Case Digest (G.R. No. L-11336)
Facts:
Florentino Enguero, Jose Tariman, Nazario Narvarte, and Dionisio Bueno were charged in three separate informations with robbery in band and, after a joint trial, the Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur convicted and sentenced them in three criminal cases, each involving the taking of goods and money from different victims on July 9, 1952, at several houses in Lupi, Camarines Sur. After trial, the record showed that the group acted together from the initial armed demand and restraint of victims to the successive robberies of the stores and houses of Cresenciano Magistrado, Juan Margarte, Anatolia Bragais, and Florentina Ogarte, with the stolen items later recovered through the defendants’ written sworn admissions.They appealed, but Jose Tariman withdrew his appeal; the Court of Appeals certified the remaining appeal to the Supreme Court because no question of fact was raised, and the only assigned error concerned the alleged conviction for three robberies in band instead
Case Digest (G.R. No. L-11336)
Facts:
- Informations, joint trial, and convictions
- Florentino Enguero, Jose Tariman, Nazario Narvarte, and Dionisio Bueno were charged with robbery in band in three separate informations.
- The Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur conducted a joint trial and found all defendants guilty as charged in three criminal cases.
- Sentences imposed by the trial court
- Criminal Case No. 2714
- Florentino Enguero received an indeterminate penalty: not less than 8 years and 21 days of prision mayor nor more than 14 years, 10 months and 21 days of reclusion temporal.
- Jose Tariman, Nazario Narvarte, and Dionisio Bueno each received an indeterminate penalty: not less than 4 years and 2 months of prision correctional nor more than 8 years and 21 days of prision mayor.
- All were ordered to indemnify Florentina Ogarte de Binaday in the amount of P36.75 and to pay the costs.
- Criminal Case No. 2715
- Florentino Enguero received the same indeterminate ranges of penalties as in Criminal Case No. 2714.
- Jose Tariman, Nazario Narvarte, and Dionisio Bueno each received the same indeterminate ranges of penalties as in Criminal Case No. 2714, but with the corresponding counts stated for this case.
- All were ordered to indemnify Cresenciano Magistrado in the amount of P38.88 and Juan Margarte in the amount of P17.80, and to pay the costs.
- Criminal Case No. 2716
- Florentino Enguero received the same indeterminate penalty ranges as in the prior cases.
- Jose Tariman, Nazario Narvarte, and Dionisio Bueno each received the same indeterminate penalty ranges as in the prior cases.
- All were ordered to indemnify Anatolia Bragais in the amount of P3 and to pay the costs.
- The trial court ruled that, in the three cases, the defendants shall not suffer subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, due to the nature of the principal penalty.
- Disposition of evidence and recovered items as ordered by the trial court
- The one bottle of Siu Tung wine (Exh. B) was to be returned to Cresenciano Magistrado.
- The pair of red leather shoes (Exh. H), the jacket (Exh. G), the blue pant (Exh. H), and the hammer (Exh. I) were to be returned to Anatolia Bragais.
- The birthstone ring (Exh. E) was to be returned to Juan Margarte.
- The balising (Exh. M), and the bolo (Exh. C) and its scabbard (Exh. C-1) were confiscated.
- The pistol, Cal. 45, W/SM-394701, referred to as already confiscated by the Court in Criminal Case No. 2729, was treated as already confiscated.
- The gray skin suit marked (Exhs. K and K-1), the pair of tennis shoes (Exh. D), the raincoat (Exh. L), and the flashlight (Exh. N) were to be returned to Florentino Enguero.
- The towel (Exh. O), the skin pant (Exh. P), and the pair of shoes, black and white (Exh. Q) were to be returned to Nazario Narvarte.
- Appeals and certification to the Supreme Court
- The defendants appealed.
- Jose Tariman withdrew his appeal.
- The Court of Appeals certified the appeal to the Supreme Court because no question of fact was raised, and the only error assigned was that the trial court convicted and sentenced the defendants for three robberies in band instead of only one.
- The robbery sequence proved by the trial court
- Overall setting and armed preparation
- At about 3:00 in the afternoon of July 9, 1952, the four defendants met at Yabo River, Lupi, Camarines Sur, after Florentino Enguero had previously provided himself with a pistol.
- They went from the river to Enguero’s house, where they took their supper.
- After eating, Enguero issued weapons: a bolo to Nazario Narvarte, a balisong to Jose Tariman, and a piece of hardwood to Dionisio Bueno, while Enguero himself retained the pistol.
- At about 7:00 in the evening, they proceeded toward Jaloban, Pigbasagan, Lupi, but before reaching the barrio itself, they passed at the house of Teodulo Banta, where Enguero ordered Teodulo and his brother-in-law Francisco Bugagao at the point of his pistol to guide them to the barrio.
- At Enguero’s instance, their hands were tied behind their backs.
- With them as guides, the group met Pedro Bragais, whose hands Enguero tied behind his back upon pointing his pistol at him and ordering him to go with them.
- Later, they met Ernesto Belgado, whose hands they also tied behind their backs, and they took him along too.
- Robbery at the store and house of Cresenciano Magistrado
- They arrived in the barrio at about 8:00 in the evening and went directly to the store of Cresenciano Magistrado, which adjoined his house.
- They made the four tied men sit on the ground in front of the store, guarded by Narvarte holding a bolo, while Enguero entered the store.
- Pointing the pistol at Magistrado, Enguero demanded money.
- Fearing for his life, Magistrado ordered his wife, who was in the house, to give the money.
- Enguero, Bueno, and Tariman went up the house and took P4.80 from Magistrado’s wife.
- When the group found Juan Margarte, the barrio school teacher lodging with the Magistrados, Bueno brought Margarte down to the ground, tied his hands behind his back, and forcibly took a birthstone ring from his finger.
- After a while, Enguero and Tariman went down to the store and told Magistrado to give them wine, which they drank.
- Enguero then took the goods displayed in the store and passed them on to Bueno and Tariman, who piled them on the ground in front of the store.
- The goods taken consisted of:
- one dozen bottles of Coca-Cola worth P1.20,
- one dozen cans of Sardine worth P7.20,
- one dozen bottles of wine, Hoctung, worth P3,
- one dozen Sardine at P4.80,
- one dozen bottles of Pomade worth P4.80,
- two pairs of gold earrings worth P10,
- one dozen cartons Purico, valued at P3, and
- one package of Matches worth P0.33.
- The total value of these articles plus the P4.80 taken from Magistrado’s wife amounted to P39.13.
- The defendants also carried away items belonging to Juan Margarte with a total value of P87.80:
- one birthstone ring worth P70,
- one pair of tennis shoes worth P5.50,
- one pair of sock worth P2,
- one cake of soap worth P0.30, and
- a medal and a crucifix worth P10.
- Transfer to the nearby house of Victorino Togno and robbery against Anatolia Bragais
- At about 10:00 in the evening, after the Magistrado robbery, the four defendants together with Magistrado and Margarte (with hands still tied behind their backs) and the four other tied individuals they had forced to follow them, went to the nearby house of Victorino Togno about 14 meters away from Magistrado’s house.
- At the house:
- Enguero, Tariman, and Clementino Carulla (originally accused with the four defendants, but whose case was later dismissed upon motion of the Provincial Fiscal) went upstairs.
- Bueno and Narvarte remained on the ground guarding the companions.
- Anatolia Bragais, Victorino Togno’s wife, and her son were in the house.
- Enguero pointed a sharp instrument at Anatolia and demanded money.
- Carulla opened a trunk and took P3.
- Enguero asked where the rest of her money was and threatened to cut Anatolia’s throat with the sharp instrument when she replied that she had no other money.
- Enguero then took and carried away:
- a pair of shoes worth P18,
- a jacket worth P12,
- a blue pant worth P12, and
- a hammer.
- These articles, including the P3, had a total value of P45.
- Transfer to Florentina Ogarte’s house and robbery against Florentina Ogarte
- After committing the Togno robbery, the defendants and Carulla proceeded to the house of Florentina Ogarte, wife of Ireneo Binday, located about 54 meters from Magistrado’s house.
- The time was about 11:00 in the evening.
- At this house:
- Enguero and Carulla went upstairs.
- Tariman, Narvarte, and Bueno stood as guards on the ground.
- Enguero pointed his pistol...(Subscriber-Only)