Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila

FIRST DIVISION

G.R. No. 184800 May 5, 2010

WONINA M. BONIFACIO, JOCELYN UPANO, VICENTE

ORTUOSTE AND JOVENCIO PERECHE, SR.,Petitioners,
vs.
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF MAKATI, BRANCH 149, and
JESSIE JOHN P. GIMENEZ, Respondents.

DECISION

CARPIO MORALES, J.:

Via a petition for Certiorari and Prohibition, petitioners Wonina M.

Bonifacio, et al. assail the issuances of Branch 149 of the Regional Trial
Court (RTC) of Makati (public respondent) Order1 of April 22, 2008
which denied their motion to quash the Amended Information indicting them
for libel, and Joint Resolution2 of August 12, 2008 denying reconsideration
of the first issuance.

Private respondent Jessie John P. Gimenez3 (Gimenez) filed on October 18,

2005, on behalf of the Yuchengco Family ("in particular," former
Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco and Helen Y. Dee (Helen) and of the
Malayan Insurance Co., Inc. (Malayan),4 a criminal complaint,5 before the
Makati City Prosecutors Office, for thirteen (13) counts of libel under
Article 355 in relation to Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC)
against Philip Piccio, Mia Gatmaytan and Ma. Anabella Relova Santos, who
are officers of Parents Enabling Parents Coalition, Inc. (PEPCI), John Joseph
Gutierrez, Jeselyn Upano, Jose Dizon, Rolanda Pareja, Wonina Bonifacio,
Elvira Cruz, Cornelio Zafra, Vicente Ortueste, Victoria Gomez Jacinto,
Jurencio Pereche, Ricardo Loyares and Peter Suchianco, who are trustees of
PEPCI, Trennie Monsod, a member of PEPCI (collectively, the accused),
and a certain John Doe, the administrator of the
website [Link].

PEPCI appears to have been formed by a large group of disgruntled

planholders of Pacific Plans, Inc. (PPI) - a wholly owned subsidiary of Great
Pacific Life Assurance Corporation, also owned by the Yuchengco Group of
Companies (YGC) - who had previously purchased traditional pre-need
educational plans but were unable to collect thereon or avail of the benefits
thereunder after PPI, due to liquidity concerns, filed for corporate
rehabilitation with prayer for suspension of payments before the Makati
RTC.

Decrying PPIs refusal/inability to honor its obligations under the

educational pre-need plans, PEPCI sought to provide a forum by which the
planholders could seek redress for their pecuniary loss under their policies
by maintaining a website on the internet under the address
of [Link].

Gimenez alleged that PEPCI also owned, controlled and moderated on the
internet a blogspot6 under the website
address [Link], as well as a yahoo e-
group7 at no2pep2010@[Link]. These websites are easily
accessible to the public or by anyone logged on to the internet.

Gimenez further alleged that upon accessing the above-stated websites in

Makati on various dates from August 25 to October 2, 2005, he "was
appalled to read numerous articles [numbering 13], maliciously and
recklessly caused to be published by [the accused] containing highly
derogatory statements and false accusations, relentlessly attacking the
Yuchengco Family, YGC, and particularly, Malayan."8 He cited an article
which was posted/published on [Link] on August 25, 2005
which stated:

Talagang naisahan na naman tayo ng mga Yuchengcos. Nangyari na ang

mga kinatatakutan kong pagbagsak ng negotiation because it was done
prematurely since we had not file any criminal aspect of our case. What is
worse is that Yuchengcos benefited much from the nego. x x x . That is the
fact na talagang hindi dapat pagtiwalaan ang mga Yuchengcos.
LETS MOVE TO THE BATTLEFIELD. FILE THE CRIMINAL CASES
IN COURT, BSP AND AMLC AND WHEREVER. Pumunta tayong muli
sa senado, congreso, RCBC Plaza, and other venues to air our grievances
and call for boycott ng YGC. Let us start within ourselves. Alisin natin ang
mga investments and deposits natin sa lahat ng YGC and I mean lahat and
again convince friends to do the same. Yung mga nanonood lang noon ay
dapat makisali na talaga ngayon specially those who joined only after
knowing that there was a negotiation for amicable settlements.

FOR SURE MAY TACTICS PA SILANG NAKABASTA SA ATIN. LET

US BE READY FOR IT BECAUSE THEY HAD SUCCESSFULLY LULL
US AND THE NEXT TIME THEY WILL TRY TO KILL US NA. x x
x 9 (emphasis in the original)

By Resolution of May 5, 2006,10 the Makati City Prosecutors Office,

finding probable cause to indict the accused, filed thirteen (13) separate
Informations11 charging them with libel. The accusatory portion of one
Information, docketed as Criminal Case No. 06-876, which was raffled off
to public respondent reads:

That on or about the 25th day of August 2005 in Makati City, Metro Manila,
Philippines, a place within the jurisdiction of the Honorable Court, the
above-named accused, being then the trustees of Parents Enabling Parents
Coalition and as such trustees they hold the legal title to the
website [Link] which is of general circulation, and
publication to the public conspiring, confederating and mutually helping
with one another together with John Does, did then and there willfully,
unlawfully and feloniously and publicly and maliciously with intention of
attacking the honesty, virtue, honor and integrity, character and reputation of
complainant Malayan Insurance Co. Inc., Yuchengco Family particularly
Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco and Helen Dee and for further purpose
exposing the complainant to public hatred and contempt published an article
imputing a vice or defect to the complainant and caused to be composed,
posted and published in the said website [Link] and
injurious and defamatory article as follows:

Talagang naisahan na naman tayo ng mga Yuchengcos. Nangyari na ang

mga kinatatakutan kong pagbagsak ng negotiation. x x x x x x x x x
For sure may tactics pa silang nakabasta sa atin. Let us be ready for it
because they had successfully lull us and the next time they will try to kill us
na. x x x

A copy of the full text of the foregoing article as published/posted

in [Link] is attached as Annex "F" of the complaint.

That the keyword and password to be used in order to post and publish the
above defamatory article are known to the accused as trustees holding legal
title to the above-cited website and that the accused are the ones responsible
for the posting and publication of the defamatory articles that the article in
question was posted and published with the object of the discrediting and
ridiculing the complainant before the public.

CONTRARY TO LAW.12

Several of the accused appealed the Makati City Prosecutors Resolution by

a petition for review to the Secretary of Justice who, by Resolution of June
20, 2007,13 reversed the finding of probable cause and accordingly directed
the withdrawal of the Informations for libel filed in court. The Justice
Secretary opined that the crime of "internet libel" was non-existent, hence,
the accused could not be charged with libel under Article 353 of the RPC.14

Petitioners, as co-accused,15 thereupon filed on June 6, 2006, before the

public respondent, a Motion to Quash16the Information in Criminal Case No.
06-876 on the grounds that it failed to vest jurisdiction on the Makati RTC;
the acts complained of in the Information are not punishable by law since
internet libel is not covered by Article 353 of the RPC; and the Information
is fatally defective for failure to designate the offense charged and the acts or
omissions complained of as constituting the offense of libel.

Citing Macasaet v. People,17 petitioners maintained that the Information

failed to allege a particular place within the trial courts jurisdiction where
the subject article was printed and first published or that the offended parties
resided in Makati at the time the alleged defamatory material was printed
and first published.
By Order of October 3, 2006,18 the public respondent, albeit finding that
probable cause existed, quashed the Information, citing Agustin v.
Pamintuan.19 It found that the Information lacked any allegations that the
offended parties were actually residing in Makati at the time of the
commission of the offense as in fact they listed their address in the
complaint-affidavit at Yuchengco Tower in Binondo, Manila; or that the
alleged libelous article was printed and first published in Makati.

The prosecution moved to reconsider the quashal of the

Information,20 insisting that the Information sufficiently conferred
jurisdiction on the public respondent. It cited Banal III v.
Panganiban21 which held that the Information need not allege verbatim that
the libelous publication was "printed and first published" in the appropriate
venue. And it pointed out that Malayan has an office in Makati of which
Helen is a resident. Moreover, the prosecution alleged that even assuming
that the Information was deficient, it merely needed a formal amendment.

Petitioners opposed the prosecutions motion for reconsideration,

contending, inter alia, that since venue is jurisdictional in criminal cases, any
defect in an information for libel pertaining to jurisdiction is not a mere
matter of form that may be cured by amendment.22

By Order of March 8, 2007,23 the public respondent granted the

prosecutions motion for reconsideration and accordingly ordered the public
prosecutor to "amend the Information to cure the defect of want of venue."

The prosecution thereupon moved to admit the Amended Information dated

March 20, 2007,24 the accusatory portion of which reads:

That on or about the 25th day of August 2005 in Makati City, Metro Manila,
Philippines, a place within the jurisdiction of the Honorable Court, the
above-named accused, being then the trustees of Parents Enabling Parents
Coalition and as such trustees they hold the legal title to the
website [Link] which is of general circulation, and
publication to the public conspiring, confederating together with John
Does, whose true names, identities and present whereabouts are still
unknown and all of them mutually helping and aiding one another, did then
and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously and publicly and maliciously
with intention of attacking the honesty, virtue, honor and integrity, character
and reputation of complainant Malayan Insurance Co. Inc., Yuchengco
Family particularly Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco and Helen Dee and for
further purpose exposing the complainant to public hatred and contempt
published an article imputing a vice or defect to the complainant and caused
to be composed, posted and published in the said
website [Link], a website accessible in Makati City, an
injurious and defamatory article, which was first published and accessed by
the private complainant in Makati City, as follows:

x x x x (emphasis and underscoring in the original; italics supplied)

Petitioners moved to quash the Amended Information25 which, they alleged,

still failed to vest jurisdiction upon the public respondent because it failed to
allege that the libelous articles were "printed and first published" by the
accused in Makati; and the prosecution erroneously laid the venue of the
case in the place where the offended party accessed the internet-published
article.

By the assailed Order of April 22, 2008, the public respondent, applying
Banal III, found the Amended Information to be sufficient in form.

Petitioners motion for reconsideration26 having been denied by the public

respondent by Joint Resolution of August 12, 2008, they filed the present
petition for Certiorari and Prohibition faulting the public respondent for:

1. NOT FINDING THAT THE ACTS ALLEGED IN THE

INFORMATION ARE NOT PUNISHABLE BY LAW;

2. ADMITTING AN AMENDED INFORMATION WHOSE

JURISDICTIONAL ALLEGATIONS CONTINUES TO BE
DEFICIENT; and

3. NOT RULING THAT AN AMENDMENT IN THE

INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF CURING
JURISDICTIONAL DEFECTS IS ILLEGAL.27

With the filing of Gimenezs Comment28 to the petition, the issues are: (1)
whether petitioners violated the rule on hierarchy of courts to thus render the
petition dismissible; and (2) whether grave abuse of discretion attended the
public respondents admission of the Amended Information.

The established policy of strict observance of the judicial hierarchy of

courts,29 as a rule, requires that recourse must first be made to the lower-
ranked court exercising concurrent jurisdiction with a higher court.30 A
regard for judicial hierarchy clearly indicates that petitions for the issuance
of extraordinary writs against first level courts should be filed in the RTC
and those against the latter should be filed in the Court of Appeals.31 The
rule is not iron-clad, however, as it admits of certain exceptions.

Thus, a strict application of the rule is unnecessary when cases brought

before the appellate courts do not involve factual but purely legal
questions.32

In the present case, the substantive issue calls for the Courts exercise of its
discretionary authority, by way of exception, in order to abbreviate the
review process as petitioners raise a pure question of law involving
jurisdiction in criminal complaints for libel under Article 360 of the RPC
whether the Amended Information is sufficient to sustain a charge for
written defamation in light of the requirements under Article 360 of the
RPC, as amended by Republic Act (RA) No. 4363, reading:

Art. 360. Persons [Link] person who shall publish, exhibit or

cause the publication or exhibition of any defamation in writing or by
similar means, shall be responsible for the same.

The author or editor of a book or pamphlet, or the editor or business

manager of a daily newspaper, magazine or serial publication, shall be
responsible for the defamations contained therein to the same extent as if he
were the author thereof.

The criminal action and civil action for damages in cases of written
defamations, as provided for in this chapter shall be filed simultaneously or
separately with the Court of First Instance of the province or city where the
libelous article is printed and first published or where any of the offended
parties actually resides at the time of the commission of the offense:
Provided, however, That where one of the offended parties is a public officer
whose office is in the City of Manila at the time of the commission of the
offense, the action shall be filed in the Court of First Instance of the City of
Manila or of the city or province where the libelous article is printed and
first published, and in case such public officer does not hold office in the
City of Manila, the action shall be filed in the Court of First Instance of the
province or city where he held office at the time of the commission of the
offense or where the libelous article is printed and first published and in case
one of the offended parties is a private individual, the action shall be filed in
the Court of First Instance of the province or city where he actually resides
at the time of the commission of the offense or where the libelous matter is
printed and first published x x x. (emphasis and underscoring supplied)

Venue is jurisdictional in criminal actions such that the place where the
crime was committed determines not only the venue of the action but
constitutes an essential element of jurisdiction.33 This principle acquires
even greater import in libel cases, given that Article 360, as amended,
specifically provides for the possible venues for the institution of the
criminal and civil aspects of such cases.

In Macasaet,34 the Court reiterated its earlier pronouncements in Agbayani v.

Sayo35 which laid out the rules on venue in libel cases, viz:

For the guidance, therefore, of both the bench and the bar, this Court finds it
appropriate to reiterate our earlier pronouncement in the case of Agbayani,
to wit:

In order to obviate controversies as to the venue of the criminal action for

written defamation, the complaint or information should contain allegations
as to whether, at the time the offense was committed, the offended party was
a public officer or a private individual and where he was actually residing at
that time. Whenever possible, the place where the written defamation was
printed and first published should likewise be alleged. That allegation would
be a sine qua non if the circumstance as to where the libel was printed and
first published is used as the basis of the venue of the action. (emphasis and
underscoring supplied)

It becomes clear that the venue of libel cases where the complainant is a
private individual is limited to only either of two places, namely: 1) where
the complainant actually resides at the time of the commission of the
offense; or 2) where the alleged defamatory article was printed and first
published. The Amended Information in the present case opted to lay the
venue by availing of the second. Thus, it stated that the offending article
"was first published and accessed by the private complainant in Makati
City." In other words, it considered the phrase to be equivalent to the
requisite allegation of printing and first publication.

The insufficiency of the allegations in the Amended Information to vest

jurisdiction in Makati becomes pronounced upon an examination of the
rationale for the amendment to Article 360 by RA No. 4363. Chavez v.
Court of Appeals36 explained the nature of these changes:

Agbayani supplies a comprehensive restatement of the rules of venue in

actions for criminal libel, following the amendment by Rep. Act No. 4363 of
the Revised Penal Code:

"Article 360 in its original form provided that the venue of the criminal and
civil actions for written defamations is the province wherein the libel was
published, displayed or exhibited, regardless of the place where the same
was written, printed or composed. Article 360 originally did not specify the
public officers and the courts that may conduct the preliminary investigation
of complaints for libel.

Before article 360 was amended, the rule was that a criminal action for libel
may be instituted in any jurisdiction where the libelous article was published
or circulated, irrespective of where it was written or printed (People v. Borja,
43 Phil. 618). Under that rule, the criminal action is transitory and the
injured party has a choice of venue.

Experience had shown that under that old rule the offended party could
harass the accused in a libel case by laying the venue of the criminal action
in a remote or distant place.

Thus, in connection with an article published in the Daily Mirror and the
Philippine Free Press, Pio Pedrosa, Manuel V. Villareal and Joaquin Roces
were charged with libel in the justice of the peace court of San Fabian,
Pangasinan (Amansec v. De Guzman, 93 Phil. 933).
To forestall such harassment, Republic Act No. 4363 was enacted. It lays
down specific rules as to the venue of the criminal action so as to prevent the
offended party in written defamation cases from inconveniencing the
accused by means of out-of-town libel suits, meaning complaints filed in
remote municipal courts (Explanatory Note for the bill which became
Republic Act No. 4363, Congressional Record of May 20, 1965, pp. 424-5;
Time, Inc. v. Reyes, L-28882, May 31, 1971, 39 SCRA 303, 311).

x x x x (emphasis and underscoring supplied)

Clearly, the evil sought to be prevented by the amendment to Article 360

was the indiscriminate or arbitrary laying of the venue in libel cases in
distant, isolated or far-flung areas, meant to accomplish nothing more than
harass or intimidate an accused. The disparity or unevenness of the situation
becomes even more acute where the offended party is a person of sufficient
means or possesses influence, and is motivated by spite or the need for
revenge.

If the circumstances as to where the libel was printed and first published are
used by the offended party as basis for the venue in the criminal action, the
Information must allege with particularity where the defamatory article was
printed and first published, as evidenced or supported by, for instance, the
address of their editorial or business offices in the case of newspapers,
magazines or serial publications. This pre-condition becomes necessary in
order to forestall any inclination to harass.

The same measure cannot be reasonably expected when it pertains to

defamatory material appearing on a website on the internet as there would be
no way of determining the situs of its printing and first publication. To credit
Gimenezs premise of equating his first access to the defamatory article on
petitioners website in Makati with "printing and first publication" would
spawn the very ills that the amendment to Article 360 of the RPC sought to
discourage and prevent. It hardly requires much imagination to see the chaos
that would ensue in situations where the websites author or writer, a blogger
or anyone who posts messages therein could be sued for libel anywhere in
the Philippines that the private complainant may have allegedly accessed the
offending website.
For the Court to hold that the Amended Information sufficiently vested
jurisdiction in the courts of Makati simply because the defamatory article
was accessed therein would open the floodgates to the libel suit being filed
in all other locations where the pepcoalition website is likewise accessed or
capable of being accessed.1avvphi1

Respecting the contention that the venue requirements imposed by Article

360, as amended, are unduly oppressive, the Courts pronouncements in
Chavez37 are instructive:

For us to grant the present petition, it would be necessary to abandon the

Agbayani rule providing that a private person must file the complaint for
libel either in the place of printing and first publication, or at the
complainants place of residence. We would also have to abandon the
subsequent cases that reiterate this rule in Agbayani, such
as Soriano, Agustin, and Macasaet. There is no convincing reason to resort
to such a radical action. These limitations imposed on libel actions filed by
private persons are hardly onerous, especially as they still allow such
persons to file the civil or criminal complaint in their respective places of
residence, in which situation there is no need to embark on a quest to
determine with precision where the libelous matter was printed and first
published.

(Emphasis and underscoring supplied.)

IN FINE, the public respondent committed grave abuse of discretion in

denying petitioners motion to quash the Amended Information.

WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The assailed Order of April 22,

2008 and the Joint Resolution of August 12, 2008 are hereby SET ASIDE.
The Regional Trial Court of Makati City, Br. 149 is hereby DIRECTED TO
QUASH the Amended Information in Criminal Case No. 06-876 and
DISMISS the case.

SO ORDERED.