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THE
PEOPLE OF THE
PHILIPPINES,
G.
R.
No. L-1424
February
17, 1948
-versus-
FERNANDO CARPIZO, Defendant-Appellee. 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:
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. |
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