Where to file libel actions
- Article 360 requires that the criminal and civil action for damages in cases of written defamation be filed simultaneously or separately.
- The action must be filed in 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.
- If one offended party is a public officer whose office is in the City of Manila at the time of the commission of the offense, the action must 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.
- If the public officer does not hold office in the City of Manila, the action must 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.
- If one offended party is a private individual, the action must 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.
- The civil action must be filed in the same court where the criminal action is filed, and vice versa.
- The court where the criminal action or civil action is first filed acquires jurisdiction to the exclusion of other courts.
- Article 360 provides that this amendment does not apply to cases of written defamations where the civil and/or criminal actions have been filed in court at the time of the effectivity of this law.
Preliminary investigation and complaint rule
- Article 360 directs that preliminary investigation of criminal actions for written defamations be conducted by the provincial or city fiscal of the province or city, or by the municipal court of the city or capital of the province where the actions are instituted under the article’s venue and procedure rules.
- Article 360 bars prosecutions for written defamation that consists in the imputation of a crime which cannot be prosecuted de officio.
- A barred prosecution can proceed only at the instance of and upon complaint expressly filed by the offended party.
Conditions for effectivity
- Section 3 makes the Act’s effectivity conditional: it takes effect only if and when, within thirty days from its approval, the newspapermen in the Philippines organize and elect the members of a Philippine Press Council.
- The Philippine Press Council must be a private agency of newspapermen.
- The Philippine Press Council must have functions to promulgate a Code of Ethics for newspapermen and the Philippine press, investigate violations of the Code, and censure any newspaperman or newspaper guilty of a violation.
- The Council’s organization and duly elected members must be ascertained and proclaimed by the President of the Philippines.
Repeal/invalidation; transitory rules
- Section 2 provides that if any section or sections of the Act are declared unconstitutional or invalid, it does not invalidate the other sections.
- Article 360 includes a transitory venue rule: the amendment does not apply to written defamation cases where the civil and/or criminal actions were already filed in court at the time the Act becomes effective.
Enactment details and title
- The Act is Republic Act No. 4363.
- The Act is entitled “AN ACT TO FURTHER AMEND ARTICLE THREE HUNDRED SIXTY OF THE REVISED PENAL CODE.”
- The Act is approved on June 19, 1965.
- The Act’s operative amendments are made through Section 1 by further amending Article 360 of the Revised Penal Code as previously amended by Republic Act No. 1289.