Case Digest (G.R. No. L-4409)
Facts:
The People of the Philippines v. Jose Bernal, Hermenegildo Salvoro and Vicente Roleda, G.R. No. L-4409, July 14, 1952, the Supreme Court En Banc, Montemayor, J., writing for the Court. The prosecution below was The People of the Philippines; the accused and appellants were Jose Bernal, Hermenegildo Salvoro, and Vicente Roleda. Ricardo Benting was named in the complaint but was not tried with them.On September 20, 1947, Jose Bernal, then a member of the military police on leave, returned to his hometown in Albuera, Leyte, and had an altercation with Alfonso Pilones that culminated in Pilones inflicting superficial bolo wounds upon Bernal. Bernal reported the incident to his superiors at Camp Downes; Capt. Trinidad instructed Sgt. Ricardo Benting to organize a patrol to find and investigate Pilones. Benting assembled a patrol including Pvts. Roleda, Salvoro and Lomod, with Bernal acting as guide; they located Pilones at the home of his brother-in-law, Jose Rosal, and brought him toward camp.
Near the camp and close to a guard post, Pilones was shot and killed. The prosecution’s witness, Jose Rosal, testified that Benting branded Pilones a “bandit,” gave an order to fire, and Roleda shot Pilones in the back on Benting’s command. The defense claimed Pilones grabbed Pvt. Salvoro’s garand rifle during a struggle, Salvoro called for help, Benting ordered Roleda to fire warning shots, and Roleda ultimately shot Pilones to prevent him from using the rifle. Capital and factual responsibility for giving the order were disputed; Benting was not tried at the time.
The Court of First Instance of Leyte convicted Bernal, Salvoro and Roleda of murder, found the mitigating circumstance of passion or obfuscation, and imposed an indeterminate penalty “from ten (10) years and one (1) day of prision mayor to seventeen (17) years of reclusion temporal” with accessory penalties, awarded P2,000 indemnity to the heirs, and three-fourths of the costs. All three appealed to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals, by resolution, certified the case to the Supreme Court on the ground that the mitigating circumst...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Was there sufficient evidence to prove a conspiracy making Jose Bernal and Hermenegildo Salvoro criminally liable for the killing of Alfonso Pilones?
- Did the mitigating circumstance of passion or obfuscation apply to Vicente Roleda, thereby justifying the lesser penalty originally ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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