On August 9, 2010 the Supreme Court came up with a Jurisprudence (G.R. No. 189818, PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES versus MICHAEL LINDO y VERGARA) with a ruling that an accused can be convicted of two (2) crimes based on one (1) Information. Ordinarily, Information should be filed alleging a single crime. In this case the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals decided that the accused is convicted of one (1) rape though the Information filed by the City Prosecutor’s Office of Manila alleged two (2) crimes of Rape in one Information. The Supreme Court modified the ruling of the lower courts and ruled that the accused is convicted of two (2) counts of Rape based on a single information because the two incidence of Rape were properly alleged in the Information and were proved beyond reasonable doubt during the trial proper.
However, the Supreme Court made subtle warning that the Trial Court may quash any Information filed by the Prosecutor’s Office alleging two (2) crime in a single Information if seasonably questioned by the Defense. The Prosecution, therefore, is more safe to file an Information for every single crime so that there will be no risk of having the Information for more than one crime being quashed.
For the case to be read in full, please click on this link: http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/august2010/189818.htm
We will be publishing more new jurisprudence on this page of the Official Site of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office Region 1. Happy blogging.
