1. Concept

Concept of Criminal Jurisdiction

Concept

Criminal jurisdiction concerns a court’s authority to take cognizance of a criminal action and exercise judicial power over it. Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and in lower courts established by law. The concept must be kept distinct from the procedural questions of how a criminal action is instituted and where it is instituted and tried. (Art. VIII, Sec. 1, 1987 Const.)¹ (Rule 110, Sec. 1, Rules of Court)² (Rule 110, Sec. 15, Rules of Court)³

Governing provisions

Rule 110 governs the institution of criminal actions and identifies the court or territory where an action is to be instituted and tried. Its rule on the sufficiency of the alleged place of commission also matters: the allegations must show that the offense, or an essential ingredient, occurred somewhere within the court’s jurisdiction, subject to the rule’s qualification for a place that is an essential element or necessary to identify the offense. (Rule 110, Sec. 1, Rules of Court)² (Rule 110, Sec. 15, Rules of Court)³ (Rule 110, Sec. 10, Rules of Court)⁴

Requisites / Rules

• Where preliminary investigation is required, the criminal action is instituted by filing a complaint with the proper officer for that purpose. For other offenses, Rule 110 provides for filing directly with the specified municipal trial courts or with the prosecutor’s office, subject to its rule for Manila and other chartered cities. (Rule 110, Sec. 1, Rules of Court)²
• Subject to existing laws, the ordinary territorial rule places institution and trial in the court of the municipality or territory where the offense was committed or any essential ingredient occurred. The complaint or information need not identify a more particular place unless that place is an essential element of the offense or necessary for its identification. (Rule 110, Sec. 15, Rules of Court)³ (Rule 110, Sec. 10, Rules of Court)⁴
• A complaint is a sworn written charge subscribed by the offended party, a peace officer, or another public officer charged with enforcing the law violated. (Rule 110, Sec. 3, Rules of Court)⁵

Distinctions

Filing rules and territorial rules answer different questions. Rule 110, Section 1 addresses the step that institutes the action; Section 15 identifies where it is instituted and tried. Neither question should be confused with an investigating prosecutor’s prior written approval to file an information: that approval is a formal, non-jurisdictional requisite that may be waived. (Rule 110, Sec. 1, Rules of Court)² (Rule 110, Sec. 15, Rules of Court)³ (Gomez v. People, G.R. No. 216824, 10 November 2020)⁶

Key doctrines

A court’s lack of jurisdiction over a criminal prosecution has serious consequences: its orders and proceedings are void and must be annulled, and the case dismissed. But a trial court cannot, on its own initiative, quash an information on the ground that the prosecutor lacked the required prior written approval; the right to move to quash belongs to the accused. (Non v. . Office of the Ombudsman, G.R. No. 251177, 8 September 2020)⁷ (Gomez v. People)⁶

Exceptions

Rule 110 provides specific territorial rules for offenses committed aboard a vehicle during a trip or a vessel during a voyage. It also places crimes committed outside the Philippines but punishable under Article 2 of the Revised Penal Code within the cognizance of the court where the criminal action is first filed. These provisions qualify the ordinary place-of-commission rule. (Rule 110, Sec. 15, Rules of Court)³

Bar tip

Identify the precise issue first: authority to hear the prosecution, the manner of filing, or the place of institution and trial. A defect in prosecutorial approval is not, by itself, a loss of the court’s jurisdiction. (Gomez v. People)⁶ (Rule 110, Sec. 1, Rules of Court)² (Rule 110, Sec. 15, Rules of Court)³