Short answer. A prosecutor or law enforcement officer who maliciously refrains from prosecuting a known violator, or who tolerates the commission of offences, commits dereliction of duty under Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code. The penalty is prision correccional in its minimum period and suspension. Mere error of judgment is not enough.
What the law says
The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period and suspension shall be imposed upon any public officer, or officer of the law, who, in dereliction of the duties of his office, shall maliciously refrain from instituting prosecution for the punishment of violators of the law, or shall tolerate the commission of offenses.
Revised Penal Code, Article 208 — Dereliction In Prosecuting Offenses. Read the full provision →
Malice is the whole battleground
The word that decides most of these complaints is maliciously. A prosecutor who reviews a complaint and honestly concludes the evidence does not establish probable cause has done the job the office exists to do, however painful the outcome is for the complainant. The article punishes the officer who knows the offender is guilty, or knows an offence is being committed, and deliberately holds back — from favour, from payment, from fear or from partiality. Proving that state of mind, rather than proving the case should have been filed, is what an Article 208 complaint actually requires.
It covers tolerance, not just inaction
The article has a second limb: an officer who tolerates the commission of offenses. That reaches police and other law enforcers who see an offence in progress, have the duty and the power to act, and choose to look away. The offender need not be prosecuted for the officer to be liable; the tolerance is the crime.
The offence also binds more than prosecutors. Its wording covers any public officer or officer of the law charged with the duty of causing prosecution, which is why it is invoked against police officials as often as against the prosecution service.
What to do instead of, or before, a criminal charge
If a complaint has been dismissed and you believe it was wrongly dismissed, the ordinary remedy is not a criminal case against the prosecutor. It is a motion for reconsideration, then a petition for review to the Department of Justice, and in a proper case a petition to the courts on the ground of grave abuse of discretion.
Alongside that, an administrative complaint may be filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, which has its own jurisdiction over erring public officers. Keep every receiving copy, resolution and endorsement: a dereliction case stands or falls on the paper trail showing what the officer knew and when.