Case Digest (G.R. No. L-29571)
Facts:
People of the Philippines v. Agripino Carzano, et al., G.R. No. L-29571, January 22, 1980, the Supreme Court En Banc, Abad Santos, J., writing for the Court.The prosecution charged several persons, including Agripino Carzano and Filomeno Quitara (appellants here), with murder and frustrated murder for the killing of Juana Carzano Revalde on March 31, 1967, in Dalaguete, Cebu. The information alleged a conspiracy involving Agripino, others, and three assailants (one at large) who attacked Juana and her son Sulpicio on a dark trail; Juana died of multiple stab wounds while Sulpicio escaped with nonfatal injuries.
At trial (Court of First Instance, Branch III, Cebu, Criminal Case No. V-12394), one accused, Roman Pia, was discharged to be a state witness. The trial court acquitted several defendants but found Agripino and Filomeno guilty of murder (qualified by evident premeditation and, as to Filomeno, with treachery, abuse of superior strength and reward) and sentenced both to death; it absolved them on the frustrated-murder charge. Roman and others were acquitted or treated as witnesses; Felix Tamayo (alleged principal assailant) remained at large.
The factual record at trial included eyewitness testimony by Sulpicio (who identified three assailants as Roman, Filomeno and Felix), refuge testimony by Maria Pialan, medical testimony on cause of death, and police recovery of items (masks, ropes, bolo later found near Filomeno’s common-law wife’s house). Roman and Filomeno’s sworn statements admitted presence and implicated Agripino and other relatives as instigators; Roman testified he was present at Agripino’s house when Agripino allegedly gave weapons and told Felix to kill Juana, while Filomeno corroborated parts of Roman’s account but gave varying accounts of when and how he learned of the plan. Agripino denied instigating the murder, produced alibi witnesses who said guests were at his house that evening, and argued Roman and Filomeno were motivated to implicate him after he refused to give them money to finance their flight.
The trial court credited Roman and Filomeno and ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the conviction of Agripino Carzano for murder as an instigator/conspirator.
- Whether the conviction of Filomeno Quitara for murder should be affirmed and whether the qualifying circumstances and penalty imposed by the trial court are proper.
- Whether the killing was qualified by evident premeditation, treachery, nocturnity or abuse of superior strength, and whether recidivism ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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