BERTENI CATALUÑA CAUSING, PETITIONER, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF QUEZON CITY, BRANCH 93, OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR OF QUEZON CITY, AND REPRESENTATIVE FERDINAND LEDESMA HERNANDEZ OF THE SECOND DISTRICT OF SOUTH COTABATO, RESPONDENTS.
https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2023/oct2023/gr_258524_2023.html
"Xxx.
Nevertheless, the principle of hierarchy of courts is not an iron-clad rule and there are well-recognized exceptions to its application.50 Thus, the Court has given due course to petitions for certiorari directly filed with the Court because the issues raised therein are purely legal, even though the assailed orders were rendered by the trial courts and the CA is ordinarily the more appropriate forum for such petitions.51 Direct resort to the Court has likewise been recognized when the writ of certiorari prayed for relates to the Supreme Court's role in promulgating doctrinal devices and leading the judiciary, by either overturning or reiterating prior rulings, taking into consideration new circumstances or confusions of bench or bar.52
The Petition presents exceptional circumstances that justify its direct filing with the Court.
First, the Petition raises issues on prescription of a crime that are purely legal in nature. Relevantly, the Court has held that prescription may be a question of law if it involves doubt or controversy as to what the law is on a given state of facts and there is no need to determine the veracity of factual matters as regards the date when the period to bring the action commenced to run.53
Here, the Petition does not pray for the Court to review factual matters by re-examining or re-evaluating evidence in the proceedings a quo. Instead, it raises issues on the correct interpretation of Section 4(c)(4) of RA 10175 and the law that should apply in setting the prescriptive period of Cyber Libel – be it paragraph 4, Article 90 of the RPC where the prescriptive period is one year, as argued by Causing; Section 1, Act No. 3326 where the prescriptive period is 12 years, as determined by the RTC; or paragraph 2, Article 90 of the RPC where the prescriptive period is 15 years, as held in Tolentino. The interpretation and application of these laws is purely legal.54
Second, the Petition behooves the Court to either break new ground or reiterate its ruling in Tolentino. To recall, the Court in Tolentino held that a criminal complaint for Cyber Libel filed on August 8, 2017 based on a Facebook post dated April 29, 2015, or more than two (2) years from publication, was filed within the prescriptive period because Section 6 of RA 10175 made the penalty for Cyber Libel afflictive, making the said crime prescribe in 15 years under paragraph 2, Article 90 of the RPC.
Causing argues that Tolentino is not a binding precedent because it is an unsigned resolution. This is wrong. As pointed out by the OSG, Eizmendi, Jr. already settles this issue by holding that an unsigned resolution, like Tolentino, constitutes a binding precedent if it states clearly and distinctly the facts and law on which it is based and is not a mere dismissal of a petition for failure to comply with formal and substantive requirements.55
Hence, the Court's ruling on the present Petition will resolve with finality the stream of conflicting opinions of the bench and bar on the provisions of laws that must be applied in setting the prescriptive period of Cyber Libel – by either reiterating Tolentino or overturning it based on the Court's evaluation and interpretation of the relevant statutes. Because it is only the Court that has the power to overturn its prior rulings, Causing's direct resort to the Court is justified.
Xxx."
