G.R. No. L-2298

FACTS:
The defendant, Ignacio Siatong, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by a military commission. The sentence was approved but not executed because the defendant escaped. After his subsequent capture, and at a time when the military commission had ceased to function, the Court of First Instance, upon petition of the prosecution for the execution of the sentence, instead declared the defendant included in the amnesty of July 4, 1902, and ordered his release. The provincial fiscal appealed this judgment but later desisted from the appeal, considering it improper. In lieu of the appeal, the fiscal sought the remedy of certiorari, alleging that the lower court acted outside its jurisdiction and that no other adequate remedy was available.

ISSUE:
Whether the petition for certiorari filed by the provincial fiscal is in proper form and may be granted.

RULING:
No. The Supreme Court did not rule on the propriety of certiorari itself but found the petition procedurally defective. The remedy of certiorari must be initiated by a formal complaint complying with the requirements prescribed by the Code of Procedure in Civil Actions. The petition submitted by the fiscal in the form of a brief in a criminal case failed to meet these formal requirements. Consequently, the petition was denied and set aside. The Court noted the government’s desistance from the appeal and declared that certiorari could not be granted in the manner petitioned, without prejudice to the prosecution’s right to file a new petition in proper form if deemed necessary. Costs were declared de oficio.