17/03/2024
Case Update
Settled is the rule that private crimes such as adultery and concubinage must be prosecuted at the instance of the private offended party.
However, once the case has been filed, it shall run its own course under the control of the public prosecutor even despite the desistance or death of the private offended party. The control of the public prosecutor applies even in appealing a decision or final order of the trial court over private crimes. Thus, the private offended party cannot, without the conformity of the public prosecutor or the OSG (in appeals before CA or SC), appeal the case.
But what if the remedy over an adverse order of the court availed of is a petition for certiorari and not an appeal? Does the offended party have the legal personality to file such petition?
In the recent case of Isturis-Rubuelta v. Rubuelta, G.R. No. 222105, December 13, 2023, the Court has ruled that since a petition for certiorari is an original action, filing such petition is akin to filing an original action over a private crime which an offended party is legally capacitated to do. Hence, even without the knowledge or imprimatur of the public prosecutor, the offended party may file a certiorari petition in a pending case over a private crime.
However, the petition should only be confined to the civil aspect of the case and must not prejudice the prosecution (e.g. when petition asks for the dismissal of the case). To see that it does not so, the Court has ruled that in petitions for certiorari filed by the private offended party, the public prosecutor (if filed before the RTC) or the OSG (if filed before CA or SC), must be given the opportunity to comment on the petition and to signify whether or not the it conforms with the petition.
That the prosecutor or the OSG, as the case may be, was not granted the opportunity to comment on the petition for certiorari filed by the private offended party is a ground for the dismissal of the petition.
More on this at
THERESA AVELAU ISTURISÂREBUELTA, PETITIONER, VS. PETER P. REBUELTA, RESPONDENT