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SECOND
DIVISION
THE
PEOPLE OF THE
PHILIPPINES,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
G.
R.
No. L-1424
February
17, 1948
-versus-
FERNANDO
CARPIZO,
Defendant-Appellee.
D
E C I S I
O N
TUASON,
J :
This is an appeal from
an Order of the Court of First Instance of Sulu dismissing an
Information
for assault upon an agent of authority with slight physical injuries,
on
a Motion to Quash based on the ground that the facts alleged in the
said
Information do not constitute the crime charged.
The Information recites
as follows:
"That on or about the
29th day of April, 1946, in the Municipality of Jolo, Province of Sulu,
Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, the said
accused
being the husband of Mrs. Martina Carpizo, the creditor of provincial
voucher
No. A-2250, which voucher is on pre-audit in the possession of Eutiquio
de la Victoria, clerk, duly appointed in the office of the Provincial
Auditor
of Sulu, and while the said Eutiquio de la Victoria was in the point of
writing on the typewriter the tentative suspension of said voucher No.
A-2250, for being defective, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully
and
criminally attacked the said Eutiquio de la Victoria and took hold of
his
neck with his left hand and at the same time inflicted upon him a
fistic
blow on his left cheek which produced a contusion thereon and scratches
on the left arm, which injuries have required and will require medical
attendance for a period of four days and have incapacitated and will
incapacitate
him in the customary performance of his official duties as such clerk
for
the same period of time."
The
Motion to Quash is
well taken. The alleged victim of the attack, a mere clerk in the
provincial
auditor's office, is not a person in authority or an agent of a person
in authority. A person in authority, in the words of Article 152 of the
Revised Penal Code, is "any person directly vested with jurisdiction,
whether
as an individual or as a member of some court or governmental
corporation,
board or commission;" while an agent of a person in authority is one
who,
by direct provisions of law, or by appointment by competent authority,
is charged with the maintenance of public order and the protection and
security of life and property, or who comes to the aid of a person in
authority.
[U. S. vs. Fortaleza, 12 Phil., 472].
Even if, as the
Solicitor
General says, it be possible that this particular clerk might be
clothed
with functions that bring him under the above definition of an agent of
a person in authority, still such functions must be clearly shown in
the
Information. Merely to say that a clerk is an agent of a person in
authority
is a conclusion of law. Jurisdictional facts must be alleged if courts
are to entertain jurisdiction. Court jurisdiction is not made to depend
on what might turn up in the course of the trial.
With the elimination
of the charge for assault, the remaining offense does not fall within
the
original jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance. The offense of
slight
physical injuries, formerly a mere misdemeanor, is, upon the
allegations
of the Information, punishable with arresto menor.
The Order of the lower
Court granting the Motion to Quash is affirmed.
Paras, Perfecto and
Briones, JJ., concur. |
