Preliminary investigation
Draft a complaint-affidavit under the rules actually in force.
A complaint-affidavit is what actually starts a criminal case in the Philippines. It is not filed in court — it goes to the Office of the City or Provincial Prosecutor, and the prosecutor reads it to decide whether there is probable cause to charge anyone at all. Its whole job is to narrate facts that cover every element of the offence, from a person who swears to them.
How to draft this
Four steps from a sentence to a Word file.
- 01
Describe the document in one sentence
Type what you need in plain language — "draft a complaint-affidavit" plus the facts you already have. No template to hunt, no blank Word file to start from.
- 02
Generate the first draft
BatasDB matches the request to a complaint-affidavit and writes it against the 7 required elements on this page.
- 03
Fill the marked blanks
Names, dates, amounts and other facts you did not supply come back as marked blanks, counted at the top of the draft. Rewrite freely in the editor.
- 04
Export to Word or PDF
Export with the unfilled blanks highlighted. Editing, exporting and duplicating are free — only generating a new draft uses credits.
Drafted from
2024 DOJ-NPS Rules on Preliminary Investigations and Inquest Proceedings (DOJ Department Circular No. 015, s. 2024), which superseded the inconsistent provisions of Rule 112, Rules of Criminal Procedure
This shapes the checklist below and the form of the document. It is not emitted into your draft as a citation — this document type does not conventionally cite authority, so BatasDB skips library retrieval for it entirely rather than padding a simple document with citations.
The checklist
What a complaint-affidavit has to contain.
These are the elements BatasDB drafts against — injected into the generation itself, not checked afterwards. Where you have not supplied what an element needs, the draft leaves a marked blank instead of writing something plausible.
- 01
The affiant
The complainant's full name, age, civil status and address — the person swearing to the narration.
- 02
The respondent
Full name and address, stated so a subpoena can actually be served on them.
- 03
Facts covering every element
A narration that touches each element of the offence charged. An affidavit that tells a compelling story but leaves an element unnarrated is the classic reason a complaint is dismissed for want of probable cause.
- 04
The offence, with its penal provision
The offence charged and the provision that defines and penalises it.
- 05
Place and date of the acts
Venue and prescription both turn on these, so they are drafted as required facts rather than background colour.
- 06
Annexes
The documentary and object evidence, attached and referred to as annexes.
- 07
Witnesses' affidavits
Affidavits of witnesses, subscribed and sworn in the same manner as the complainant’s.
Not written by the AI
The formal parts are assembled, not generated.
The scaffolding a complaint-affidavit needs is appended by the app from the rule that requires it. The drafting model does not write these and is explicitly told not to, so they cannot drift, be paraphrased, or come out subtly wrong.
- the prosecutor-office caption
- the affiant's signature line — never counsel's
- the preliminary-investigation jurat, sworn before the investigating prosecutor
What it leaves to you
The gaps are marked, not filled.
Facts you did not supply
Every name, date, amount, docket number and address you did not give comes out as a marked blank — [FACT NEEDED: …] — rather than as a plausible invention. They are counted at the top of the draft and highlighted in the Word and PDF exports.
Assertions it made on its own
A gate reads the drafted text for concrete assertions that trace back to nothing you said and nothing that was retrieved, and rewrites each as [CONFIRM: …] for you to check before you sign.
The judgment
Every draft carries a standing notice: AI-generated draft — review before filing or signing. Not legal advice. It is a first draft for a lawyer, not a filing-ready document.
FAQ
Complaint-Affidavit: questions lawyers ask.
- Where is a complaint-affidavit filed?
- With the Office of the City or Provincial Prosecutor with territorial jurisdiction over the place where the offence was committed — not with a court. The prosecutor conducts the preliminary investigation and decides whether to file an Information in court.
- Does BatasDB draft it under Rule 112 or the 2024 DOJ-NPS Rules?
- The 2024 DOJ-NPS Rules on Preliminary Investigations and Inquest Proceedings (DOJ Department Circular No. 015, s. 2024), which superseded the inconsistent provisions of Rule 112. Our library holds both texts, so the drafting tool carries an explicit correction that names DC-015 first and keeps retrieval off the superseded Rule 112 provisions.
- Will it invent the respondent’s name or the date of the incident?
- No. Anything you did not supply comes out as a marked blank — [FACT NEEDED: respondent’s address], [FACT NEEDED: date of the incident] — and anything the draft asserted on its own is rewritten as [CONFIRM: …] for you to check. Both are counted at the top of the draft and highlighted in the Word and PDF exports.
Start from a draft that already read the rule.
Describe your complaint-affidavit in a sentence, fill in what only you know, and export it to Word or PDF.
Uses 5 credits from your monthly allowance — editing and exporting are free. See plans →
Draft this document