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Arroyo vs. Department of Justice PDF
Arroyo vs. Department of Justice PDF
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* EN BANC.
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but missed out by GMA in her motion, were issued during the
effectivity of Section 43 of RA 9369, giving the Comelec and other
prosecuting arms of the government the concurrent jurisdiction to
investigate and prosecute election offenses. This amendment
paved the way for the discrepancy. In Comelec Resolution No.
3467, the Comelec maintained the continuing deputation of
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RESOLUTION
PERALTA, J.:
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1 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), pp. 845-867.
2 Rollo (G.R. No. 199082), pp. 1155-1174.
3 Id., at pp. 1188-1247.
4 Section 7. Rules of Procedure.—Within forty-eight (48) hours from
the issuance of this Joint Order, the Committee shall meet and craft its
rules of procedure as may be complementary to
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the respective rules of DOJ and Comelec, and submit the same to the
Secretary of Justice and the Comelec En Banc for approval within five (5)
days from such initial meeting.
5 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), pp. 58-143.
6 Id., at p. 124.
7 Id., at pp. 132-134.
8 Id., at p. 137.
9 Rollo (G.R. No. 199085), pp. 162-194.
10 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), p. 316.
11 Id., at p. 17.
12 Rollo (G.R. No. 199082), p. 21.
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13 Refers to the Joint Committee and Fact-Finding Team.
14 Rollo (G.R. No. 199082), pp. 158-161.
15 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), pp. 250-259.
16 Id., at p. 257.
17 Rollo (G.R. No. 199085), pp. 302-306.
18 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), pp. 260-264.
19 Id., at p. 224.
20 Id., at p. 318.
21 Id., at pp. 265-273.
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22 Id., at p. 321.
23 Id., at p. 226.
24 Id., at pp. 274-280.
25 Id., at pp. 439-451.
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26 Id., at pp. 756-757. (Emphasis in the original)
27 Rollo (G.R. No. 199082), pp. 1106-1146.
28 Id., at p. 1161.
29 Id., at p. 1162.
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30 Id., at p. 1163.
31 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), pp. 850-854.
32 Id., at pp. 854-857.
33 Id., at pp. 860-862.
34 Id., at pp. 902-932.
35 Id., at pp. 906-911.
36 Id., at pp. 911-913.
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37 Id., at p. 913.
38 G.R. No. 177508, August 7, 2009, 595 SCRA 477.
39 Section 43. Section 265 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 881 is hereby
amended to read as follows:
“SEC. 265. Prosecution.—The Commission shall, through its duly
authorized legal officers, have the power, concurrent with the other
prosecuting arms of the government, to conduct preliminary investigation
of all election offenses punishable under this Code, and to prosecute the
same.”
40 An Act Amending Republic Act No. 8436, Entitled “An Act
Authorizing the Commission on Elections to Use an Automated Election
System in the May 11, 1998 National or Local Elections and in
Subsequent National and Local Electoral Exercises, to Encourage
Transparency, Credibility, Fairness and Accuracy of Elections, Amending
for the Purpose Batas Pambansa Blg. 881, as Amended, Republic Act No.
7166 and Other Related Election Laws, Providing
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Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes.” Approved on 23 January
2007.
41 “In the Matter of Requesting the Honorable Secretary of Justice to
Assign Prosecutors as Members of a Special Task Force to Assist the
Commission in the Investigation and Prosecution of Election Offenses in
the May 14, 2001 National and Local Elections and Reiterating the
Continuing Deputation of Prosecutors under Rule 34 of the Comelec Rules
of Procedure.”
42 “In the Matter of Requesting the Honorable Secretary of Justice to
Assign Prosecutors as Members of a Special Task Force Created by the
Commission to Conduct the Investigation and Prosecution of Election
Offenses in Connection with the May 10, 2010 National and Local
Elections.”
43 “In the Matter of Requesting the Honorable Secretary of Justice to
Assign Prosecutors as Members of a Special Task Force to
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Assist the Commission in the Investigation and Prosecution of Elections
Offenses in Connection with the October 25, 2010 Barangay and Sangguniang
Kabataan Elections.”
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x x x x
None of these problems would likely arise in the present
case. The Comelec and the DOJ themselves agreed that
they would exercise their concurrent jurisdiction jointly.
Although the preliminary investigation was conducted on
the basis of two complaints – the initial report of the Fact-
Finding Team and the complaint of Senator Pimentel – both
complaints were filed with the Joint Committee.
Consequently, the complaints were filed with and the
preliminary investigation was conducted by only one
investigative body. Thus, we find no reason to disallow the
exercise of concurrent jurisdiction jointly by those given
such authority. This is especially true in this case given the
magnitude of the crimes allegedly committed by petitioners.
The joint preliminary investigation also serves to maximize
the resources and manpower of both the Comelec and the
DOJ for the prompt disposition of the cases.44
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44 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), pp. 734-736. (Citations omitted)
45 Id., at p. 733.
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46 Section 3 (c), Rule 112 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure
provides:
(c) Within ten (10) days from receipt of the subpoena with the
complaint and supporting affidavits and documents, the respondent shall
submit his counter-affidavit and that of his witnesses and other
supporting documents relied upon for his defense. x x x
***
Section 6 (a), Rule 34 of the Comelec Rules of Procedure, on the other
hand, provides:
(a) If on the basis of the complaint, affidavits and the supporting
evidence, the investigating officer finds no ground to continue with the
inquiry, he shall recommend the dismissal of the complaint and shall
follow the procedure prescribed in Section 8 (c) of this Rule. Otherwise, he
shall issue a subpoena to the respondent, attaching thereto a copy of the
complaint, affidavits and other supporting documents giving said
respondent ten (10) days from receipt within which to submit counter-
affidavits and other supporting documents. The respondent shall have the
right to examine all other evidence submitted by the complainant.
47 Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 112, Section 3 (c) and
Comelec Rules of Procedure, Rule 34, Section 6 (a).
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48 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), p. 746.
49 Id., at pp. 746-747. (Citations omitted)
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50 Tan v. Link, G.R. No. 172849, December 10, 2008, 573 SCRA 479,
490.
51 2008 Revised Manual for Prosecutors, p. 89.
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52 Rollo (G.R. No. 199118), pp. 750-751. (Citations omitted)
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DISSENTING OPINION
BRION, J.:
I dissent from the majority’s conclusion and vote to
grant the petitioners’ motions for reconsideration. The
reasons for this position are explained below.
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1 Rollo (G.R. No. 199082), p. 1384.
2 Ibid.
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3 85 Phil. 101 (1949).
4 G.R. No. 93867, December 18, 1990, 192 SCRA 358.
5 453 Phil. 586; 405 SCRA 614 (2003).
6 Supra note 3.
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This ruling and its tenor have been reiterated in all the
subsequent cases involving COMELEC independence,
except in the present case where the Court looked the other
way and allowed the COMELEC to share its decisional
independence with the DOJ, an agency under the
supervision, control and influence of the President.
I submit that by doing this, the majority wrote
away 78 years of history of COMELEC independence
in favor of the Executive’s intrusion into its
authority and functions.
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7 Id., at pp. 106-109.
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8 Stephen H. Legomsky, Deportation And The War On Independence, 91 Cornell
L. Rev. 369, 386 (2006).
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DOJ and two members from the COMELEC. This team is,
in fact, chaired by a DOJ Assistant Secretary. Worse,
the Fact-Finding Team is under the supervision of the
Secretary of DOJ and the Chairman of the COMELEC
or, in the latter’s absence, a Senior Commissioner of the
COMELEC.
On the other hand, the Joint DOJ-COMELEC
Preliminary Investigation Committee is composed of
three (3) officials coming from the DOJ and two (2)
officials from the COMELEC. Prosecutor General
Claro A. Arellano from the DOJ is also designated as
Chairperson of the Committee. Not to be forgotten also
is that budget and financial support for the operation of
the Committee and the Fact-Finding Team shall be sourced
from funds of the DOJ and the COMELEC, as may be
requested from the Office of the President. This,
again, is a perfect example of an incremental change that
the Executive can exploit.
What appears to be the arrangement in this case is a
novel one, whereby the COMELEC — supposedly an
independent Constitutional body — has been fused with
the prosecutorial arm of the Executive branch in order to
conduct preliminary investigation and prosecute election
offenses in the 2004 and 2007 National Elections. To my
mind, this fusion or shared responsibility between the
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9 See J. Brion’s Separate Concurring and Dissenting Opinion, Arroyo v.
Department of Justice, G.R. Nos. 199082, 199085 and 199118, September
18, 2012, 681 SCRA 181, 289-290.
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10 See Euegene Volokh, The Mechanisms of the Slippery Slope,
Harvard Law Review, Vol. 116, February 2003, available online at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract 343640 or http://dx.doi.org/102139/ssrn.343640
(last visited September 17, 2012) Volokh notes: “Libertarians often tell of
the parable of the frog. If a frog is dropped into hot water, it supposedly
jumps out. If a frog is put into cold water that is then heated, the frog
doesn’t notice the gradual temperature; change, and dies. Likewise, the
theory goes, with liberty: People resists to take rights away outright, but if
the rights are eroded slowly.”
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11 CONSTITUTION, Article IX(A), Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
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12 Supra note 9, at pp. 298-299.
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13 Rollo (G.R. No. 199082), p. 190.
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Conclusion
To summarize, the COMELEC, not the Joint DOJ-
COMELEC Committee, has the primary, if not exclusive,
authority to conduct preliminary investigation of election
cases, and the creation of the Joint DOJ-COMELEC
Committee constitutes an unconstitutional abdication by
the COMELEC of its constitutionally-granted
independence. In arriving at this Dissent, I take into
account, together with my above conclusion, the extent of
injury that can be caused to our electoral system by
opening the COMELEC to Executive intrusion, as well as
the haste the petitioners pointed out.
I conclude, as a consequence of the defective
determination of probable cause, that no basis exists to
support the charge of electoral sabotage against the
petitioners. I thus vote for the grant of the motions for
reconsideration.
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14 TSN, November 29, 2011, pp. 84-86.
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