Facts:
The petitioners were
Mayor Anwar Berua Balindong, Lt. Col. Jalandoni Cota, Mayor Amer Oden Balindong, and Ali Balindong who were implicated in a shooting in Poblacion, Malabang, Lanao del Sur on May 11, 1998 that resulted in two deaths and other serious injuries. The investigating prosecutor initially found
probable cause to charge them with two counts of murder with attempted murder, two counts of frustrated murder, and one count of attempted murder, and informations were filed in the RTC of Malabang and later amended and refiled in various RTC branches following reinvestigations and venue transfers. The parties pursued administrative and judicial remedies up to the Department of Justice where a series of DOJ resolutions in August 1999, December 1999, and March 2000 required the filing of informations for murder, frustrated murder and attempted murder, and thereafter further motions for reconsideration and a third motion resulted in Secretary Perez's March 12, 2001 Resolution which attempted to downgrade and to dismiss some respondents, but that action was annulled by the Court of Appeals and thereafter affirmed by the Supreme Court in its Decision of December 16, 2004 in
G.R. No. 159962, which ordered implementation of the RTC resolution authorizing issuance of arrest warrants; that Decision became final and executory in 2005. After successive rafflings and motions in various RTC branches, Judge Ralph S. Lee issued an order dated May 12, 2006 downgrading the charges; Judge Vivencio S. Baclig denied the prosecution's motion for reconsideration on October 18, 2006; the Office of the Solicitor General filed certiorari in the Court of Appeals which, on April 24, 2007 in
CA-G.R. SP No. 97121, reversed and set aside the May 12 and October 18, 2006 orders; the cases were re-raffled and reached
Presiding Judge Alexander S. Balut of RTC Branch 76, who on July 16, 2007 deferred action on a Motion for Reconsideration and suspended enforcement of alias warrants pending resolution of the then-pending petition for review in
G.R. No. 177600; the prosecution and private complainant
Zenaida M. Limbona brought actions up to the Supreme Court, including a petition for contempt against Judge Balut in
G.R. No. 178684 and the consolidated petition for review on certiorari in
G.R. No. 177600 challenging the CA ruling.
Issues:
Whether, after the exhaustion of the preliminary investigation and administrative and judicial review culminating in the final and executory Decision in
G.R. No. 159962, the accused and the trial court were still permitted to invoke
Section 14, Rule 110 or
Section 19, Rule 119 of the Rules of Court to seek a judicial re-determination of
probable cause that would result in downgrading the charges. Whether
Presiding Judge Alexander S. Balut committed
indirect contempt by suspending enforcement of the alias warrants of arrest while a petition for review was pending before the Supreme Court.
Ruling:
Ratio:
Doctrine: