Rule 110 Effect of the Institution of Criminal Action on the

Prosecution of Offenses Prescriptive Period

The present rule categorically provides that

the "institution of the criminal action shall interrupt
Section 1. Institution of criminal actions. —
Criminal actions shall be instituted as follows: the period of prescription of the offense charged
unless otherwise provided in special laws”.
(a) For offenses where a preliminary Rule on prescription for violations of special laws
investigation is required pursuant to section and municipal ordinances
1 of Rule 112, by filing the complaint with
the proper officer for the purpose of Act No. 3326 as amended, is the law which
conducting the requisite preliminary governs the period for prescription for violations
investigation. penalized by special acts and municipal ordinances.

(b) For all other offenses, by filing the Zaldivia v. Reyes, 211 SCRA 277, a case
complaint or information directly with the involving an offense punishable by a municipal
Municipal Trial Courts and Municipal Circuit ordinance, held that when Act No. 3326 says that
Trial Courts, or the complaint with the office the period of prescription shall be suspended "when
of the prosecutor. In Manila and other proceedings are instituted against the guilty
chartered cities, the complaint shall be filed person," the proceedings referred to are "judicial
with the office of the prosecutor unless proceedings" and not administrative proceedings.
otherwise provided in their charters.
Accordingly, the prescriptive period in these
The institution of the criminal action shall interrupt cases is governed by Act No. 3326 and is
the running period of prescription of the offense interrupted only by the institution of judicial
charged unless otherwise provided in special laws. proceedings because Sec. 2 of the law provides
that prescription begins from the commission of the
How criminal actions are instituted? crime or from the discovery thereof and the
institution of judicial proceedings for its investigation
1. The institution of criminal action depends upon
and punishment.
whether or not the offense is one which requires
preliminary investigation. Zaldivia further declared that if there be a
conflict between Act No. 3326 and Rule 110 of the
Where a preliminary investigation is required, a
Rules of Court, the latter must yield.
criminal action is instituted by filing the complaint
with the proper officer for the purpose of conducting Section 2. Prescription shall begin to run from the
the requisite preliminary investigation day of the commission of the violation of the law,
and if the same may not be known at the time, from
2. Where a preliminary investigation is not required,
the discovery thereof and the institution of judicial
a criminal action is instituted in either of two ways:
proceedings for its investigation and punishment.
 By filing a complaint or information directly The prescription shall be interrupted when
with Municipal Trial Court or Municipal proceedings are instituted against the guilty person,
Circuit Trial Court and shall begin to run again if the proceedings are
 By filing a complaint with the office of the dismissed for reasons not constituting jeopardy.
prosecutor Will the filing of a criminal case with the prosecutor’s
In Manila and other chartered cities, a special rule office interrupt the prescriptive period of an offense?
prevails. In these places, the rule is that "the
complaint shall be filed with the office of the
prosecutor unless otherwise provided in their
charters

No direct filing in the Regional Trial Court and

Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila and other
chartered cities under Rule 110 because its
jurisdiction covers offenses which require
preliminary investigation.

A preliminary investigation is to be conducted for

offenses where the penalty prescribed by law is at
least four (4) years, two (2) months and one (1) day.

RTC MTC
Requires preliminary No preliminary
investigation investigation
Imprisonment is more Imprisonment not
than 6 years exceeding 6 years
PEOPLE vs. MA. THERESA PANGILINAN prescriptive period, however, should be tolled upon the
institution of proceedings against the guilty person.
FACTS:
SERMONIA vs CA
Virginia Malolos filed an affidavit-complaint for estafa
and violation of Batas Pambansa Blg.22 against the FACTS:
respondent, Pangilinan on September 16, 1997 with
the Office of the City Prosecutor of Quezon City. Jose Sermonia contracted second marriage it was duly
registered in Office of the Civil Registrar in 1975. An
On December 5, 1997, a civil case was commenced information was filed on 26 May 1992, against Jose C.
by Pangilinan against Malolos for accounting, recovery Sermonia for offense of bigamy. He moved to quash
of commercial documents, enforceability and effectivity the information on the ground that his criminal liability
of contract and specific performance before the has been extinguished by prescription. He avers that
Regional Trial Court of Valenzuela City. since the second marriage contract was duly
registered with the Office of the Civil Registrar in 1975,
Five days thereafter or on December 10, 1997, such fact of registration makes it a matter of public
Pangilinan filed a “Petition to Suspend Proceedings on record and thus constitutes notice to the whole world.
the Ground of Prejudicial Question” before the Office The offended party therefore is considered to have
of the City Prosecutor of Quezon City, citing as basis had constructive notice of the subsequent marriage as
the pendency of the civil action she filed with the RTC of 1975; hence, prescription commenced to run on the
of Valenzuela City. The City Prosecutor approved the day the marriage contract was registered. For this
petition upon the recommendation of the assistant City reason, the corresponding information for bigamy
Prosecutor on March 2, 1998. should have been filed on or before 1990 and not only
in 1992.
Malolos appealed the decision of the City Prosecutor
to the Department of Justice. On January 5, 1999, Issues:
reversed the resolution of the City Prosecutor and
ordered the filing of informations on violations of Batas 1. W/N the crime is already barred by
Pambansa Blg.22. Said cases were filed before the prescription? NO
Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City on November 2. W/N the prescriptive period is counted from
18, 1999. registration of second marriage? NO

Pangilinan filed an “Omnibus Motion to Quash the Held:

Information and to Defer the Issuance of Warrant of
Arrest” before MeTC, Branch 31, Quezon City.  She This Court is of the view that the principle of
alleged that her criminal liability has been extinguished constructive notice should not be applied in regard to
by reason of prescription. the crime of bigamy as judicial notice may be taken of
the fact that a bigamous marriage is generally entered
into by the offender in secrecy from the spouse of the
ISSUE: W/N the BP 22 (special law) case was already
previous subsisting marriage. Also, a bigamous
barred by prescription? NO marriage is generally entered into in a place where the
offender is not known to be still a married person, in
HELD:
order to conceal his legal impediment to contract
            Act No. 3326 entitled “An Act to Establish
another marriage.
Prescription for Violations of Special Acts and
Municipal Ordinances and to Provide When Considering such concealment of the
Prescription Shall Begin,” as amended, is the law bigamous marriage by the offender, it is therefore
applicable to BP Blg. 22 cases. Appositely, the law
reasonable that the prescriptive period for the crime of
reads:
  bigamy should be counted only from the day on which
SECTION 1.  Violations penalized by special acts the said crime was discovered by the offended party,
shall, unless otherwise provided in such acts, the authorities or their agency.
prescribe in accordance with the following rules:

(b) after four years for those punished by Jadewell Parking System Corp. vs. Lidua Sr.
imprisonment for more than one month, but less than
two years

SECTION 2.  Prescription shall begin to run from the People vs. Mateo Lee Jr.
day of the commission of the violation of the law, and if
the same be not known at the time, from the discovery
thereof and the institution of judicial proceedings for its
investigation and punishment.

The prescription shall be interrupted when

proceedings are instituted against the guilty person,
and shall begin to run again if the proceedings are
dismissed for reasons not constituting jeopardy.

Since BP Blg. 22 is a special law that imposes a

penalty of imprisonment of not less than thirty (30)
days but not more than one year or by a fine for its
violation, it therefor prescribes in four (4) years in
accordance with the aforecited law.  The running of the
Section 2. The Complaint or information. — The
complaint or information shall be in writing, in the
name of the People of the Philippines and against
all persons who appear to be responsible for the
offense involved.

Will the failure of the information to include other

persons who also appear to be responsible can be
a ground to dismiss the case against those who
were included?

- No because the determination of criminal

liability is individual to each of the
defendants
- The absence of one or some of the accused
may bear impact on the available evidence
for the prosecution or defense, but it does
not deprive the trial court to accordingly try
the case based on the evidence that is
actually available.

Section 3. Complaint defined. — A complaint is a

sworn written statement charging a person with an
offense, subscribed by the offended party, any
peace officer, or other public officer charged with
the enforcement of the law violated.

Who can file a complaint?

1. Offended party
2. Peace officer
3. Other public officer charged with the
enforcement of the law violated

What if the complaint is not sworn or signed?

This is a formal defect that can be cured by

having the complaint signed and sworn to by the
person who filed it.

Section 4. Information defined. — An information is

an accusation in writing charging a person with an
offense, subscribed by the prosecutor and filed with
the court.