G.R. No. 17905 ; January 27, 1923
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, plaintiff-appellee, vs. JUAN MORAN, FRUCTUOSO CANSINO, and HILARIO ODA, defendants-appellants.

FACTS

The defendants-appellants were convicted for a violation of the Election Law under the Administrative Code. The Supreme Court had already affirmed the lower court’s judgment and increased the penalty. While their motion for reconsideration was pending, the defendants filed a special motion alleging that the crime had prescribed under Section 71 of Act No. 3030 , enacted on March 9, 1922. This new law provided that offenses resulting from its violations “shall prescribe one year after their commission.” The defendants argued this new prescriptive period should be applied retroactively to extinguish their criminal liability.

ISSUE

Whether the one-year prescriptive period for election offenses under Section 71 of Act No. 3030 applies retroactively to offenses committed and prosecuted under the old Election Law, thereby extinguishing the criminal liability of the accused.

RULING

Yes. The Supreme Court granted the motion and dismissed the case. The Court ruled that the prescription of a crime extinguishes the State’s right to prosecute. Under Article 22 of the Penal Code, penal laws that are favorable to the accused are given retroactive effect, even if a final judgment has been rendered and the accused is serving sentence. Since Act No. 3030 was amendatory to the Election Law chapters of the Administrative Code, the term “this Act” in its Section 71 refers to the Election Law itself. The new one-year prescriptive period is a favorable provision that benefits the accused. The defense of prescription can be raised at any stage of the proceedings, even for the first time on appeal, because once the State’s right to prosecute is lost by prescription, the courts have a duty to declare it. The crime in this case, having been committed more than one year before the effectivity of Act No. 3030 , had already prescribed under the new law. Therefore, the criminal liability of the accused was extinguished.