Atty. PM Dizon

02/02/2023

These are the new rules issued yesterday (February 1, 2023) by the Supreme Court with regard to the procedure in appealing cases involving the criminal liability of the accused. Note that these rules are applied prospectively and will not affect those cases already pending.

Austria v. AAA and BBB, G.R. No. 205275, June 8, 2022

The Court did not abandon the well-established distinction in our legal system that the People, through the OSG, has legal interest over the criminal aspect of the proceedings, whereas the private complainant has legal interest over the civil aspect of the case.

To guide the bench and the bar, these rules should be observed with respect to the legal standing of private complainants in assailing judgments or orders in criminal proceedings before the SC and the CA, to wit:

(1) The private complainant has the legal personality to appeal the civil liability of the accused or file a petition for certiorari to preserve his or her interest in the civil aspect of the criminal case. The appeal or petition for certiorari must allege the specific pecuniary interest of the private offended party. The failure to comply with this requirement may result in the denial or dismissal of the remedy.

The reviewing court shall require the OSG to file comment within a non-extendible period of thirty (30) days from notice if it appears that the resolution of the private complainant's appeal or petition for certiorari will necessarily affect the criminal aspect of the case or the right to prosecute (i.e., existence of probable cause, venue or territorial jurisdiction, elements of the offense, prescription, admissibility of evidence, identity of the perpetrator of the crime, modification of penalty, and other questions that will require a review of the substantive merits of the criminal proceedings, or the nullification/reversal of the entire ruling, or cause the reinstatement of the criminal action or meddle with the prosecution of the offense, among other things). The comment of the OSG must state whether it conforms or concurs with the remedy of the private offended party. The judgment or order of the reviewing court granting the private complainant's relief may be set aside if rendered without affording the People, through the OSG, the opportunity to file a comment.

(2) The private complainant has no legal personality to appeal or file a petition for certiorari to question the judgments or orders involving the criminal aspect of the case or the right to prosecute, unless made with the OSG's conformity.

The private complainant must request the OSG's conformity within the reglementary period to appeal or file a petition for certiorari. The private complainant must attach the original copy of the OSG' s conformity as proof in case the request is granted within the reglementary period. Otherwise, the private complainant must allege in the appeal or petition for certiorari the fact of pendency of the request. If the OSG denied the request for conformity, the Court shall dismiss the appeal or petition for certiorari for lack of legal personality of the private complainant.

(3) The reviewing court shall require the OSG to file comment within a non-extendible period of thirty (30) days from notice on the private complainant's petition for certiorari questioning the acquittal of the accused, the dismissal of the criminal case, and the interlocutory orders in criminal proceedings on the ground of grave abuse of discretion or denial of due process.

(4) These guidelines shall be prospective in application.

27/09/2022

I've been seeing several acknowledgements that are written as jurats. Please note Tigno v. Aquino, G.R. No. 129416, November 25, 2004 to explain the difference:
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The notarial certification of the Deed of Sale reads as follows:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES)
PROVINCE OF PANGASINAN ) S.S.
MUNICIPALITY OF ALAMINOS )
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this 17th day of October 1985 at Alaminos, Pangasinan both parties known to me to be the same parties who executed the foregoing instrument.
###
There are palpable errors in this certification. Most glaringly, the document is certified by way of a jurat instead of an acknowledgment. A jurat is a distinct creature from an acknowledgment. An acknowledgment is the act of one who has executed a deed in going before some competent officer or court and declaring it to be his act or deed; while a jurat is that part of an affidavit where the officer certifies that the same was sworn before him.

21/09/2022

Legal trivia: In a case decided in 2020, the Supreme Court declared that not signing (or stamping one's thumbprint) on the notarial book of a notary is considered a defect that prevents the transformation of a document to a public document.

If you have contracts that transfer real property (like land, condos, etc.) or you have a multi-million peso transaction with many moving parts and there is a chance that the signatories to the contract will no longer be found or be willing to testify in case of litigation, better be sure you go to a real lawyer and sign on his notarial book when you transact or it may be problematic later.

18/08/2022

Updated quarantine and isolation protocols.

29/07/2022

And this is why data privacy is important. You maybe discriminated on because of personal circumstances like medical history, age, s*x, s*xual preference, religion, etc.

Bakit mahalaga ang data privacy? Because it can save you from discrimination!

In this day and age, your disability should not be the only thing they see! When upholding data privacy rights, we are also upholding equal access and opportunity for employment and livelihood as a result of it.

KAYA LAGING TANDAAN: Ang paglalagay ng mga sensitibong impormasyon sa forms at resume, tulad ng ethnic origin, marital status, age, color,religious, philosophical or political affiliations, health, at government-issued ID numbers ay optional lalo na kung ikaw ay nag-apply pa lamang!

Para sa iba pang halimbawa ng sensitive personal information, basahin ang Section 3 ng Data Privacy Act of 2012 dito: https://www.privacy.gov.ph/data-privacy-act/ #3

19/07/2022

In intellectual property law, the ownership of intellectual property doesn't bring with it ownership of the copyright. One may own a sculpture, but he doesn't own the copyright to it. It's the same with NFTs. You may be registered in the blockchain as its owner, but you can't do much else with it, unless you also own the copyright.

But how many actually give you the copyright? The transfer of the copyright has to be part of the contract of sale of the NFT. If it isn't, then you don't own the copyright.

What legal rights do you have as an owner of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT)? When you purchase an NFT, you purchase a code that represents a token. That token is not a drawing, illustration, or a real tangible object. It's just a piece of code that re...

14/07/2022

13/07/2022

SC: Certificate of Non-Forum Shopping Signed by Authorized Counsel Only is Valid |

Verifications and certifications of non-forum shopping signed only by the duly authorized counsel and not by the parties can be considered substantially compliant, as required by the Rules of Court.

The requirement of attaching a validly signed verification and certification against non-forum shopping in initiatory pleadings is provided for by the Rules. Failure to comply may result in the dismissal of the case.

In a 14-page Decision penned by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, the Supreme Court reiterated its previous ruling in Altres v. Empleo that verifications may be signed by anyone with ample knowledge to swear to the truth of the allegations in the pleading, while certifications of non-forum shopping may be signed by the parties’ counsel in justifiable circumstances, provided a Special Power of Attorney is executed on the parties’ behalf.

The Court cautioned against interpreting the rules on verification and forum shopping with “absolute literalness,” stressing that “[v]erification is simply intended to secure an assurance that the allegations in the pleading are true and correct and not the product of the imagination or a matter of speculation and that the pleading is in good faith ### [while] the rules on forum shopping are designed to promote and facilitate the orderly administration of justice.” While strict compliance is required, such that verification and certification cannot altogether be dispensed with or completely disregarded, the interpretation of the rules should not “subvert its own ultimate and legitimate objectives,” concluded the Court.

Read the case digest at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/28550/ and the decision in full at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/28414/.

22/02/2022

Countries that recognize and accept VAXCERTPH as proof of vaccination status.

21/02/2022