Practice question
For an RPC offense of acts of lasciviousness governed by Rule 110's private-crime complaint provision, the offended party dies before she can file a complaint and has no known parents, grandparents, or guardian. A prosecutor claims that nobody may initiate the action under any circumstances. Which is correct?
- Only the accused's relatives may initiate
- The action is necessarily barred by death
- A neighbor automatically becomes the offended party
- The State shall initiate the action in her behalf under the rule
- A private lawyer may ignore the rule entirely
Legal references
- https://lawphil.net/courts/rules/rc_110-127_crim.html — Rule110 §§2–4,5 private-crime clauses,10,15–16 and Rule111; read §5 first paragraph with AM02-2-07-SC amendment.
- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2025/may2025/gr_277020_2025.html — Chua-Chiba v Chiba, GR277020, May19 2025, MAIN decision (offended-spouse complaint and statutory court jurisdiction).
- https://chief.lawphil.net/courts/supreme/am/am_02-2-07-sc_2002.html — A.M. No. 02-2-07-SC, April 10, 2002, effective May 1, 2002 (written authorization and court approval of private prosecution).
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