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Soller vs. Sandiganbayan

The Sandiganbayan did not have jurisdiction over criminal cases filed against municipal officials in Oriental Mindoro relating to the killing of a municipal guard. While the officials were described as public officers, including the mayor and health officer, the alleged offenses of altering evidence and filing false reports regarding the autopsy and police investigation were not related to their official functions. The crimes appeared to be motivated by personal reasons to protect the alleged family member assailant, rather than tied to their duties. As a result, the Supreme Court ruled that the regular regional trial court, not the Sandiganbayan, had proper jurisdiction over the cases.

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Marvien M. Barrios
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152 views

Soller vs. Sandiganbayan

The Sandiganbayan did not have jurisdiction over criminal cases filed against municipal officials in Oriental Mindoro relating to the killing of a municipal guard. While the officials were described as public officers, including the mayor and health officer, the alleged offenses of altering evidence and filing false reports regarding the autopsy and police investigation were not related to their official functions. The crimes appeared to be motivated by personal reasons to protect the alleged family member assailant, rather than tied to their duties. As a result, the Supreme Court ruled that the regular regional trial court, not the Sandiganbayan, had proper jurisdiction over the cases.

Uploaded by

Marvien M. Barrios
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SOLLER vs.

SANDIGANBAYAN
G.R No. 147706, February 16, 2005
Case Digest by Marvien M. Barrios

Facts:

In the evening of March 14, 1997, Jerry Macabael a municipal guard, was shot and killed along the national
highway at Bansud, Oriental Mindoro while driving a motorcycle together with Vincent M. Soller. His body
was brought to a medical clinic located in the house of Dr. Prudente Soller, the Municipal Mayor, and his wife
Dr. Preciosa Soller, who is the Municipal Health Officer. The incident was reported to and investigated by
petitioner SPO4 Mario Matining. An autopsy was conducted on the same night on the cadaver of Jerry by
petitioner Dr. Preciosa Soller with the assistance of petitioner Rodolfo Salcedo, Sanitary Inspector, and
petitioner Josefina Morada, Rural Health Midwife.

Later, a complaint was filed against the petitioners by the widow of Jerry Macabael with the Office of the
Ombudsman charging them with conspiracy to mislead the investigation by (a) altering his wound (b)
concealing his brain; (c) falsely stating in police report that he had several gunshot wounds when in truth he
had only one; and d) falsely stating in an autopsy report that there was no blackening around his wound when
in truth there was.

The Office of the Ombudsman recommended the filing of an Information for Obstruction of Justice (Violation
of P.D. 1829), and two (2) information’s were filed with the Sandiganbayan which were docketed as Criminal
Cases Nos. 25521 and 25522. Due to this, Soller and other petitioners mentioned above filed a Motion to
Quash on the ground that the Sandiganbayan had no jurisdiction over the offenses charged

Issue: Whether or not the Sandiganbayan had jurisdiction over the criminal offenses charged?

Held:

No. Section 4 of P.D. No. 1606 as amended provides that the Sandiganbayan shall exercise exclusive original
jurisdiction in all cases involving:

(a.) Violations of Republic Act No. 3019, as amended, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corruption
Practices Act, Republic Act No. 1379, and Chapter II, Section 2, Title VII, Book II of the Revised Penal Code,
where one or more of the accused are officials occupying the following positions in the government, whether
in a permanent, acting or interim capacity, at the time of the commission of the offense and; (5) All other
national and local officials classified as Grade "27" and higher under the Compensation and Position
Classification Act of 1989;

(b.) Other offenses or felonies whether simple or complexed with other crime committed by the public officials
and employees mentioned in subsection a of this section in relation to their office; and

In cases where none of the accused are occupying positions corresponding to salary Grade "27" or higher, as
prescribed in the said Republic Act 6758, or military and PNP officers mentioned above, exclusive original
jurisdiction thereof shall be vested in the proper regional trial court, metropolitan trial court, municipal trial
court, and municipal circuit trial court, as the case may be, pursuant to their jurisdictions as provided by Batas
Pambansa Blg. 129, amended.
In this case, although the petitioners were described as being all public officers, then being the Municipal
Mayor, Municipal Health Officer, SPO II, PO I, Sanitary Inspector and Midwife, there was no allegation that
the offense of altering and suppressing the gunshot wound of the victim with intent to impair the veracity,
authenticity and availability as evidence in the investigation of the criminal case for murder (Criminal Case
No. 25521) or of giving false and fabricated information in the autopsy report and police report to mislead the
law enforcement agency and prevent the apprehension of the offender (Criminal Case No. 25522) was done in
the performance of official function. The spouses probably acted as the parents of the alleged assailant and if at
all, were motivated by personal reasons rather than official duty.

Hence, the petition was granted.

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