1. What are those cases which require preliminary investigation?

Give 5 examples
and state their period of imprisonment or punishment.
An offense where the penalty prescribed by law is at least four years, two months
and one day without regard to the fine.
a) Art. 124. Arbitrary detention. – Any public officer or employee who, without
legal grounds, detains a person, shall suffer: 1. The penalty of arresto mayor,
in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period, if the
detention has not exceeded three days; 2. The penalty prision correccional in
its medium and maximum periods, if the detention has continued more than
three but not more than fifteen days; 3. The penalty of prision mayor, if the
detention has continued for more than fifteen days but not more than six
months; and 4. That of reclusion temporal, if the detention shall have
exceeded six months.
b) Art. 127. Expulsion. – The penalty of prision correccional shall be imposed
upon any public officer or employee who, not being thereunto authorized by
law, shall expel any person from the Philippine Islands or shall compel such
person to change his residence.
c) Art. 128. Violation of Domicile. – The penalty of prision correccional in its
minimum period shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who,
not being authorized by judicial order, shall enter any dwelling against the will
of the owner thereof, search papers or other effects found therein without the
previous consent of such owner, or, having surreptitiously entered said
dwelling, and being required to leave the premises, shall refuse to do so. If
the offense be committed in the nighttime, or if any papers or effects not
constituting evidence of a crime be not returned immediately after the search
made by the offender, the penalty shall be prision correccional in its medium
and maximum periods.
d) Art. 129. Search warrants maliciously obtained and abuse in the service of
those legally obtained. – In addition to the liability attaching to the offender for
the commission of any other offense, the penalty of arresto mayor in its
maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period and a fine not
exceeding 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee
who shall procure a search warrant without just cause, or, having legally
procured the same, shall exceed his authority or use unnecessary severity in
executing the same.
e) Art. 131. Prohibition, interruption, and dissolution of peaceful meetings. – The
penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon
any public officer or employee who, without legal ground, shall prohibit or
interrupt the holding of a peaceful meeting, or shall dissolve the same.

2. What are the documents/pieces of evidence that must be included in the

following cases filed before the prosecutor’s office for preliminary
 investigation?
 Homicide
The elements of Homicide are the following:

(a) a person was killed;

(b) the accused killed him without any justifying circumstance;

(c) the accused had the intention to kill, which is presumed; and

(d) the killing was not attended by any of the qualifying circumstances of Murder, or by
that of Parricide or Infanticide.

 Reckless imprudence resulting to serious physical injuries

The elements of reckless imprudence are: (1) that the offender does or fails to do an
act; (2) that the doing or the failure to do that act is voluntary; (3) that it be without
malice; (4) that material damage results from the reckless imprudence; and (5) that
there is inexcusable lack of precaution on the part of the offender, taking into
consideration his employment or occupation, degree of intelligence, physical
condition, and other circumstances regarding persons, time, and place.
 Violation of sec 5 and 11 of RA 9165
Any person, who, unless authorized by law, shall sell, trade, administer, dispense,
deliver, give away to another, distribute dispatch in transit or transport any
dangerous drug, including any and all species of opium poppy regardless of the
quantity and purity involved, or shall act as a broker in any of such transactions.
Any person, who, unless authorized by law, shall sell, trade, administer, dispense,
deliver, give away to another, distribute, dispatch in transit or transport any
controlled precursor and essential chemical, or shall act as a broker in such
transactions.
(1) 10 grams or more of opium;
(2) 10 grams or more of morphine;
(3) 10 grams or more of heroin;
(4) 10 grams or more of cocaine or cocaine hydrochloride;
(5) 50 grams or more of methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu";
(6) 10 grams or more of marijuana resin or marijuana resin oil;
(7) 500 grams or more of marijuana; and
(8) 10 grams or more of other dangerous drugs such as, but not limited to,
methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDA) or "ecstasy", paramethoxyamphetamine
(PMA), trimethoxyamphetamine (TMA), lysergic acid diethylamine (LSD), gamma
hydroxyamphetamine (GHB), and those similarly designed or newly introduced
drugs and their derivatives, without having any therapeutic value or if the quantity
possessed is far beyond therapeutic requirements, as determined and promulgated
by the Board in accordance to Section 93, Article XI of this Act.

 Illegal cutting of coconut tree

any person who shall cut, gather, collect, or remove timber or other forest products
from any forest land, or timber from alienable and disposable public lands, or from
private lands, without any authority under a license agreement, lease, license or
permit
 Theft
Corpus delicti means the “body or substance of the crime, and, in its primary sense,
refers to the fact that the crime has been actually committed.” The “essential
elements of theft are (1) the taking of personal property; (2) the property belongs to
another; (3) the taking away was done with intent of gain; (4) the taking away was
done without the consent of the owner; and (5) the taking away is accomplished
without violence or intimidation against persons or force upon things.” In theft,
corpus delicti has two elements, namely:  (1) that the property was lost by the owner,
and (2) that it was lost by felonious taking.

3. Describe the inquest proceedings and discuss its procedure.

Inquest is defined as an informal and summary investigation conducted by a public
prosecutor in criminal cases involving persons arrested and detained without the
benefit of a warrant of arrest issued by the court.
When a person is lawfully arrested without warrant involving an offense which
requires a preliminary investigation, where the offense is at least four years, two
months and one day, the complaint or information may be filed by a prosecutor
without need of a preliminary investigation provided an inquest has been conducted
in accordance with existing rules. In the absence or unavailability of an inquest
prosecutor, the complaint may be filed by the offended party or a peace officer
directly with the proper court on the basis of the affidavit of the offended party or
arresting officer or person.
Before the complaint or information is filed by the prosecutor, the person arrested
may ask for a preliminary investigation but he or she must sign a waiver of the
provision of Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, in the presence of
his counsel. Article 125 provides penalties against the public officer or employee
who shall delay in the delivery of detained persons to the proper judicial authorities
within the period of: 12 hours, 18 hours, or 36 hours, depending on the gravity of the
offense. Notwithstanding the waiver, the person arrested may apply for bail and the
investigation must be terminated within 15 days from its inception.
In the case of Leviste vs Alameda (supra), the Supreme Court clarified the remedies
available before and after the filing of an information in cases subject of inquest. In
said case, before the filing of a complaint or information in court, the private
complainant may proceed in coordinating with the arresting officer and the inquest
officer during the latter’s conduct of inquest. The arrested person has the option to
avail of a 15-day preliminary investigation, provided he duly signs a waiver of any
objection against delay in his delivery to the proper judicial authorities under Article
125 of the Revised Penal Code.
In case the inquest proceedings yield no probable cause, the private complainant
may likewise pursue the case through the regular course of a preliminary
investigation. Once a complaint or information is filed in court, the accused is
provided with another opportunity to ask for a preliminary investigation within five
days from the time she or he learns of its filing.

4. In your own words explain the difference of Preliminary investigation from Inquest
proceedings.
The inquest serves to determine whether said persons should remain under custody
and correspondingly be charged in court. Because it is summary in nature and owing
to the attendant risk of running against the periods under which detained persons
must be delivered to the proper judicial authorities, an inquest usually ends with
either the prompt filing of an information in court or the immediate release of the
arrested person.
Preliminary investigation, on the other hand, is an inquiry to determine whether there
is sufficient ground to engender a well-founded belief that a crime has been
committed and the respondent is probably guilty thereof, and should be held for trial.
This is the usual route taken for initiating a criminal case where the respondent or
offending party was not arrested without a warrant because none of the
circumstances allowing warrantless arrest is present. Warrantless arrest takes place
when a person to be arrested is caught committing, about to commit or has just
committed a crime.