Diaz vs. Adiong, March 5, 1993 Facts: 1.

On July 6, 1991, the Mindanao Kris, published in Cotabato City, published a news article entitled Toll of Corruption which exposed alleged anomalies by key officials in the Regional Office of DENR; 2. Public officials alluded instituted a separate civil and criminal actions arising from libel before City Prosecutor Office and Regional Trial Court in Marawi City against petitioner; 3. The City Prosecutors Office dismissed the criminal case complaint for lack of jurisdiction since the said complaint should be filed in Cotabato City; 4. As for the civil complaint it was docketed in the RTC of Marawi City, and that the defendant had filed their respective answers w/ counterclaim; 5. Diaz moved for the dismissal of the case on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, it was their contention that the case should be filed in RTC of Cotabato since it is where the private 1. respondents who are all public officers held their office, similarly the libelous publication was published in that place Issue: WON, RTC Marawi City has jurisdiction over the said case Held: No, not one of the respondents held office in Marawi City 1. An offended party who is at the same time a public official can only institute an action arising from libel in 2 venues: the place where he holds office and place where the alleged libelous articles were published; 2. The venue is improperly laid. However, unless and until the defendant objects to the venue in a motion to dismiss prior to a responsive pleading, the venue cannot be truly be said to have been improperly laid, since the venue though technically wrong may yet be considered acceptable to the parties for whose convenience the rules on venue had been devised; 3. In this case, Diaz, should have timely challenged the venue in Marawi City in a motion to dismiss, pursuant to Sec 4, Rule 4 of the Rules of Court. Unfortunately, petitioner had already submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the TC when he filed his Answer to the Complaint with Counterclaim. His motion to dismiss was therefore belatedly

filed and could no longer deprive the trial court of jurisdiction to hear and decide the said case; 4. While objections to venue in civil actions arising from libel can be waived; it does not after all, involve a question of jurisdiction. Indeed, the laying of venue is procedural rather than substantive. Venue relates to trial and not to jurisdiction.