Article 61p. 61

SPECIAL RULES OF PROCEDURE SUPPLEMENT TO THE RULES OF COURT

witnesses. Where there are several accused and one or

two filed a petition to bail, the trial prosecutor shall,

before the presentation of his first witness, manifest in

open court that the evidence to be presented in the

hearing of the petition for bail shall be adopted as its

evidence-in-chief.

PART VIڈ ARREST

SECTION 1. Definition of probable cause as a ground for

an arrest or issuance of a warrant of arrest . - Probable

cause is such facts and circumstances which would

lead a reasonably discreet and prudent man to believe

that an offense has been committed by the person

sought to be arrested.

75

SEC. 2. Remedy if no warrant of arrest is issued by the

investigating

judge .

- If

the

investigating

judge

is

satisfied that there is probable cause but did not issue

the warrant of arrest contrary to the prosecutor's belief

that there is a need to place the accused under

custody, the speedy and adequate remedy of the

prosecutor is to immediately file the information so

that the Regional Trial Court judge may issue the

warrant for the arrest of the accused.

76

SEC. 3. Request for a copy of the return . - If a warrant of

arrest has been issued, the prosecutor may request the

warrant officer that he be furnished with the officer's

return relative thereto. The prosecutor shall, as far as

practicable, coordinate with the witnesses from time to

time to ascertain the whereabouts of the accused

pending the latter's arrest.

PART VIIڈ ARRAIGNMENT AND PLEA

SECTION 1. Concept of arraignment . - Arraignment is a

mandatory requirement that seeks to give the accused

the opportunity, at the first instance, to know why the

prosecuting arm of government has been mobilized

against him and to plead. At the arraignment, the

accused may enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

SEC. 2. Duties of trial prosecutor . -

a)

Before the arraignment of the accused, the trial

prosecutor

shall

examine

the

information

vis-a-vis

the

resolution

of the investigating

prosecutor in order to make the necessary

corrections or revisions and to ensure that the

information is sufficient in form and substance.

b)

After arraignment, the trial prosecutor shall

prepare

his witnesses for trial. Government

witnesses, e.g. medico-legal officer, chemist,

forensic

experts,

examiners

etc.

should,

as

much

as

practicable,

be

presented

in

accordance with the logical and chronological

sequence of the technical aspects to be proved.

SEC. 3. Effect of filing a petition for review . - When an

aggrieved party manifests in court that he has a

pending petition for review with the Department of

Justice and moves for a deferment of the arraignment

pending resolution of his petition, the Trial Prosecutor

may conform thereto once proof of said petition has

been presented by the petitioner to his satisfaction.

SEC. 4. Concept of plea . - The plea is the reply of the

accused to the charge. It raises the issue to be tried and

on which the judgment/sentence of the court can be

properly based.

PART VIIIڈ PRE-TRIAL

77

SECTION 1. Concept of pre-trial . - A pre-trial is a process

75 Bemas, The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, a

Commentary, Vol. I, First Ed., 1987, pp.86-87 cited in Department

Circular No.24, dated March 24 1995.

76 Samulde vs. Salvani,Jr., 165 SCRA 724 [1988].

77 Rule 118, Rules on Criminal Procedure.

whereby the accused and the prosecutors in a criminal

case work out, usually at the arraignment stage, a

naturally satisfactory disposition of a case subject to

court approval in order to expedite the trial of the case.

78

The prosecutor shall enter into a pre-trial only when the

accused and counsel agree and upon order of the

court.

SEC. 2. Duties of prosecutor before and after the

pre-trial conference . - Before the pre-trial conference,

the prosecutor should know every fact and detail of the

case.

This can be accomplished by interviewing the

complainant and other witnesses and after a thorough

examination of the available documentary and other

physical

evidence.

The

prosecutor

should

place

importance on the testimony of the expert witness. The

knowledge that the prosecutor will gain from said

witness

will

help

him

determine

the

procedures

undertaken in the examination of a subject or thing;

the

scientific

or

technical terms applied, and the

reason/s in arriving at a certain conclusion.

During the pre-trial process, the prosecutor shall bear in

mind that he has to prove his case beyond a reasonable

doubt and that every act or incident should be proved

by the testimony of qualified and competent witnesses.

After the pre-trial conference, the prosecutor shall

ensure that any agreement or admission made or

entered therein is in writing and signed by the accused

and his counsel.

SEC. 3. Subject matters of pre-trial . - The pre-trial

conference shall consider the following:

a)

Plea bargaining - This is a process where the

defendants

usually plead guilty to a lesser

offense or to only one or some of the counts of

a multi-count indictment in return for a lighter

sentence than that for the graver charge ;

79

b)

Stipulation of facts- This is the agreement of

the parties on some facts admitted, some facts

covered by judicial notice (Sec. 1, Rule 129),

judicial admissions (Sec. 2 Rule 129), or on

matters not otherwise disputed by them. In

cases requiring the presentation of government

witnesses

or

evidence,

the Trial Prosecutor

should exert every effort to secure a waiver by

the accused of objections to the admissibility of

certain documentary evidence, e.g., medical or

death

certificate,

necropsy

report,

forensic

chemistry report, ballistics report, Philippine

Overseas

and

Employment

Administration

(POEA)

Certification,

and

the

like,

if

such

evidence has no relevance whatsoever to the

theory of the defense, in order to dispense with

the presentation and testimony in court of

government witnesses. Whenever appropriate

or

necessary,

the

counter-affidavit

of

the

accused

submitted

luring

the

preliminary

investigation may be resorted to or availed of to

denions~rate or establish the defense theory;

c)

Marking of documentary evidence in advance

for identification;

d)

Waiver in advance of objections to admissibility

of evidence;

e)

List of witnesses to be presented which should

be qualified by the following statement: "that

other

witnesses

may

be

presented

in

the

course of the trial"; and

f)

Such other matters as will promote a fair and

expeditious trial.

SEC. 4. Plea of guilty to a lesser offense . - The following

78 Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Ed. 1979, p.1037.

79 ibid, p.1037.

© Compiled By RGL

61 of 98