Pp v. Santiago Digest 1922

G.R. No. 17584             March 8, 1922

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES ISLANDS, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
GREGORIO SANTIAGO, defendant-appellant.

Facts of the Case: 

    The accused, Gregorio Santiago was driving an automobile at the rate of 30 miles an hour on a highway 6 meter wide, notwithstanding the fact that he had to pass a narrow space between a wagon standing on one side of the road and a heap of stones on the other side where there were two young boys at. One of the boys named, Porforio Parondo was ran over and killed. Appellant was prosecuted for the crime of homicide by reckless negligence as a result and was sentenced to suffer one year and one day of prision correccional, and to pay the costs of the trial.

            These facts are so well established in the records that there cannot be a shade of doubt about them.

         However, the herein appellant contends that the trial court erred in not taking judicial notice of the fact that the appellant was being prosecuted in conformity with Act No. 2886 of the Philippine Legislature and that the Act is unconstitutional and gave no jurisdiction in this case.

         Act No. 2886 states, “All prosecutions for public offenses shall be in the name of the People of the Philippine Islands against the persons charged with the offense.”, while in General Order No. 58, “All prosecutions for public offenses shall be in the name of the United States against the persons charged with the offenses.”

Issue: Whether or not the General Order No. 58 can be amended by Act. No. 2886.

Held:

        Yes. General Order No. 58 can be amended. It has a statutory character rather than constitutional character. The procedure in criminal matters is not incorporated in the Constitutions of the States, but is left in the hand of the legislatures, so that it falls within the realm of public statutory law. Since the provisions of this General Order have the character of statutory law, the power of the Legislature to amend it, is self-evident.

          The sentence appealed from is affirmed.