Pangandaman v. Casar
Pangandaman v. Casar
Pangandaman v. Casar
SYLLABUS
DECISION
NARVASA , J : p
Their plea is essentially grounded on the claim that the warrant for their arrest
was issued by the respondent Judge without a proper preliminary investigation. 2 The
Solicitor General agrees and recommends that their petition be granted and the warrant
of arrest voided. 3
On July 27, 1985, a shooting incident occurred in Pantao, Masiu, Lanao del Sur,
which left at least ve persons dead and two others wounded. What in fact transpired
is still unclear. According to one version, armed men had attacked a residence in
Pantao, Masiu, with both attackers and defenders suffering casualties. 4 Another
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version has it that a group that was on its way to another place, Lalabuan, also in Masiu,
had been ambushed. 5
On the following day, Atty. Mangurun Batuampar, claiming to represent the
widow of one of the victims, led a letter-complaint with the Provincial Fiscal at Marawi
City, asking for a "full blast preliminary investigation" of the incident. 6 The letter
adverted to the possibility of innocent persons being implicated by the parties involved
on both sides — none of whom was, however, identi ed — and promised that
supporting a davits would shortly be led. Immediately the Provincial Fiscal
addressed a "1st indorsement" to the respondent Judge, transmitting Atty.
Batuampar's letter and requesting that "all cases that may be led relative . . . (to the
incident) that happened in the afternoon of July 27, 1985," be forwarded to his o ce,
which "has first taken cognizance of said cases." 7
No case relative to the incident was, however, presented to the respondent
Judge until Saturday, August 10, 1985, when a criminal complaint for multiple murder
was led before him by P.C. Sgt. Jose L. Laru-an, which was docketed as Case No.
1748. 8 On that same day, the respondent Judge "examined personally all (three)
witnesses (brought by the sergeant) under oath thru . . . (his) closed and direct
supervision," reducing to writing the questions to the witnesses and the latter's
answers. 9 Thereafter the Judge "approved the complaint and issued the corresponding
warrant of arrest" against the fourteen (14) petitioners (who were named by the
witnesses) and fifty (50) "John Does." 1 0
An "ex-parte" motion for reconsideration was led on August 14, 1985 by Atty.
Batuampar (joined by Atty. Pama L. Muti), seeking recall of the warrant of arrest and
subsequent holding of a "thorough investigation" on the ground that the Judge's initial
investigation had been "hasty and manifestly haphazard" with "no searching questions"
having been propounded. 1 1 The respondent Judge denied the motion for "lack of
basis;" 1 2 hence the present petition.LLphil
This second phase is designed to give the respondent notice of the complaint,
access to the complainant's evidence and an opportunity to submit counter-a davits
and supporting documents. At this stage also, the Judge may conduct a hearing and
propound to the parties and their witnesses questions on matters that, in his view, need
to be clari ed. The second phase concludes with the Judge rendering his resolution,
either for dismissal of the complaint or holding the respondent for trial, which shall be
transmitted, together with the record, to the provincial fiscal for appropriate action.
The procedure above described must be followed before the complaint or
information is led in the Regional Trial Court. Failure to do so will result in a denial of
due process. 19
Here, no information is led in the Regional Trial Court. There is no pretense that
the preliminary investigation has been completed, insofar as the respondent Judge is
concerned, and that he does not intend to undertake the second phase. In this situation,
it cannot be said that he has failed to observe the prescribed procedure. What has
happened is simply that after receiving the complaint and examining the complainant's
witnesses, and having come to believe, on the basis thereof, that the offenses charged
had been committed, the respondent Judge issued the warrant now complained of
against the fourteen (14) respondents (now petitioners) named and identi ed by the
witnesses as the perpetrators of the killings and injuries, as well as against 50 "John
Does."
The real question, therefore, is whether or not the respondent Judge had the
power to issue the warrant of arrest without completing the entire prescribed
procedure for preliminary investigation. Stated otherwise, is completion of the
procedure laid down in Section 3 of Rule 112 a condition sine qua non for the issuance
of a warrant of arrest?
There is no requirement that the entire procedure for preliminary investigation
must be completed before a warrant of arrest may be issued. What the Rule 2 0 provides
is that no complaint or information for an offense cognizable by the Regional Trial Court
may be led without completing the procedure. But nowhere is it provided that the
procedure must be completed before a warrant of arrest may issue. Indeed, it is the
contrary that is true. The present Section 6 of the same Rule 112 clearly authorizes the
municipal trial court to order the respondent's arrest even before opening the second
phase of the investigation if said court is satis ed that a probable cause exists and
there is a necessity to place the respondent under immediate custody in order not to
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frustrate the ends of justice.
"SECTION 6. When warrant of arrest may issue. —
xxx xxx xxx
This was equally true under the former rules, where the rst phase of the
investigation was expressly denominated "preliminary examination" to distinguish it
from the second phase, or preliminary investigation proper. Thus, the former Section 6
of Rule 112 provided:
"SECTION 6. Warrant of arrest, when issued. — If the judge be satisfied
from the preliminary examination conducted by him or by the investigating officer
that the offense complained of has been committed and that there is reasonable
ground to believe that the accused has committed it, he must issue a warrant or
order for his arrest."
In Mayuga vs. Maravilla, 2 2 this Court found occasion to dwell in some detail on
the process of preliminary investigation and, incidentally, to a rm the power of a
justice of the peace or municipal judge conducting a preliminary investigation to order
the arrest of the accused after the first stage (preliminary examination), saying:
"Appellant should bear in mind that a preliminary investigation such as
was conducted by the Justice of the Peace has for its purpose only the
determination of whether a crime has been committed and whether there is
probable cause to believe the accused guilty thereof, and if so, the issuance of a
warrant of arrest. And it should not be forgotten that a preliminary investigation
has two stages: First, a preliminary examination of the complainant and his
witnesses prior to the arrest of the accused; and, second, the reading to the
accused after his arrest of the complaint or information led against him, and his
being informed of the substance of the evidence against him, after which he is
allowed to present evidence in his favor, if he so desires. Probable cause, in
regard to the rst stage of preliminary investigation, depends on the discretion of
the judge or magistrate empowered to issue the warrant of arrest. It su ces that
facts are presented to him to convince him, not that a person has committed the
crime, but that there is probable cause to believe that such person committed the
crime charged. The proceeding is generally ex parte unless the defendant desires
to be present and while under the old Rules the Justice of the Peace or
investigating o cer must take the testimony of the complainant and the latter's
witnesses under oath, only the testimony of the complainant shall be in writing
and only an abstract of the testimony of the other is required. Regarding
preliminary investigation, it has thus been ruled that 'the occasion is not for the
full and exhaustive display of the parties' evidence; it is for the presentation of
such evidence only as may engender well-grounded belief that an offense has
been committed and that the accused is probably guilty thereof.' . . ." 2 3
The rule on arrest after preliminary examination has, of course, been modi ed
somewhat since the occurrence of the facts upon which Mayuga was decided, but not
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to abrogate the authority of the investigating judge to order such arrest, and only to
prescribe the requirement that before he may do so, he must examine the witnesses to
the complaint, the examination to be under oath and reduced to writing in the form of
searching questions and answers. This modi cation was introduced by Republic Act
3838, approved June 22, 1963, amending Section 87 of the Judiciary Act of 1948, and
the "searching questions and answers" requirement is incorporated in the present
Section 6 of Rule 112 already quoted. prcd
The argument, therefore, must be rejected that the respondent Judge acted with
grave abuse of discretion in issuing the warrant of arrest against petitioners without
rst completing the preliminary investigation in accordance with the prescribed
procedure. The rule is and has always been that such issuance need only await a nding
of probable cause, not the completion of the entire procedure of preliminary
investigation.
Also without appreciable merit is petitioners' other argument that there was
scarcely time to determine probable cause against sixty-four persons (the fourteen
petitioners and fty "Does") within a matter of hours on a Saturday when municipal trial
courts are open only from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. That argument founders upon the
respondent Judge's positive a rmations that he had personally and closely examined
under oath the three witnesses to the complaint 2 4 and that he had issued the warrant
of arrest "believing that the offense thus led had been committed." 2 5 Nothing in the
record before this Court belies or discredits those affirmations which have, besides, the
bene t of the legal presumption that o cial duty has been regularly performed. 2 6 The
contention that the witnesses to the complaint had merely sworn before the
respondent Judge to statements prepared beforehand and submitted by a military
investigator 2 7 must, in view of the foregoing considerations and for lack of any
support in the record, be dismissed as mere speculation.
The same argument also unwarrantedly assumes that the respondent Judge
limited the proceedings on preliminary examination to the usual Saturday o ce hours
of 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in addition to not making any persuasive showing that such
proceedings could not have been completed within that time-frame. For all that
appears, said respondent could have put off the 1:00 p.m. adjournment until he had
nished interrogating the witnesses to his satisfaction. And there is really nothing
unusual in completing within a three-hour period the questioning of three witnesses in a
preliminary examination to determine the existence of probable cause.
The record which, lacking proof to the contrary, must be accepted as an accurate
chronicle of the questioned proceedings, shows prima facie that the respondent Judge
had personally examined the witnesses to the complaint, and a consideration of the
latter's sworn answers to his questions satis es this Court that the nding of probable
cause against the petitioners was neither arbitrary nor unfounded.
The three witnesses to the complaint, Misandoning Monasprang, a student,
Lawandato Ripors, an engineering graduate, and Sanny Monib, a farmer, gave mutually
corroborative accounts of the incident. Under separate questioning, they declared that
they were members of a party that was passing by Pantao on its way to Lalabuan from
Talaguian, all in Masiu, Lanao del Sur, at about 10:00 a.m. on July 27, 1985, when they
were ambushed and red upon by an armed group which included the petitioners and
about fty other unidenti ed persons; that ve of the party had been killed and two (the
witnesses Lawandato Ripors and Sanny Monib) wounded; that even after they had killed
their victims, the ambushers had continued to re at the dead bodies; that the
witnesses managed to escape their attackers and return to Talaguian, where they
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informed their relatives about what had happened, and thence went to the municipal
hall in Masiu to report to the authorities; that the dead victims were recovered only late
in the afternoon of that day because the authorities could not "penetrate" the area and
the ambushers refused to release the bodies; and that the ambush was an offshoot of
a grudge between the families of the ambushers and those of the victims. 2 8
The witnesses named and identi ed the dead victims as Cadar Monasprang,
Macacrao Guiling, Macrang Hadji Alawi, Alicman Ripors and Malabato Diator. All of
them also identi ed by name each of the fourteen petitioners as members of the
ambush group. The respondent Judge can hardly be faulted for finding enough cause to
hold the petitioners named in the statements of three eyewitnesses to killings
perpetrated in broad daylight. cdrep
I n Luna vs. Plaza, 29 this Court ruled that the term "searching questions and
answers" means —
". . . only, taking into consideration the purpose of the preliminary
examination which is to determine "whether there is a reasonable ground to
believe that an offense has been committed and the accused is probably guilty
thereof so that a warrant of arrest may be issued and the accused held for trial,"
such questions as have tendency to show the commission of a crime and the
perpetuator thereof. What would be searching questions would depend on what is
sought to be inquired into, such as: the nature of the offense, the date, time, and
place of its commission, the possible motives for its commission; the subject, his
age, education, status, nancial and social circumstances, his attitude toward the
investigation, social attitudes, opportunities to commit the offense; the victim, his
age, status, family responsibilities, nancial and social circumstances,
characteristics, etc. The points that are the subject of inquiry may differ from case
to case. The questions, therefore must to a great degree depend upon the Judge
making the investigation . . ."
Upon this authority, and considering what has already been stated above, this
Court is not prepared to question the propriety of the respondent Judge's nding of
probable cause or substitute its judgment for his in the matter of what questions to put
to the witnesses during the preliminary examination.
Upon the facts and the law, therefore, the warrant of arrest in question validly
issued against the petitioners, such issuance having been ordered after proceedings, to
which no irregularity has been shown to attach, in which the respondent Judge found
sufficient cause to commit the petitioners to answer for the crime complained of.
Insofar, however, as said warrant is issued against fty (50) "John Does" not one
of whom the witnesses to the complaint could or would identify, it is of the nature of a
general warrant, one of a class of writs long proscribed as unconstitutional and once
anathematized as "totally subversive of the liberty of the subject." 3 0 Clearly violative of
the constitutional injunction that warrants of arrest should particularly describe the
person or persons to be seized, 3 1 the warrant must, as regards its unidenti ed
subjects, be voided.
The fact that the Provincial Fiscal may have announced his intention of
investigating the incident himself did not, in the view of the Court, legally inhibit the
respondent Judge from conducting his own inquiry into the matter if, as is made to
appear here, it was regularly brought before him and no formal complaint was led
before the Fiscal. Courtesy may have dictated that in those circumstances he leave the
investigation to the Fiscal and simply endorse to the latter the complaint led with him;
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duty did not, and if he nonetheless chose to conduct his own investigation, nothing in
the rules states or implies that he could not do so.
Be that as it may, since the action and nal resolution of the respondent Judge
after completing the second stage of the preliminary investigation are subject to review
by the Provincial Fiscal, practical considerations of expediency and the avoidance of
duplication of work dictate that the latter o cial be permitted to take over the
investigation even in its present stage.
WHEREFORE, the warrant complained of is upheld and declared valid insofar as it
orders the arrest of the petitioners. Said warrant is voided to the extent that it is issued
against fty (50) "John Does." The respondent Judge is directed to forward to the
Provincial Fiscal of Lanao del Sur the record of the preliminary investigation of the
complaint in Criminal Case No. 1728 of his court for further appropriate action. Without
pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
Teehankee, C.J., Cruz, Gancayco and Griño-Aquino, JJ., concur.
Footnotes
30. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 3rd Rev., Vol. 1, p. 1349 citing May, Const. Hist. of England.
31. Art. IV, Sec. 3, Constitution.