FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. 240310. August 6, 2018.]

WILBERT TOLENTINO, petitioner, vs. PEOPLE OF THE

PHILIPPINES, EVA ROSE PUA, JUDGE MARIA LUISA LESLE,
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT, BRANCH 90, QUEZON CITY ,
respondents.

NOTICE

Sirs/Mesdames :

Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution
dated August 6, 2018 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 240310 — Wilbert Tolentino v. People of the
Philippines, Eva Rose Pua, Judge Maria Luisa Lesle, Regional Trial
Court, Branch 90, Quezon City.
This Court has carefully reviewed the allegations, issues, and
arguments adduced in the instant Petition for Certiorari with prayer for the
issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and accordingly resolves to
DISMISS the same for: (1) failure to state the date of receipt of the assailed
Order dated March 19, 2018 as required by Sec. 3, Rule 46 of the Rules of
Court; and (2) failure to sufficiently show that the Regional Trial Court
gravely abused its discretion in rendering the Orders dated March 19, 2018 1
and June 18, 2018 2 in Criminal Case No. R-QZN-17-14518-CR.
Petitioner claims that the assailed Orders violate Section 14, Article VIII
of the 1987 Constitution for failing to state clearly and distinctly the facts
and law on which the assailed Orders are based. In NICOS Industrial
Corporation v. Court of Appeals , 3 we reiterated the time-honored principle
that "the constitutional provision does not apply to interlocutory orders" 4
such as the RTC's March 19, 2018 Order denying petitioner's motion to
quash "because the provision 'refers only to decisions on the merits and not
to orders of the trial court resolving incidental matters.'" 5
Anent petitioner's claim that the action has prescribed, although
Republic Act (RA) No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, does
not categorically state the prescriptive period for such action, the new
prescriptive period for the crime of libel in relation to RA No. 10175 can be
derived from the penalty imposed on the said crime. Section 6 of RA No.
10175 provides that the "penalty to be imposed shall be one (1) degree
higher than that provided for by the Revised Penal Code (RPC), as amended,
and special laws, as the case may be." As such, the former penalty of prision
correccional in its minimum and medium periods is increased to prision
correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its minimum period.
The new penalty, therefore, becomes afflictive, following Section 25 6 of the
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 RPC. Corollarily, following Article 90 7 of the RPC, the crime of libel in relation
to RA 10175 now prescribes in fifteen (15) years. Thus, respondent Eva Rose
Pua's filing of the complaint on August 8, 2017 against petitioner's Facebook
post dated April 29, 2015 was well within the prescriptive period for libel in
relation to RA 10175.
Lastly, on the issue of jurisdiction, Section 21 of RA 10175 vests the
RTC with jurisdiction without any qualification as to the place where the
same should be filed. Section 21 states: cSaATC

Section 21. Jurisdiction. — The Regional Trial Court shall

have jurisdiction over any violation of the provisions of this Act
including any violation committed by a Filipino national regardless of
the place of commission. Jurisdiction shall lie if any of the elements
was committed within the Philippines or committed with the use of
any computer system wholly or partly situated in the country, or when
by such commission any damage is caused to a natural or juridical
person who, at the time the offense was committed, was in the
Philippines.
There shall be designated special cybercrime courts manned by
specially trained judges to handle cybercrime cases.
Given that there is no qualification as to where a criminal action for
libel in relation to RA 10175 must be filed, the filing of the Information before
the RTC of Quezon City, where respondent Eva Rose Pua resides, is proper.
This is in accordance with Section 2, Rule 4 of the Rules of Court, which
provides that "[a]ll other actions may be commenced and tried where the
plaintiff or any of the principal plaintiffs reside, or where the defendant or
any of the principal defendants reside, or in the case of a non-resident
defendant where he may be found, at the election of the plaintiff."
ACCORDINGLY, the Court resolves to AFFIRM the Orders dated March
19, 2018 and June 18, 2018 of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 90, Quezon
City in Criminal Case No. R-QZN-17-14518-CR.
The Manifestation filed by petitioner is NOTED.
SO ORDERED. " Leonardo-de Castro, J., designated as Acting
Chairperson of the First Division per Special Order No. 2559 dated May 11,
2018; Gesmundo, J., designated as Acting Member of the First Division per
Special Order No. 2560 dated May 11, 2018.

Very truly yours,

(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENA

Acting Division Clerk of Court

Footnotes

1. Rollo , p. 133. Penned by Acting Pairing Judge Wilfredo L. Maynigo.

2. Id. at 146. Penned by Acting Presiding Judge Maria Luisa Lesle G. Gonzales-Betic.
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 3. 283 Phil. 12 (1992).

4. Id. at 18.
5. Id., citing Mendoza v. Court of First Instance, 151-A Phil. 815, 827 (1973).

6. ARTICLE 25. Penalties Which May Be Imposed. — The penalties which may be
imposed, according to this Code, and their different classes, are those
included in the following:

Scale
Principal Penalties
Capital punishment:
Death.

Afflictive penalties:
Reclusión perpetua,
Reclusión temporal,
Perpetual or temporary absolute disqualification,

Perpetual or temporary special disqualification,

Prisión mayor.
Correctional penalties:
Prisión correccional,
Arresto mayor,
Suspensión,

Destierro.
Light penalties:
Arresto menor,
Public censure.

Penalties common to the three preceding classes:

Fine, and

Bond to keep the peace.

7. ARTICLE 90. Prescription of Crimes. — Crimes punishable by death, reclusión
perpetua or reclusión temporal shall prescribe in twenty years.
Crimes punishable by other afflictive penalties shall prescribe in fifteen
years.

Those punishable by a correctional penalty shall prescribe in ten years; with

the exception of those punishable by arresto mayor, which shall prescribe in
five years.

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 The crime of libel or other similar offenses shall prescribe in one year.
The crime of oral defamation and slander by deed shall prescribe in six
months.
Light offenses prescribe in two months.

When the penalty fixed by law is a compound one the highest penalty shall
be made the basis of the application of the rules contained in the first, second
and third paragraphs of this article.

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