People V Bello

679 SCRA 298

Jurisprudence:
The meaning of an unclear or ambiguous word as in a statute
or contract should be determined by considering the word it’s
associated with in the context, This is also known as the noscitur a
sociis doctrine.

Facts:
The department head of the armed forces of the Philippines
Retirement and Separation Benefit System and his co-workers were
alleged to have executed two sets of deed of sale, one which is an
unnotarized bilateral deed of sale that showed higher price and the
other, a unilateral deed of sale that showed a discounted price. This
was done according to the committee, to enable AFP-RSBS to draw
more money from its funds and to enable the vendors to pay lesser
taxes. The committee then filed the case of graft and corruption to
Bello as the Head of AFP-RSBS, the accused then filed a motion to
quash the information and dismiss of the case for the
Sandiganbayan does not have the jurisdiction over the case. The
sandiganbayan then ruled in favour of the petitioner and dismissed
the case on the grounds that in Section 4 Jurisdiction Paragraph (g)
only enumerated Presidents,Directors or Trustees, or Managers of
govt-owned or controlled corporation, state-universitites or
educational institutions or foundations. The Sandiganbayan stated
that manager according to Black’s Law Dictionary is not the same as
those mentioned, therefore Bello as the head is not a manager.
However, the later edition included “Division or Departments”
headed by managers, in this definition, Bello will be under the
jurisdiction of sandiganbayan. It was only overlooked by the
sandiganbayan.

Issues:
Whether or not the term managers is different from the head
of the AFP-RBSB And thus, rendering Sandiganbayan to not have
the jurisdiction over the case?

Ruling:
Given that the word “Manager” was in the words “ President,
Directors or Trustees” has the same responsibilities under this
definition it is clear that Bello’s position as head would render him
as a manager.
Wherefore, the Supreme Court reverses the Sandiganbayan
decision and directs the Sandiganbayan to reinstate these cases,
immediately arraign all the accused and resolve accused Raul
Apasoga’s motion for consideration for reinvestigation.