GR L 28518; (January, 1968) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-28518 January 29, 1968
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. LORENZO PADERNA Y GAMBOA, defendant-appellant.
FACTS
The appellant, Lorenzo Paderna y Gamboa, was prosecuted in the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Negros Occidental for unlawful possession of four packs of untaxed imported “blue seal” cigarettes. The information, filed on August 8, 1966, charged him with a violation of Republic Act No. 4097 for an offense allegedly committed on July 25, 1966. After trial, the CFI found him guilty and sentenced him to a fine and imprisonment. On appeal to the Court of Appeals, Paderna moved to quash the information, contending that Republic Act 4097 had been amended by Republic Act 4713, effective June 18, 1966. Under the new law, the penalty for the offense—given the appraised value of the cigarettes did not exceed five hundred pesos—was reduced to a fine of not less than fifty pesos nor more than two hundred pesos and imprisonment of not less than five days nor more than thirty days. He argued that this favorable penal statute should be applied retroactively, thereby vesting jurisdiction over the case exclusively in the city court of La Carlota City, not the CFI. The Solicitor General opposed, arguing that the CFI validly acquired jurisdiction under the law in force at the time and could not be divested of it. The Court of Appeals certified the case to the Supreme Court due to the jurisdictional issue.
ISSUE
Whether the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental had jurisdiction to try the case for unlawful possession of untaxed imported cigarettes, considering the enactment of Republic Act 4713 which took effect before the commission of the offense and the filing of the information.
RULING
The Supreme Court ruled that the CFI did not have jurisdiction. The Court held that jurisdiction is determined by the statute in force at the time of the commencement of the action. Both the commission of the offense (July 25, 1966) and the filing of the information (August 8, 1966) occurred after Republic Act 4713 took effect on June 18, 1966. Under this amendatory law, the penalty for unlawful possession of the untaxed imported cigarettes, with an appraised value not exceeding five hundred pesos, was a fine of not less than fifty pesos nor more than two hundred pesos and imprisonment of not less than five days nor more than thirty days. Consequently, the case fell within the original and exclusive jurisdiction of the city court of La Carlota City, not the CFI. The Court further clarified that the jurisdiction of circuit criminal courts, which is concurrent with CFIs, does not extend to this case as it is exclusively cognizable by the city court. The motion (treated as a motion to dismiss) was granted, and the case was dismissed without prejudice to the filing of a new information in the proper city court.