the offended party. In the interest of justice and given the peculiar circumstances where no closer kin pursued the case, the sister is deemed a proper party to champion the cause of the deceased. The Court emphasized that the right to bail cannot be granted arbitrarily in capital cases, and the offended party has a substantive right to oppose such application through a hearing.