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CASE DIGEST No. 1

6.

a. Doctrine: Civil liability based solely on the criminal action is

extinguished, and a different civil action cannot be continued and
prosecuted in the same criminal action.

b. Case Title: ABS-CBN vs. Office of the Ombudsman, GR No.

133347, April 23, 2010

c. Facts: On April 18 and 26, 1994, petitioners Eugenio, Jr., Oscar and
Augusto Almeda, all surnamed Lopez, as officers and on behalf of ABS-
CBN, executed separate complaint-affidavits charging private
respondents Roberto S. Benedicto, Exequiel B. Garcia, Miguel V.
Gonzalez, and Salvador (Buddy) Tan with the following crimes penalized
under the Revised Penal Code (RPC): (a) Article 298 – Execution of
Deeds by Means of Violence or Intimidation; (b) Article 315 paragraphs
1[b], 2[a], 3[a] – Estafa; (c) Article 308 – Theft; (d) Article 302 – Robbery;
(e) Article 312 – Occupation of Real Property or Usurpation of Real
Rights in Property; and (f) Article 318 – Other Deceits.

The day after the declaration of martial law, or on September 22,

1972, just before midnight, military troops arrived at the ABS-CBN
Broadcast Center in Bohol Avenue, Quezon City, and informed the
officers and personnel thereat of the seizure and closure of the premises
by virtue of Letter of Instruction (LOI) No. 1 issued by President Marcos
ordering the closure of all radio and television stations in the country.
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LOI No. 1 authorized the Secretary of National Defense to “take

over or control, or cause the taking over and control of all x x x
newspapers, magazines, radio and television facilities and all other
media of communications” throughout the country. Consequently, a total
of seven (7) television stations owned and operated by ABS-CBN were
closed down by the government.

When it became apparent that petitioners would not be granted a

permit to re-open, ABS-CBN on October 31, 1972, terminated the
services of all its employees, giving each employee his/her retirement
benefits. Corollary thereto, sometime in November 1972, Eugenio
Lopez, Jr., then president of ABS-CBN, wrote then Secretary of National
Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile,5 of their desire to sell ABS-CBN to the
government. In that same month, however, Eugenio Lopez, Jr. was
arrested by the military, and detained at Fort Bonifacio for almost five (5)
years until his escape therefrom on September 30, 1977.

Subsequently, after the proposal to sell ABS-CBN to the Marcos

government did not materialize, ABS-CBN started negotiations with then
Governor of Leyte, Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez, who expressed his
desire and intention to acquire the former. However, the negotiations
with Kokoy Romualdez in 1973 likewise did not result in the sale and re-
opening of ABS-CBN.

On June 6, 1973, the television and radio stations of Kanlaon

Broadcasting System (KBS) on Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City were
consumed by fire. KBS was the umbrella corporation of the Benedicto
Group of broadcasting companies, including Radio Philippines Network
(RPN),6 which operated TV Channel 9, the only television station
allowed to continue operating during the early years of the martial law
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regime. Respondent Benedicto, then Philippine Ambassador to Japan,

managed, controlled, and was one of the principal stockholders of RPN.

On even date, both Benedicto and Alfredo Montelibano, who at

that time was Chairperson of the Board of Directors (BOD) of ABS-CBN,
were in Bacolod. Benedicto constituted Montelibano as his emissary to
the Lopezes, relaying his plan to temporarily use ABS-CBN’s broadcast
studios in Quezon City, from which to operate TV Channel 9, for such
period of time as may be necessary to rebuild KBS’ burned studios.

On June 8, 1973, Montelibano met with other officers and

executives of ABS-CBN, including herein petitioners Oscar and Augusto
Lopez, informing them of Benedicto’s request. Oscar and Augusto, and
the rest of the ABS-CBN management team, strongly opposed the
request. Eventually, however, when Montelibano mentioned that
Malacañang and Romualdez had cleared said request, the possibility of
a government-ordered confiscation of ABS-CBN, and not least of all, the
possible release of Eugenio Lopez, Jr., petitioners Oscar and Augusto,
as with the rest of ABS-CBN’s executives, acquiesced to Benedicto’s
request.

Thus, at noontime on the same day, representatives of KBS

headed by Jose Montalvo arrived at the Meralco Building to finalize the
proposed arrangement with ABS-CBN. The transaction between ABS-
CBN and KBS is evidenced by a letter-agreement dated June 8, 1973.

Meanwhile, it appears that the parties were hard pressed to

negotiate and fix the monthly rental rate. Several attempts by Oscar to
set up a meeting with Benedicto for the fixing of the monthly rentals
proved unsuccessful.
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After more than four months of trying, a meeting between Oscar

and Benedicto finally materialized on October 31, 1973. At that meeting,
the discussion not only covered fixing of reasonable rentals for the lease
of the ABS-CBN studios, but likewise included the possibility of an
outright sale.

Thereafter, the discussions and negotiations stopped as none of

the petitioners were able to meet anew with Benedicto who had
supposedly referred the matter to “people above” and the “man on top.”

Frustrated, then Senator Lorenzo Tañada, as counsel for ABS-

CBN, in May 1976, wrote Benedicto demanding vacation of the ABS-
CBN Broadcast Center and payment of back rentals for the use of the
ABS-CBN studios and facilities.

In response, Senator Estanislao Fernandez, on behalf of

Benedicto, met with Senator Tañada in June 1976. Another meeting
took place between the parties’ respective counsels which included
respondent Gonzales, another counsel for Benedicto. Despite these
meetings, no agreement was reached between Benedicto and ABS-
CBN. On the whole, from June 8, 1973, the time KBS occupied the ABS-
CBN studios in Quezon City, no rental was paid by the former to the
latter.

In the years following until the Marcos government was toppled in

1986, the ABS-CBN stations were transferred to the National Media
Production Center (NMPC) headed by Gregorio Cendaña of the Ministry
of Information. Starting in January 1980, KBS, on a staggered basis,
transferred possession, control and management of ABS-CBN’s
provincial television stations to NMPC. Some of the radio stations of
ABS-CBN were turned over to the government’s Bureau of Broadcast,
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while some were retained by KBS thru the Banahaw Broadcasting

Corporation (BBC) and Radio Philippines Network (RPN).

Parenthetically, during a military inventory in 1979-1980, and a

visit by ABS-CBN executives at ABS-CBN’s radio transmitting stations in
Meycauayan, Bulacan, headed by petitioner Augusto, on August 13,
1984, ABS-CBN properties and massive equipment were found to be
missing. In addition, the musical records and radio dramas accumulated
by ABS-CBN in a span of twenty-five (25) years and stored in its library
were now gone.

In June 1986, President Corazon Aquino, acting on the request of

ABS-CBN through Senator Tañada, returned to ABS-CBN these radio
and TV stations on a gradual and scheduled basis.

The Ombudsman dismissed the petitioner’s complaint.However, in a

subsequent Order denying petitioners Motion for Reconsideration of the
Joint Resolution, the Ombudsman lifted the Office of the Chief Legal
Counsel’s ratiocination for dismissing the complaint-affidavits.Hence,
this recourse by the petitioners alleging grave abuse of discretion in the
Ombudsman’s Joint Resolution and Order.

On April 5, 1999 and June 13, 2000, the respective counsel for
respondents Tan and Benedicto, in compliance with Section 16,11 Rule
3 of the Rules of Court, filed pleadings informing the Court of their
clients’ demise. Benedicto’s counsel filed a Notice of Death (With Prayer
for Dismissal) moving that Benedicto be dropped as respondent in the
instant case for the reason “that the pending criminal cases subject of
this appeal are actions which do not survive the death of the party
accused.”
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Petitioners opposed the move to drop Benedicto as respondent,

citing Torrijos v. Court of Appeals which held that “civil liability of the
accused survives his death; because death is not a valid cause for the
extinguishment of civil obligations.”

d. Issue: Whether or not the civil liability of an accused, upon death, is

extinguished together with his criminal liability.

e. Held: No.ABS-CBN’s insistence that the case at bench survives

because the civil liability of the respondents subsists is stripped of merit.
To begin with, there is no criminal case as yet against the respondents.
The Ombudsman did not find probable cause to prosecute respondents
for various felonies in the RPC. As such, the rule that a civil action is
deemed instituted along with the criminal action unless the offended
party: (a) waives the civil action, (b) reserves the right to institute it
separately, or (c) institutes the civil action prior to the criminal action, is
not applicable.

Consistent with People v. Bayotas, 236 SCRA 239 (1994), the

death of the accused necessarily calls for the dismissal of the criminal
case against him, regardless of the institution of the civil case with it.
The civil action which survives the death of the accused must hinge on
other sources of obligation provided in Article 1157 of the Civil Code. In
such a case, a surviving civil action against the accused founded on
other sources of obligation must be prosecuted in a separate civil action.
In other words, civil liability based solely on the criminal action is
extinguished, and a different civil action cannot be continued and
prosecuted in the same criminal action.

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is hereby

DISMISSED. Roberto S. Benedicto and Salvador Tan are dropped as
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private respondents without prejudice to the filing of separate civil

actionsagainst their respective estates. The assailed Joint Resolution
and Order of the Ombudsman in OMB-0-94-1109 are AFFIRMED.