COURT PROCEEDINGS FOR ARRAIGNMENT, PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE & PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE

(in harmony with the Video posted by the Supreme Court for RTC Proceedings)

ARRAIGNMENT PROCEEDINGS:

COC (Clerk of Court): All rise. The Hon. Marienne M. Ibadlit presiding. Silence is hereby enjoined.

JUDGE: Take your seat. Call the case scheduled for arraignment.

COC: (Will read the information filed by the Prosecution) People of the Philippines vs. Juan Mamaril, etc.

JUDGE: Appearances.

PROS: Enters appearance

DEFENSE: Atty. Thamar Restar, appearing as lead counsel, together with the members of the defense, for the accused
your Honor.

Atty Salido, Atty. Villanueva, Atty. Nidua & Atty Recabe: will enter appearance.

JUDGE: Is the accused present today?

ATTY. RESTAR: Yes your honor, the accused is here.

JUDGE: Is the complainant here?

PROS: Yes your honor.

JUDGE: Have the accused come to this court for the reading of the information. ( Here, the accused together with counsel
approach the bench for the reading of the information by COC.)

JUDGE: Alright, how do you plead?

ACCUSED (Don Briones): Not guilty your honor.

JUDGE: Alright, the accused pleaded not guilty to this charge. Atty. Restar, is your client interested in applying for a plea
bargaining?

ATTY. RESTAR: No your honor as he is innocent to the crime charge.

JUDGE: Is there a possibility that your client may enter into a plea of guilt to a lesser offense/penalty?

ATTY RESTAR: Your honor, can you just give a few minutes to confer with my client? JUDGE: Ok, I will give you a few
minutes to confer with your client.

ATTY. RESTAR: Thank you your honor.

 (Atty-client conference as fast as possible). BASIS OF PLEA BARGAINING: No. 5, Title B (Criminal Cases) A.M. No.
03-1-09-SC.

ATTY RESTAR: No your honor, after conferring with my client, he is not amenable to plead guilty to a lesser
offense/penalty.

JUDGE: Alright, you may step back to your seats. Order. After arraignment of the accused he pleaded not guilty to the
offense charged. The parties and counsels are therefore ordered to appeal to the Pre-Trial of this case on ___________,
at _____________.

But prior to that, there is going to be a Preliminary Conference which will be held before my Branch COC on
_____________, at _____________, for purposes of identification of documents and exhibits, verification of photo copies
and other matters that may aid for the prompt disposition of this case.

The parties are reminded that there will no evidence that may be presented and admitted in this trial if they are not
formally marked and identified in the course of the preliminary conference, unless for a good cause shown.

It goes without saying that the court expects both the parties and their counsel to appear at the pre-trial conference and
the preliminary conference in this case. I mean that their presence is compulsory.

Are there any matters that we need to discuss now? If there are none then we are adjourned.

COC: All rise.

-END OF ARRAIGNMENT PROCEEDINGS)

 PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: (Before the Branch COC only.)

COC: Good morning. This is a preliminary conference for the identification of documents and exhibits to be presented by
the parties; verification of the photocopies thereof and for consideration of other matters which may aid to the prompt
disposition of the case.

We are reminding both parties that no evidence shall be presented and offered during trial, other than those which have
been marked and identified during the pre-trial, unless the court allows for a good cause shown.

 Prosecutor shall present evidence ( for markings and comparison of photocopies with the original)
 Defense shall present evidence (for markings and comparison of photocopies with the original)

COC: As part of the proceedings, let us discuss the civil aspect of this case. Is the private complainant asking for an award
of damages?

PROS: shall state the claim of damages of the private complainant.

DEFENSE: must argue to contradict on the ground that the accused is innocent hence not liable for any damages.

COC: So both parties are not willing to settle the civil aspect of this case at this stage. May I request respective parties to
re-examine their respective position, and if no compromise can be reached, may I suggest that you avail of the modes of
discovery under the rules to expedite trial. Any else?

PROS & DEFENSE: NO MORE.

COC: Preliminary Conference is now adjourned. Kindly sign in, both, the minutes of today’s preliminary conference.

NOTE: The minutes of the Prelim. Conference shall be entered as part of the record of the case. The Branch COC shall
ensure that the markings and stipulations are accurately recorded in the minutes to be signed by both parties and their
respective counsel.

PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS:

COC: All rise. The Hon. Marriene M. Ibadlit, presiding. Silence is hereby enjoined.

JUDGE: Call the case scheduled for Pre-Trial Conference this afternoon.

COC: For Pre-Trial Conference, Criminal Case No. 1234-18, People of the Philippines vs. Juan Mamaril.

JUDGE: Appearances!

PROS: Enter appearance

DEFENSE: Enter appearance

JUDGE: Is the accused in court: Yes. How about the private complainant? Yes.

Before anything else, I’d like to remind the parties that there was a preliminary conference set before the Branch COC
where minutes were taken. I understand that you have been furnished with copies of this minutes and I would like you to
go over this minutes and inform the court if you confirm to the contents of this minutes.

PROS: Yes, your honor, we confirm.

DEFENSE: The accused confirms your honor.

JUDGE: All right we go now to pre-trial proper. As you know, the pre-trial conference is held so that certain matters under
Rule 118 may be discussed. These are the following:

a. Plea bargaining
b. Stipulations of facts
c. The marking for identification of the evidence of the parties
d. Waiver of objections to the admissibility of evidence
e. Order of the Trial, if the accused admits the charge but interposes a lawful defense, then it is possible that a reverse
trial mode may adopted.
F. Ofcourse, such other matters as will promote the fair and expeditious trial of the criminal and civil aspects of this case.

First, as to the Plea bargaining, is the accused willing to plead guilty to a lesser offense/penalty:
DEFENSE: You honor, I have conferred with my client and he told me that, just to buy peace and to get the matter out of
the way, he is willing to plead guilty to a lesser offense/penalty.
NOTE: This is not applicable in this case of homicide as there is no lesser offense than homicide. 😊
So we just push thru with the case…

JUDGE: What do you say to this proposal Prosecutor? Prosec answers in negative.
JUDGE: So does that mean that we are not going to arrive at a plea bargaining at this point?

PROS & DEFENSE: Yes your honor.

JUDGE: Well, in that case, may I suggest to the parties that we explore the possibility of settling the civil aspect of this
case, because it is very possible that is we do this, we may eventually lead to a plead of guilt to a lesser offense or the
actual dismissal of this case. If the parties are amenable, may I invite the parties and their respective counsel to the
Chambers so that we can discuss this in an informal conference. Session suspended.

COC. All rise.

Here, the parties together with respective counsel will have an informal conference with the Judge. Informal in the sense
statements of both parties will not be used as evidence against them in the trial. The Judge also emphasizes that any
statement or comment that she may say to persuade the parties in entering into settlements should not be construed as
prejudgment of the case.

After this short conference, everybody will go back to the court room including the Judge.

PRE TRIAL PROCEEDINGS:

JUDGE: In view of the inability of the parties to settle the civil aspect of this case, let us proceed now to the stipulations of
facts. Following the allegations in the information that:

Here the Judge has the prerogative of whatever question she will raise for purpose of stipulations by the parties. She may
be base the questions from the Complaint affidavit of Marlou Daguno. So we need to establish the following matters to
avoid confusion later: 😊

1. THE ACCUSED HAS NO INTENTION OF CAUSING ANY INJURY OR DEATH TO ANYONE BUT ONLY TO EXTEND HELP TO HIS
INJURED FRIEND, ARIEL DIMABARIL. (Supported by Med. Cert as “Exhibit 1”)

2. THAT THE VICTIM, NAPOLEON RICH WAS THE ONE WHO CAUSED INJURY TO THE ACCUSED FRIEND.
(Supported by Witnesses affidavit marked as Exhibites “2-A”; “2-B” and “2-C”)

3. THAT WHEN THE ALLEGED POLICEMEN FIRED THEIR GUNS, WE ALREADY HAVE FLED TO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS, NOT
EVEN AWARE THAT THEY WERE POLICEMEN.

4. PLEASE ADD MORE FACTS WE NEED TO ESTABLISH. THANKS!

JUDGE: Are the parties pursuing any other matter pertaining to the criminal aspect of this complaint?

PROS & DEFENSE: No more your honor.

JUDGE: Ok, at this juncture, due to time constraints, we will suspend the proceedings and reset the Pre-Trial conference
to ___________ of this year. At that time, the parties are expected to be ready to discuss the civil aspect of this case.
Session suspended.

COC: All rise. Note: please prepare also for the civil aspect in case they will claim for damages. 😊