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GOVERNMENT OF KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION v. JUAN ANTONIO MUÑOZ

FACTS:

The petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration seeking the review and reversal of the Court's decision affirming the amended decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 88610. The CA decided that the respondent could only be extradited and tried by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for seven counts of conspiracy to defraud, but not for the crime of accepting an advantage as an agent. The petitioner argued that the crime of accepting an advantage as an agent should also be included in the extradition because of a ruling by the Court of Final Appeal of the HKSAR. However, the Court denied the petitioner's motion for reconsideration for lack of merit.

ISSUES:

  1. Whether or not the offense of accepting an advantage as an agent should be included in the extradition.

  2. Whether or not the Court can take judicial notice of the ruling by the Court of Final Appeal of the HKSAR.

RULING:

  1. The Court denied the petitioner's motion for reconsideration. It held that the offense of accepting an advantage as an agent should not be included in the extradition because it did not comply with the dual criminality rule embodied in the extradition treaty between the Philippines and the HKSAR. The Court also ruled that it could not take judicial notice of the ruling by the Court of Final Appeal of the HKSAR without proper proof and authentication.

PRINCIPLES:

  • Under the rule of specialty in international law, a requested state shall surrender a person to a requesting state only for a criminal offense specified in their treaty of extradition.

  • The extradition treaty between the Philippines and the HKSAR embodies the dual criminality rule, which requires that the offense for which extradition is sought must be punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or a more severe penalty in both jurisdictions.

  • Foreign judgments and laws should be duly alleged and competently proved under the rules of evidence.

  • The power to take judicial notice should be exercised with caution, and every reasonable doubt should be resolved in the negative.