MACAPAGAL-ARROYO v. PEOPLE

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Vs. People of the Philippines and the Sandiganbayan/Benigno B. Aguas Vs. Sandiganbayan

G.R. No. 220598/G.R. No. 220953

April 18, 2017

FACTS:

On July 19, 2016, the Court promulgated its decision disposing: WHEREFORE, the Court GRANTS the petitions for certiorari; ANNULS and SETS ASIDE the resolutions issued in Criminal Case No. SB-12-CRM-0174 by the Sandiganbayan on April 6, 2015 and September 10, 2015; GRANTS the petitioners' respective demurrers to evidence; DISMISSES Criminal Case No. SB-12-CRM-0174 as to the petitioners GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO and BENIGNO AGUAS for insufficiency of evidence; ORDERS the immediate release from detention of said petitioners; and MAKES no pronouncements on costs of suit.

On August 3, 2016, the State, through the Office of the Ombudsman, has moved for the reconsideration of the decision.

In contrast, the petitioners submit that the decision has effectively barred the consideration and granting of the motion for reconsideration of the State because doing so would amount to the re-prosecution or revival of the charge against them despite their acquittal, and would thereby violate the constitutional proscription against double jeopardy.

Petitioner Benigno B. Aguas echoes the contentions of Arroyo in urging the Court to deny the motion for reconsideration.

In reply, the State avers that the prohibition against double jeopardy does not apply because it was denied its day in court, thereby rendering the decision void; that the Court should re-examine the facts and pieces of evidence in order to find the petitioners guilty as charged; and that the allegations of the information sufficiently included all that was necessary to fully inform the petitioners of the accusations against them.

ISSUE:

Wheteher or not the consideration and granting of the motion for reconsideration of the State will amount to the violation of the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy.

HELD:

Yes. Granting the motion for reconsideration would violate the Constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.

Section 21, Article III (Bill of Rights) of the 1987 Constitution states:

No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense. If an act is punished by a law and an ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall constitute a bar to another prosecution for the same act.

The constitutional prohibition against placing a person under double jeopardy for the same offense bars not only a new and independent prosecution but also an appeal in the same action after jeopardy had attached. As such, every acquittal becomes final immediately upon promulgation and cannot be recalled for correction or amendment.

In the present case, the Court's consequential dismissal of Criminal Case No. SB-12-CRM-0174 as to the petitioners for insufficiency of evidence amounted to their acquittal of the crime of plunder charged against them. With the acquittal being immediately final, granting the State's motion for reconsideration in this case would violate the Constitutional prohibition.

It is cogent to remind in this regard that the Constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy provides to the accused three related protections, specifically: protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and protection against multiple punishments for the same offense.