The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office is seeking the help of the barangays in properly resolving offenses with penalties that do not exceed one year.
City prosecutor Nicolas Sellon said it is imperative that the barangay indicate in the Certification to File Court Action the exact date that a certain offense was filed.
The barangay issues the Certificate to File Court Action once the parties involved in an offense cannot settle the matter with the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, which tasked to mediate complaints forwarded to the barangay.
But offenses bearing a penalty of less than a year have a 60-day prescription period within which a complainant can forward the complaint to the barangay.
Sellon said if a complaint was filed beyond the 60-day prescription period, the prosecutor’s office can automatically dismiss the complaint. These offenses include, among others, oral defamation, slight physical injuries and less serious physical injuries.
However, Sellon said prosecutors are having a difficult time to determine if a particular complaint was filed within the 60-day prescription period, as the actual filing date with the barangay is not indicated in the Certification to File Court Action.
Sellon said it would also be inappropriate to get the information from the complaint because it would elicit a bias answer. He said they cannot also keep on asking the barangay captain the date of the filing of the complaint with the barangay.
In determining if a complaint was filed within the prescription period, Sellon said what they are doing is to assume that the date of the commission of the offense is the same as the one when a formal complaint was forwarded to the barangay.
Sellon then asked the barangays in the city to indicate in the Certificate to File Court Action the date the complaint was forwarded to the barangay. – Joeberth M. Ocao/LPM