MANILA: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday reiterated that a private complainant in a criminal case cannot question the grant of bail and acquittal in favor of the accused.
The SC emphasized the rule anew in a Second Division ruling that affirmed the grant of bail and the subsequent acquittal of one Emmanuel Pascual, as contained in a news release.
Pascual was charged with three counts of qualified theft for allegedly stealing money from PASDA, Inc., a Tarlac province-based commercial property leasing firm.
He was accused of issuing company checks under his name and pocketing the proceeds.
Pascual was a former president of PASDA and at the time of the alleged incident, a member of the Board of Directors.
The Regional Trial Court found Pascual guilty while the Court of Appeals (CA) granted his petition for bail pending his appeal.
PASDA, the private complainant in the case, challenged the CA decision.
The CA later acquitted Pascua after finding that he was duly authorized under board resolution to issue a
nd withdraw the checks on behalf of PASDA.
PASDA then filed before the SC a petition for certiorari questioning the CA’s grant of bail and acquittal.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), however, sought the dismissal of PASDA’s petition for lack of legal standing to question the criminal aspect of the case.
The SC eventually denied PASDA’s petition, reiterating its ruling in the 2022 case of Austria v. AAA that ‘a private complainant in a criminal case has the legal standing to assail the civil liability of the accused but not the criminal aspect of the case, unless made with the OSG’s conformity.’
The court said “these matters involve the criminal aspect of the case, which only the OSG may bring or defend on behalf of the State, as the party affected in a criminal case.”
‘The interest of the private complainant, on the other hand, is restricted only to the civil liability of the accused. Thus, without the OSG’s conformity, PASDA had no legal standing to question the grant of bail in favor of Pascu
al nor his acquittal,’ the SC ruled.
Source: Philippines News Agency
