I. Title of the Case Benjamin P. Martinez versus Court of Appeals, and People of the Philippines General Record No. 168827

II. Parties Involved Benjamin Martinez—the respondent Court of Appeals and People of the Philippines—plaintiff

III. Facts of the Case The petitioner, Benjamin Martinez was making rumors that the Dean and Elisa Basallo, spouse of Benjamin, had illicit relations. Benjamin even told this to the wife of the Dean that the latter has mistress. Dean and his wife filed a complaint for damages. Elvisa also filed a complaint against the spouse Martinez in the Municipal Circuit Trial Court due to the reason that Benjamin Martinez accused her of having an illicit relationship with the Dean. One time the petitioner, armed with bolo, stabbed the Dean while outside a building. The petitioner left right away. The police came and what they’ve seen was just the Barangay Captain Rodolfo Oller and his son Nicky Oller. Nicky handed the bolo which the petitioner had used to stab the Dean. As they passed the loading area of tricycles, petitioner shouted that he killed the Dean so the police placed him in jail. In the meantime, the Dean was brought to the Dona Gregoria Memorial Hospital in Agoo, La Union. The Dean was in a critical condition due to two stab wounds in the anterior chest, and a lacerated wound in the right elbow, forearm so he was transferred to Ilocos Regonal Hospital (IRH) in San Fernando, La Union where Dean was examined and operated on by Dr. Daniel Rimando, with the assistance of Dr. Darius Parinas. Dean gave a sworn statement toSPO1 Sulatre. He deferred swearing to the truth of his statement before the Public Prosecution because SPO1 Sulatre was waiting for thepermanent medical certificate to be issued by the hospital. SPO1 Sulatre deferred the execution and submission of an arrest report also pending the issuance of th medical certificate. Instead of issuing a permanent medical certificate, the IRH issued a temporary medical certificate. SPO1 Sulatre filed a criminal complaint for frustrated murder against the petitioner. The IRH issued a medical certificate stating the Dean’s wounds would need medical attendance of more than 30 days. The Provincial Prosecutor of La Union charge the petitioner, Benjamin for frustrated murder before the Regional Trial Court., Branch 32, of the same province.

IV. Issue First Issue: whether to dismiss the complaint outright based on the averments of the complaint and the appendages thereof if it finds no ground to continue with the investigation. If the officer finds ground to continue with the investigation of the accused, a subpoena should be issued to the accused, appending thereto a copy of the complaint and the supporting affidavits. Unless the affidavits of the witnesses named in the complaint and the supporting documents are appended to the complaint, the investigating officer may not be able to determine whether to dismiss the complaint outright or to conduct an investigation and issue a subpoena to the accused.

Second Issue: whether or not petitioner acted in self-defense whether complete or incomplete is a question of fact, the well-entrenched rule is the findings of fact of the trial court in the ascertainment of the credibility of witnesses and the probative weight of the evidence on record affirmed, on appeal, by the CA are accorded high respect, if not conclusive effect, by the Court and in the absence of any justifiable reason to deviate from the said findings.

V. Decision IN LIGHT OF ALL THE FOREGOING, the assailed Decision is hereby AFFIRMED WITH MIDIFICATION. The petitioner is hereby found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of FRUSTRATED MURDER under Article 248 in relation to Article 6, first paragraph of the Revised Penal Code and is hereby sentenced to suffer an indeterminate penalty from nine (9) years and four (4) months of prision mayor in its medium period, as minimum, to seventeen (17) years and four (4) months of reclusion temporal in its medium period, as maximum. Petitoner is ordered to pay Dean Dongui-is the amount of P56,275.48 as actual damages; and P100,000.00 as attorney’s fees. SO ORDERED.

VI. Reaction The time I read this case I was shocked because I can’t believe that there are people who will try to put you down like this person Benjamin Martinez. My mind is struggling if this person is insane, psychotic or what. This person is just so creepy. It seems that he will do everything just to prove himself to others. What Mr. Benjamin did was totally wrong and just simply against the law. For me, he is just making stories, he seeks attention from others. Another factor will be he’s just getting paranoid because his spouse has better occupation and has better salary, we know the ego of men. I may not know all about the story but I can see that Mr. Benjamin Martinez has no reason for him to do such thing. He’s scared that her spouse will leave him just because of he’s a tricycle driver. He may just be jealous or insecure to other people, he compares himself to everyone. He may be also be the one who’s putting in his mind that “I am just like this”, something like that. He needs to be taken care of, he needs people around him who’ll cheer him up, and he needs people who will give encouragement to him. I was just astounded when he admitted right away that he was the one responsible in stabbing the Dean. Whose normal person would confess immediately and take note that it was a frustrated murder. Wow! He was about to kill the Dean and nearly to death, fortunately the Dean was able to recover, thank God. This person has many tribulations in his mind; he doesn’t know what to do but to prove his speculations. Unfortunately it was his mistake. He made an action instantaneously, because of embarrassment; he made his revenge, a revenge that has no direction. He’s a poor man, poor in a way that he was disfavored and broke. Only his friends at the tricycle lane would cover him up but of course they’re biased. In my opinion, the decision was right and just because based on the evidences and witnesses, it was made clear that it was him and came directly from him that it was his purpose to, to kill the Dean. God does really know when to give justice. I just realized that not all the time justice is given to people. I could say that justice is one of the hardest things to receive. It takes time and sometimes you need to make effort just t have this. Blessed those people who were given justice but pity to those who haven’t yet. I believe that there’s right time for everything. We cannot blame others for what they’ve done. Blaming should be on the action, it’s just that person used that prohibited action. It was also a despondent emotion for the family of Mr. Benjamin Martinez because he was still their relative but we must abide the law. We cannot dictate what the judge should decide. In every trial there will always be a winner and a loser, but it will be a challenge for those losers to prove that change exists. If there will be change then, losers will also be winners. One of the principal objects of the law is to safeguard the rights of citizens, us. Our basic rights are what give us our freedom in daily life. The freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, personal freedom etc, these are all outlined in the Republic of the Philippines written constitution, which protects us, the people here today. Try to imagine the limitations we would have if we were stripped of these rights. I might not be allowed stand here in front of you if I did not have the freedom of speech, you might not be allowed here today if you did not have personal freedom. Just this aspect of the law alone provides us with so much that we take for granted. We also take justice for granted we fail to realize, between our complaining, that we can receive closure when the law and the courts do their job. If there was no system of law to control how people operate their lives then there would not be a society to live in. People would be free to make decisions based solely on their principles, they would be free to steal, murder, damage, rape, trespass and terrorize what or whomever they wanted when it suited them, and nothing would be done about. Therefore it would be disastrous if not impossible to base a society solely on such principles. If people knew they would not be punished for their actions then nothing would stop them for filling whatever they wished to do. People would in turn, look for revenge and the cycle would continue because they knew that they could get away with absolutely anything they deemed possible. Eventually there would be no society left for a system of law to control. If there were no rules for people to live by then even the simplest thing, like disposing of waste could affect the entire world. If this is not done properly then diseases could spread and eventually wipe out the human race. The water supplies would not be clean because if there were no rules, people would not have to work because they could steal and would not need money which would mean no one would work to keep the water clean. No one would help us if we were ill and no one would help us if we were in trouble. In the end there would be a break down in society and people will just be surviving the best they can, it would be like a war zone, everyone for them. A system of rules is needed in society to regulate relationships between people with conflicting interests, for example, employers and employees, landlord and tenants and neighbors. A legal system is the only procedure which can ensure that human rights are respected
I. Title of the Case Office of the Ombudsman versus Heidi M. Estandarte and the Court of Appeals, Twentieth Division General Record No.168670

II. Parties Involved Office of the Ombudsman—Petitioner Heidi M. Estandarte and the Court of Appeals, Twentieth Division—Respondents

III. Facts of the Case A complaint from the Faculty Club and Department Heads of the Ramon Torres National High School was filed against Heidi M. Estandarte, the school principal. It’s consisted of 33 allegations of improprieties ranging from illegal handling of school funds, irregular financial transactions, perjury, and abuse of authority. The complaint was not supported by sworn statements of witnesses. The Ombudsman (Visayas) treated the matter as a request for assistance and docketed the complaint as RAS-VIS 98-1030. Fearlessly, the Faculty Club filed a formal complaint—sworn and subscribed by the complainants—DECS –Region VI on February 5, 1995. On the other hand, the said office dismissed the complaint outright for lack of verification and certification against forum shopping. On April 19,1999, the DECS—Region VI required Estandarte to answer the complaint. The Committee issued a subpoena duces tecum addressed to the State Auditor, however, replied the he could not comply with the subpoena due to the reason that the documents are being used by the Ombudsman (Visayas) in the criminal and administrative cases pending before it which concerned the same parties. Pre-hearing was held at the conference recommending the dismissal of the case on the ground of forum shopping. Meanwhile Crispin A. Pinaga, Provincial Editor for the Province of Negros Occidental, conducted a investigation and submitted the report t the Ombudsman and just found out that 24 of the 33 allegations in the complaint were “within the bounds of propriety.” Firearms, old newspaper with no accounting, accepted cash, and in kind donations without being properly channeled were the ones that Heidi spent. The amounts of cash donations were not taken up in the book of accounts of the school. Hence, those amounts were disbursed personally by the principal. Mrs. Heidi violated some applicable laws which provides to wit Section 63 PD 1445, Section 68 PD 1445, Section 112 PD 1445. In a letter, the Faculty club requested the Ombudsman (Visayas) to take over the case for speedier disposition. Ms. Lucia Jane Grecia, member of the Faculty club also wrote a letter complaining that she was being oppressed by Estandarte. She likewise requested the Ombudsman (Visayas) to take over the case but on the other side Estandarte filed a motion for reconsideration which was late denied by the Ombudsman. Estandarte failed to attend the scheduled hearing by her counsel explained that he was due to attend a hearing in another court on the scheduled day of hearing. Another motion for Reconsideration with motion for Voluntary Inhibition was requested by Estandarte but due to her failure to furnish the complainants with a copy of the motion to postpone, the Ombudsman proceeded with the preliminary conference with only the complainants present.
IV. Issue Whether or not the DECS has exclusive jurisdiction over the case. The petition has no merit.

V. Decision WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is DENIED. The Decision of the Court of Appeals dated June 14, 2005 is AFFIRMED. SO ORDERED.

VI. Reaction I always think that teachers are models and good followers but how come that some of the teachers are also law breakers. I thought it’s only on the news that teachers are getting involved in illegal practices, surprisingly, it really does exist. Take note, a principal from a high school was engage in the illegal handling of school funds, irregular financial transactions, perjury, and abuse of authorities. Wow! I can’t help to be outraged due to this case. Well I need to be open-minded and to open my eyes that this thing does certainly happen. Maybe the principal was already doing this for a long time; it’s just that the witnesses got the courage recently. Is the principal in a poor status, is she not contented with what she has, what’s her reason to do those things, what came into her mind, why did she do that. I have too many questions; I just totally can’t imagine this. Every citizen has the right to defend himself/herself but it seems that it’s unfair because although you know to yourself that you’re guilty you still deny to everyone. It sucks! That’s the problem to us people, even if we know that we are culpable, we still rebuff. How sad. It’s a good thing that this was found out because if not, all students, parents, and other teachers will suffer from the bluff of the principal. Cheaters will never win. I just realized that law is absolutely a great factor. And we are very fortunate that we are now taking up law. This is substantial because this will give us the knowledge about everything. If this thing happens what we shall do, if that thing occurs, what ought to be the move. Especially to us teachers, it’s a must for us that we have the awareness and understanding about law. Law is not just concerned with bringing evil people to account for their actions. A community made up of people who bear no ill-will to anyone else and are simply concerned to pursue their own self-interest needs law because there are situations where if everyone pursues their own self-interest, everyone will be worse off than they would have been if they acted differently. Without laws our society would not be able to function effectively. Rape, murder and theft would become everyday occurrences which mean that children would grow up only knowing this and to them it would be deemed normal, which is not what we want for our future generations, this is why law is so important to society, to ensure the safety of future generations.

I believe that laws are a good thing because without them there would be no control, however like most things laws are also subject to abuse by corrupt individuals who are in a position to do so. Laws in society lead to the progression of society. Laws allow for the comfort of education to be taught. It enables technology to grow through the distribution of patents and regulations. Without laws protecting these vital services and advancements, people’s right to learn would not exist leading to “social default” within society. The health service operates under strict laws which help both the patient and nurse. It provides the nurses and doctors with safe knowledge over the use of certain medical equipment. Lawless states would not have these rules and regulations therefore putting society at risk because doctors, nurses, teachers and many more professionals would be giving out their own “dosages” which they felt would be appropriate which is why laws are important to have in society. The importance of laws in our society is absolutely a key to the safety of our lives. They are there to protect our rights as human beings, to promote the goodness within ourselves. To deter criminality with the punishment of imprisonment or worse. Laws are important to the progression of society where education and technology are protected so that they can flourish. The laws within our community help to keep our society ordered. It is important that I stress that laws don’t limit us, but empowers us to lead a life of justification. To be against the importance of laws in our society would show one to be ignorant and naive. Laws within society are paramount to the survival of our race.

Philippine Normal University
Taft Ave., Manila
College of Education

Administrative Case and
Criminal Case

Submitted by:
Jamilah Mae R. Arellano
III-2 BECEd

Prof. Zenaida H. Brioso