Criminal
Procedure
Rule 111
Section 1. Institution of criminal and civil actions.
• GENERAL RULE:
When a criminal action is instituted, the civil action for the
recovery of civil liability arising from the offense shall be
deemed instituted with the criminal action.
Exception: unless the offended party
1. Waives the civil action
2. Reserve the right to institute separately
3. Institutes the civil action prior to the criminal action
When reservation shall be made:
1. Before the prosecution starts to present its evidence ;
and
2. Under circumstances affording the offended party a
reasonable opportunity to make such reservation.
Rules on filing fees of civil action deemed
instituted with the criminal action
1. No filing fees are required for amounts of actual
damages, except with respect to criminal actions for
violation of BP 22, in which case the offended party shall
pay in full the filing fess based on the face value of the
check as the actual damages.
2. Where the amount of damages, other than actual, is
specified in the complaint or information, the
corresponding filing fees shall be paid by the offended
party upon the filing thereof in court
3. 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 thereof shall
constitute a first lien on the judgement awarding such
damages
• No counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party complaint may
be filed by the accused in the criminal case, but any cause
of action which could have been the subject thereof may
be litigated in a separate civil action.
Section 2. When separate civil action is suspended.
GR: After the criminal action has been commenced, the separate civil
action arising therefrom cannot be instituted until final judgment has
been entered in the criminal action.
ER:
1. In cases of independent civil actions based upon Arts. 32, 33, 34
and 2176 of the Civil Code
2. In cases where the civil action presents a prejudicial question
3. In cases where the civil action is consolidated with the
criminal action;
4. Where the civil action is not one intended to enforce the
civil liability arising from the offense
• Consolidation before judgment on the merits is rendered in the civil action,
the same may, upon motion of the offended party, be consolidated with the
criminal action in the court trying the criminal action.
• the evidence already adduced in the civil action shall be deemed
automatically reproduced in the criminal action without prejudice to the
right of the prosecution to cross- examine the witnesses presented by the
offended party in the criminal case and of the parties to present additional
evidence. The consolidated criminal and civil actions shall be tried and
decided jointly
• During the pendency of the criminal action, the running of the period
of prescription of the civil action which cannot be instituted
separately or whose proceeding has been suspended shall be tolled.
• The extinction of the penal action does not carry with it extinction of
the civil action. However the civil action based on delict shall be
deemed extinguished if there is a finding in a final judgment in the
criminal action that the act or omission from which the civil liability
may arise did not exist.
Section 3. When civil action may
proceed independently.
• In the cases provided for in Articles 32, 33, 34 and 2176 of
the Civil Code of the Philippines, the independent civil
action may be brought by the offended party. It shall
proceed independently of the criminal action and shall
require only a preponderance of evidence. In no case,
however, may the offended party recover damages twice
for the same act or omission charged in the criminal
action. (3a)
Section 4. Effect of death on civil
actions.
1. If the accused dies before arraignment, the case shall be
dismissed without prejudice to any civil action the offended
party may file against the estate of the accused
2. If the accused dies after arraignment and during the
pendency of the criminal action, the civil liability arising from
the delict shall be extinguished.
• Exceptions:
• the independent civil action instituted under section 3 of
this Rule or which thereafter is instituted to enforce
liability arising from other sources of obligation may be
continued against the estate or legal representative of the
accused after proper substitution or against said estate; or
• if the civil action has been reserved and subsequently
filed or such civil action has been instituted when the
accused died, such civil action will proceed and
substitetion of parties shall be ordered by the court
3. If the accused dies during the appeal, his civil and
criminal liabilities are extinguished
4. If the accused dies after final judgment, the pecuniary
liabilities of the accused are not extinguished. Claims shall
be filed against the estate of the accused (ROC, Rule 86)
Section 5. Judgment in civil action
not a bar
• A final judgment rendered in a civil action absolving the
defendant from civil liability is not a bar to a criminal
action against the defendant for the same act or omission
subject of the civil action
Section 6. Suspension by reason of
prejudicial question.
• A petition for suspension of the criminal action based
upon the pendency of a prejudicial question in a civil
action may be filed in the office of the prosecutor or the
court conducting the preliminary investigation.
• When the criminal action has been filed in court for trial,
the petition to suspend shall be filed in the same criminal
action at any time before the prosecution rests.
Section 7. Elements of prejudicial
question.
• Prejudicial Question- One which arises in a case, the
resolution of which is a logical antecedent of the issue
involved therein and the cognizance of which pertains to
another tribunal.
• Elements of PQ:
• The civil action must be constituted prior to the criminal action;
• That the civil action involves an issue similar or intimately
related to the issue raised in the subsequent criminal action; and
• the resolution of such issue determines whether or not the
criminal action may proceed.
• When to file petition for suspension by reason of a PQ:
During the Preliminary investigation;
In court before the prosecution rests its case
• Where to file:
Office of the Prosecutor; or
Court where the criminal action has been filed for trial at
any time before the prosecution rests.
