503 Phil. 306
PANGANIBAN, J.:
"For consideration is the opposition of the accused, through counsel, to the formal entry of appearance of private prosecutor.
"Accused, through counsel, contends that the private prosecutor is barred from appearing before this Court as his appearance is limited to the civil aspect which must be presented and asserted in B.P. 22 cases pending before the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City.
"The private prosecutor submitted comment stating that the offended party did not manifest within fifteen (15) days following the filing of the information that the civil liability arising from the crime has been or would be separately prosecuted and that she should therefore be required to pay the legal fees pursuant to Section 20 of Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, as amended.
"Considering that the prosecution under B.P. 22 is without prejudice to any liability for violation of any provision of the Revised Penal Code (BP 22, Sec. 5), the civil action for the recovery of the civil liability arising from the estafa cases pending before this Court is deemed instituted with the criminal action (Rule 111, Sec. 1 [a]). The offended party may thus intervene by counsel in the prosecution of the offense (Rule 110. Sec. 16).
"WHEREFORE, the appearance of a private prosecutor shall be allowed upon payment of the legal fees for these estafa cases pending before this Court pursuant to Section 1 of Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, as amended."[4]
"On 10 December 2001, the Honorable Assistant City Prosecutor Rossana S. Morales-Montojo of Quezon City Prosecutor's Office issued her Resolution in I.S. No. 01-15902, the dispositive portion of which reads as follows:"Premises considered, there being PROBABLE CAUSE to charge respondent for ESTAFA under Article 315 paragraph 2(d) as amended by PD 818 and for Violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22, it is respectfully recommended that the attached Information be approved and filed in Court.""As a consequence thereof, separate informations were separately filed against herein [p]etitioner before proper [c]ourts, for Estafa and [v]iolation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22.
"Upon payment of the assessed and required docket fees by the [p]rivate [c]omplainant, the informations for [v]iolation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 against herein [p]etitioner were filed and raffled to the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 42, docketed as Criminal Cases Nos. 0108033 to 36.
"On the other hand, the informations for [e]stafa cases against herein [p]etitioner were likewise filed and raffled to the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 104, docketed as Criminal Cases Nos. 01-106256 to 59.
"On 17 June 2002, petitioner through counsel filed in open court before the [p]ublic [r]espondent an 'Opposition to the Formal Entry of Appearance of the Private Prosecutor' dated 14 June 2002.
"The [p]ublic [r]espondent court during the said hearing noted the Formal Entry of Appearance of Atty. Felix R. Solomon as [p]rivate [p]rosecutor as well as the Opposition filed thereto by herein [p]etitioner. x x x.
"As ordered by the Court, [p]rivate [c]omplainant through counsel filed her Comment to the Opposition of herein [p]etitioner.
"On 27 June 2002, the [p]ublic [r]espondent court issued the first assailed Order allowing the appearance of the [p]rivate [p]rosecutor in the above-entitled criminal cases upon payment of the legal fees pursuant to Section 1 of Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, as amended.
"On 31 July 2002, [a]ccused through counsel filed a Motion for Reconsideration dated 26 July 2002.
"On 16 August 2002, the [p]ublic [r]espondent court issued the second assailed Order denying the Motion for Reconsideration of herein [p]etitioner."[5]
"Whether or not a [p]rivate [p]rosecutor can be allowed to intervene and participate in the proceedings of the above-entitled [e]stafa cases for the purpose of prosecuting the attached civil liability arising from the issuance of the checks involved which is also subject mater of the pending B.P. 22 cases."[7]
"SECTION 16. Intervention of the offended party in criminal action. -- Where the civil action for recovery of civil liability is instituted in the criminal action pursuant to Rule 111, the offended party may intervene by counsel in the prosecution of the offense."Based on the foregoing rules, an offended party may intervene in the prosecution of a crime, except in the following instances: (1) when, from the nature of the crime and the law defining and punishing it, no civil liability arises in favor of a private offended party; and (2) when, from the nature of the offense, the offended parties are entitled to civil indemnity, but (a) they waive the right to institute a civil action, (b) expressly reserve the right to do so or (c) the suit has already been instituted. In any of these instances, the private complainant's interest in the case disappears and criminal prosecution becomes the sole function of the public prosecutor.[8] None of these exceptions apply to the instant case. Hence, the private prosecutor cannot be barred from intervening in the estafa suit.
"SECTION 1. Institution of criminal and civil actions. -- (a) When a criminal action is instituted, the civil action for the recovery of civil liability arising from the offense charged shall be deemed instituted with the criminal action unless the offended party waives the civil action, reserves the right to institute it separately or institutes the civil action prior to the criminal action.
"The reservation of the right to institute separately the civil action shall be made before the prosecution starts presenting its evidence and under circumstances affording the offended party a reasonable opportunity to make such reservation.
"When the offended party seeks to enforce civil liability against the accused by way of moral, nominal, temperate, or exemplary damages without specifying the amount thereof in the complaint or information, the filing fees therefor shall constitute a first lien on the judgment awarding such damages.x x x x x x x x x
"(b) The criminal action for violation of Batas Pambansa Blg. 22 shall be deemed to include the corresponding civil action. No reservation to file such civil action separately shall be allowed.
"Upon filing of the aforesaid joint criminal and civil actions, the offended party shall pay in full the filing fees based on the amount of the check involved, which shall be considered as the actual damages claimed. Where the complaint or information also seeks to recover liquidated, moral, nominal, temperate or exemplary damages, the offended party shall pay the filing fees based on the amounts alleged therein. If the amounts are not so alleged but any of these damages are subsequently awarded by the court, the filing fees based on the amount awarded shall constitute a first lien on the judgment.
"Where the civil action has been filed separately and trial thereof has not yet commenced, it may be consolidated with the criminal action upon application with the court trying the latter case. If the application is granted, the trial of both actions shall proceed in accordance with section 2 of this Rule governing consolidation of the civil and criminal actions."
"Generally, the basis of civil liability arising from crime is the fundamental postulate of our law that 'Every man criminally liable is also civilly liable' (Art. 100, The Revised Penal Code). Underlying this legal principle is the traditional theory that when a person commits a crime he offends two entities namely (1) the society in which he lives in or the political entity called the State whose law he had violated; and (2) the individual member of that society whose person, right, honor, chastity or property was actually or directly injured or damaged by the same punishable act or omission. However, this rather broad and general provision is among the most complex and controversial topics in criminal procedure. It can be misleading in its implications especially where the same act or omission may be treated as a crime in one instance and as a tort in another or where the law allows a separate civil action to proceed independently of the course of the criminal prosecution with which it is intimately intertwined. Many legal scholars treat as a misconception or fallacy the generally accepted notion that the civil liability actually arises from the crime when, in the ultimate analysis, it does not. While an act or omission is felonious because it is punishable by law, it gives rise to civil liability not so much because it is a crime but because it caused damage to another. Viewing things pragmatically, we can readily see that what gives rise to the civil liability is really the obligation and the moral duty of everyone to repair or make whole the damage caused to another by reason of his own act or omission, done intentionally or negligently, whether or not the same be punishable by law. In other words, criminal liability will give rise to civil liability only if the same felonious act or omission results in damage or injury to another and is the direct and proximate cause thereof. Damage or injury to another is evidently the foundation of the civil action. Such is not the case in criminal actions for, to be criminally liable, it is enough that the act or omission complained of is punishable, regardless of whether or not it also causes material damage to another. (See Sangco, Philippine Law on Torts and Damages, 1978, Revised Edition, pp. 246-247)."Thus, the possible single civil liability arising from the act of issuing a bouncing check can be the subject of both civil actions deemed instituted with the estafa case and the BP 22 violation prosecution. In the crimes of both estafa and violation of BP 22, Rule 111 of the Rules of Court expressly allows, even automatically in the present case, the institution of a civil action without need of election by the offended party. As both remedies are simultaneously available to this party, there can be no forum shopping.[11]
"As a technical rule of procedure, the purpose of the doctrine of election of remedies is not to prevent recourse to any remedy, but to prevent double redress for a single wrong.[15] It is regarded as an application of the law of estoppel, upon the theory that a party cannot, in the assertion of his right occupy inconsistent positions which form the basis of his respective remedies. However, when a certain state of facts under the law entitles a party to alternative remedies, both founded upon the identical state of facts, these remedies are not considered inconsistent remedies. In such case, the invocation of one remedy is not an election which will bar the other, unless the suit upon the remedy first invoked shall reach the stage of final adjudication or unless by the invocation of the remedy first sought to be enforced, the plaintiff shall have gained an advantage thereby or caused detriment or change of situation to the other.[16] It must be pointed out that ordinarily, election of remedies is not made until the judicial proceedings has gone to judgment on the merits.[17]In the present cases before us, the institution of the civil actions with the estafa cases and the inclusion of another set of civil actions with the BP 22 cases are not exactly repugnant or inconsistent with each other. Nothing in the Rules signifies that the necessary inclusion of a civil action in a criminal case for violation of the Bouncing Checks Law[20] precludes the institution in an estafa case of the corresponding civil action, even if both offenses relate to the issuance of the same check.
"Consonant with these rulings, this Court, through Justice J.B.L. Reyes, opined that while some American authorities hold that the mere initiation of proceedings constitutes a binding choice of remedies that precludes pursuit of alternative courses, the better rule is that no binding election occurs before a decision on the merits is had or a detriment to the other party supervenes.[18] This is because the principle of election of remedies is discordant with the modern procedural concepts embodied in the Code of Civil Procedure which permits a party to seek inconsistent remedies in his claim for relief without being required to elect between them at the pleading stage of the litigation."[19]
"Section 20. Other Fees. - The following fees shall also be collected by the clerks of Regional Trial Courts or courts of the first level, as the case may be:[25] Unlike in Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1606 (Revising Presidential Decree No. 1486 Creating A Special Court to Be Known as "Sandiganbayan" and For Other Purposes, December 10, 1978), as amended, which provides:
(a) In estafa cases where the offended party fails to manifest within fifteen (15) days following the filing of the information that the civil liability arising from the crime has been or would be separately prosecuted[.]"
"Any provision of law or Rules of Court to the contrary notwithstanding, the criminal action and the corresponding civil action for the recovery of civil liability shall at all times be simultaneously instituted with, and jointly determined in, the same proceeding by the Sandiganbayan or the appropriate courts, the filing of the criminal action being deemed to necessarily carry with it the filing of the civil action, and no right to reserve the filing of such civil action separately from the criminal action shall be recognized: Provided, however, That where the civil action had heretofore been filed separately but judgment therein has not yet been rendered, and the criminal case is hereafter filed with the Sandiganbayan or the appropriate court, said civil action shall be transferred to the Sandiganbayan or the appropriate court, as the case may be, for consolidation and joint determination with the criminal action, otherwise the separate action shall be deemed abandoned."[26] See Abellana v. Marave, 156 Phil. 79, May 29, 1974. Section 5 of Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution provides:
"Sec. 5. The Supreme Court shall have the following powers:[27] See Banal v. Tadeo Jr.; supra, p. 331.x x x x x x x x x"(5) Promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights, pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts, the admission to the practice of law, the Integrated Bar, and legal assistance to the underprivileged. Such rules shall provide a simplified and inexpensive procedure for the speedy disposition of cases, shall be uniform for all courts of the same grade, and shall not diminish, increase, or modify substantive rights. Rules of procedure of special courts and quasi-judicial bodies shall remain effective unless disapproved by the Supreme Court."