Heirs of Sarah Marie Palma Burgos vs. Court of Appeals and Johnny Co y Yu

G.R. No. 169711, February 8, 2010; per Abad, J.

Facts

On 1992 assailants attacked the household of Sarah Marie Palma killing Sarah et.al. Four months after the incident, the police arrested suspects, who pointed two others and respondent Co who allegedly masterminded the whole thing. After 10 years of hiding, respondent Co surrendered. The prosecution charged him with two counts of murder and two counts of frustrated murder. Upon arraignment, Co pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On September 25, 2002 respondent Co filed a petition for admission to bail which the RTC granted on the ground that the evidence of guilt of respondent Co was not strong. Petitioner moved for reconsideration but the RTC denied the same prompting petitioner to seek a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction before the CA. Offended parties now seek for a reversal of the trial court’s order granting bail to the accused on the ground of absence of strong evidence of guilt.

Issue

Whether or not private offended parties have legal standing, without Solicitor General’s intervention, to seek reversal of trial court’s order granting bail to the accused

Ruling

The Supreme Court ruled that the offended parties do not have legal standing for they are regarded merely as a witness for the state. Only the state, through its appellate counsel, the OSG, has the sole right and authority to institute proceedings before the CA or the Supreme Court. As a general rule, the mandate or authority to represent the state lies only in the OSG. The Court is firmly convinced that considering the spirit and the letter of the law, there can be no other logical interpretation of Sec. 35 of the Administrative Code than that it is, indeed, mandatory upon the OSG to “represent the Government of the Philippines, its agencies and instrumentalities and its officials and agents in any litigation, proceeding, investigation or matter requiring the services of a lawyer. For the above reason, actions essentially involving the interest of the state, if not initiated by the Solicitor General, are, as a rule summarily dismissed.