This case has been cited 3 times or more.
|
2014-10-22 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
||||
| As the MTC and RTC rightly held, the presentation of the medical certificates to prove the duration of the victims' need for medical attendance or of their incapacity should take place only at the trial, not before or during the preliminary investigation. According to Cinco v. Sandiganbayan,[27] the preliminary investigation, which is the occasion for the submission of the parties' respective affidavits, counter-affidavits and evidence to buttress their separate allegations, is merely inquisitorial, and is often the only means of discovering whether a person may be reasonably charged with a crime, to enable the prosecutor to prepare the information.[28] It is not yet a trial on the merits, for its only purpose is to determine whether a crime has been committed and whether there is probable cause to believe that the accused is guilty thereof.[29] The scope of the investigation does not approximate that of a trial before the court; hence, what is required is only that the evidence be sufficient to establish probable cause that the accused committed the crime charged, not that all reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused be removed.[30] | |||||
|
2008-01-29 |
CARPIO MORALES, J. |
||||
| The investigating fiscal, to be sure, has discretion to determine the specificity and adequacy of averments of the offense charged. He may dismiss the complaint forthwith if he finds it to be insufficient in form or substance or if he otherwise finds no ground to continue with the inquiry, or proceed with the investigation if the complaint is, in his view, in due and proper form. It certainly is not his duty to require a more particular statement of the allegations of the complaint merely upon the respondents' motion, and specially where after an analysis of the complaint and its supporting statements he finds it sufficiently definite to apprise the respondents of the offenses which they are charged. Moreover, the procedural device of a bill of particulars, as the Solicitor General points out, appears to have reference to informations or criminal complaints filed in a competent court upon which the accused are arraigned and required to plead, and strictly speaking has no application to complaints initiating a preliminary investigation which cannot result in any finding of guilt, but only of probable cause.[47] (Italics and ellipses in the original omitted; underscoring supplied) | |||||
|
2005-09-23 |
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. |
||||
| A preliminary investigation is merely inquisitorial, and it is often the only means of discovering the persons who may be reasonably charged with a crime, to enable the fiscal to prepare the complaint or information. It is not a trial of the case on the merits and has no purpose except that of determining whether a crime has been committed and whether there is probable cause to believe that the accused is guilty thereof, and it does not place the person against whom it is taken in jeopardy.[44] | |||||