Court to update rules of criminal procedure

THE Supreme Court is looking to update and modernize the Rules of Criminal Procedure more than two decades since it was last revised.

According to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, among those included in the proposed amendments are clarificatory provisions on the venue for criminal actions involving violations of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; guidelines which allow the aggrieved party to impute civil liability arising from other sources of obligation, other than delict against the accused, despite the latter's acquittal; and the express inclusion of other actions pending before administrative bodies, as a possible ground for the invocation of the rules on prejudicial question.