Case Summary (G.R. No. 116719)
Key Dates
Offense: December 29, 1989
Trial Court Decision: April 1992 (TSN)
Court of Appeals Decision: January 18, 1996
Applicable Law
Revised Penal Code, Article 248 (murder) in relation to Article 5 (degree of execution)
1987 Constitution, Article III, Section 19(1) (prohibition of the death penalty; reduction to reclusion perpetua)
Factual Background
While driving his family home after business hours, Benito Ng Suy’s Ford Fiera collided head-on with an orange Toyota Tamaraw driven by Virgilio Abogada, in which Patricio Amigo was a passenger. After a brief verbal altercation initiated by Ng Suy, Amigo interjected, provoked by Ng Suy’s rebuff and reference to his Chinese ethnicity. Amigo left momentarily, returned, drew a five-inch knife, and stabbed Ng Suy twice in the chest. The victim attempted to flee but Amigo pursued, embracing him and inflicting multiple stab wounds to the arm, chest, abdomen, diaphragm, pancreas, duodenum, colon, and thigh. Ng Suy was rushed to San Pedro Hospital, then airlifted to Chinese General Hospital, where he succumbed three weeks later to sepsis resulting from thirteen stab wounds.
Procedural History
- Trial Court (Davao City RTC): Charged originally with frustrated murder; amended to murder upon victim’s death.
- RTC Decision: Found Amigo guilty of murder under Article 248, imposed reclusion perpetua, awarded actual, compensatory, and moral damages.
- Accused-Appellant’s Appeal: Argued that under Section 19(1), Article III of the 1987 Constitution (in force at the time of the offense), the death penalty no longer existed and the proper penalty should be reclusion temporal in its medium period.
Constitutional Framework and Precedent
Section 19(1), Article III of the 1987 Constitution prohibits the imposition of the death penalty and mandates its reduction to reclusion perpetua where applicable. In People v. Muñoz (170 SCRA 107, 1989), this Court clarified that the constitutional abolition of the death penalty does not alter the minimum and medium periods of penalties prescribed in the Revised Penal Code; it only converts the penalty of death into reclusion perpetua. Prior decisions had divided the reduced penalty into three new periods, but Muñoz restored the original scheme of Article 248, preserving the minimum and medium periods of reclusion temporal and making reclusion perpetua the maximum.
Issue
Whether the penalty for murder, committed on December 29, 1989—after the 1987 Constitution took effect—is reclusion perpetua (as death was abolished by the Constitution) or reclusion temporal in its medium period (as argued by the accused-appellant).
Supreme Court Ruling
Applying the 1987 Constitution, the Court held that Article III, Section 19(1) abolishes the death penalty but does not modify the remai
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Facts
- On December 29, 1989 at around 1:00 P.M., Benito Ng Suy was driving a gray Ford Fiera along the National Highway of Bajada, Davao City, with his three daughters and two-year-old son as passengers.
- An orange Toyota Tamaraw driven by Virgilio Abogada, with Patricio Amigo (alias “Bebot”) as passenger, suddenly made a left turn in front of the Regional Hospital, causing a minor head-on collision with Ng Suy’s vehicle.
- Ng Suy and Abogada engaged in a loud verbal confrontation; Amigo stepped forward to calm the situation, but was rebuffed by Ng Suy as having no business in the accident.
- Amigo insulted Ng Suy with a racial remark (“You are Chinese, is it you?”), left the scene briefly, then returned, repeated the taunt, drew a five-inch knife and stabbed Ng Suy twice in the chest.
- The victim attempted to flee around his vehicle; Amigo pursued, embraced him and delivered multiple additional thrusts, the last wound striking Ng Suy on the left side.
- Ng Suy’s eldest daughter, Jocelyn, pleaded for mercy from inside the car; bystanders failed to intervene until the younger daughter’s embrace caused Amigo to desist and flee.
- Jocelyn then rushed her father to San Pedro Hospital, where he underwent surgery for thirteen stab wounds, spent three weeks in ICU, was airlifted to Manila’s Chinese General Hospital, but ultimately died of sepsis after three more weeks.
Procedural History
- An Information for frustrated murder under Articles 248 and 5 of the Revised Penal Code was filed; the accused pleaded not guilty.
- After the victim’s death, the Information was amended to charge murder with treachery, evident premeditation, and intent to kill.
- The trial court found Amigo guilty of murder beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua, plus:
- Actual damages: ₱93,214.70
- Compensatory damages: ₱50,000.00
- Moral damages: ₱50,000.00
- Amigo appealed, arguing that under Section 19(1), Arti