Judge allows police to prosecute criminal case despite availability of fiscal

Respondent judge justifies her ruling denying the public prosecutor's request for time to study the bail petition of the accused on the pretext that the Chief of Police had already submitted the matter for resolution and, under Rule 110, 5 of the Rules of Court, the Chief of Police had authority to prosecute the case. This is clearly wrong. The Rule allows the offended party or law enforcement agents to prosecute a case only where "no fiscal is available." In the case at bar, the provincial prosecutor had intervened. In fact, a copy of the petition for bail had been sent to him and he asked time to study it. It is not claimed that the provincial prosecutor had authorized the Chief of Police to appear for the prosecution. [A.M. No. MTJ-92-731. November 29, 1996]