Case Summary (G.R. No. 154113)
Nature of the Crimes and Accusations
Respondents, acting as police officers, were charged with complex crimes of arbitrary detention with murder under Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). The Informations alleged that on August 31, 2003, they and other co-conspirators unlawfully deprived the three victims of liberty, interrogated and tortured them across multiple sites, and ultimately shot Suganob and Lomoljo on September 1, 2003, and Salabas on September 15, 2003, in Ajuy, Iloilo.
Procedural History to the Supreme Court
– Trial Court (RTC, Manila Branch 27) consolidated three Informations and, on April 13, 2011, convicted respondents of three counts each of murder (Art. 248, RPC) and arbitrary detention (Art. 124, RPC), imposing indeterminate prison terms and awarding damages.
– Court of Appeals affirmed on July 31, 2014, sustaining separate convictions for murder and arbitrary detention, applying aggravating circumstances of treachery, abuse of superior strength, and cruelty.
– Respondents elevated the case to the Supreme Court, challenging the characterization as a complex crime, the discharge of Brillantes as state witness, and the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence regarding Salabas’s death.
Complex Crime vs Separate Offenses
Under Article 48, a complex crime arises when one felony is a necessary means for committing another or when multiple felonies are consummated in one act. The Supreme Court held that arbitrary detention was not a necessary means to murder, as respondents could have killed the victims without prior abduction. The detention was consummated before the killings; therefore, the offenses are separate and distinct, warranting independent convictions.
Elements of Murder and Arbitrary Detention
Murder (Art. 248, RPC): (1) a person was killed; (2) respondents caused the death; (3) qualifying circumstance(s) attended the killing; (4) the crime is neither parricide nor infanticide. The Court found direct testimony of Brillantes proved the killings of Suganob and Lomoljo. Salabas’s murder was proven by an unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence: surveillance, abduction, confinement, sightings at various locations, and recovery of his cadaver.
Arbitrary Detention (Art. 124, RPC): (1) offender is a public officer; (2) detains a person; (3) detention lacks legal grounds. All elements were satisfied by respondents’ unauthorized custody of the three victims.
State Witness Discharge
Brillantes was discharged as a state witness under Rule 119, Sec. 17 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure. The Supreme Court found no impropriety, as the RTC correctly determined that his testimony was necessary, corroborated, and that he was not the most guilty nor tainted by moral turpitude.
Sentences and Damages
– Murder: Reclusion perpetua for each of the three counts, with qualifying aggravating circumstances of treachery, abuse of superior strength (absorbed in treachery for two victims), and cruelty.
– Arbitrary Detention: Two terms of
Case Syllabus (G.R. No. 154113)
Facts of the Case
- On November 3, 2004, an Information for kidnapping with murder was filed in RTC Guihulngan, Negros Occidental (Branch 64) for the killing of Eleuterio Salabas.
- October 18, 2006, an amended Information added P/Insp. Clarence Dongail, SPO4 Jimmy Fortaleza, SPO2 Freddie Natividad, and multiple co-accused for kidnapping with murder.
- June 20, 2008, the fourth amended Information charged “complex crime of arbitrary detention with murder” against the same police officers and additional respondents.
- Alleged incident dates: August 31, 2003 to September 15, 2003, involving the abduction, transport, detention, torture, and killing of Eleuterio Salabas, Ricardo Suganob, and Maximo Lomoljo, Jr.
- Venue transferred to RTC Manila (Branch 27) upon widow’s motion; two murder informations for Suganob and Lomoljo were likewise consolidated.
- Arraignment: only Dongail, Fortaleza, Natividad, state witnesses Cecil Brillantes and July Flores, and Lorraine Abay pleaded not guilty; others remained at large.
- Brillantes and Flores were later discharged as state witnesses; prosecution presented 18 witnesses, defense only two.
Prosecution Evidence
- Remedios Salabas: her father left home August 31, 2003 after reporting a sideswipe and never returned.
- PO3 Rogelio Estevanez: encountered Salabas at 9:30–10:00 p.m.; Fortaleza supervised the scene and instructed to report the sideswipe or face inaction.
- Cecil Brillantes (police asset): attended planning meeting in early August 2003 to surveil Salabas for alleged drug trade involvement.
- August 31, 2003, around 8:00 p.m., Brillantes saw Salabas, Suganob, and Lomoljo blindfolded, gagged, handcuffed inside a red Revo van with Natividad, Fortaleza, Gotas, Dongail, and others.
- Victims taken sequentially to Moonlight Lodge, Taculing Court apartelle, then Hacienda Motel—subjected to questioning, kicking, boxing, pistol-whipping.
- Orders to kill delivered by Dongail and Fortaleza: Montilla shot Suganob, Gotas shot Lomoljo; baptism of fire commanded.
- Salabas was held for days: seen at a beach resort on September 7 with Dongail and Natividad; transported by pump boat to Ajuy, Iloilo on September 15.
- Cadaver of Salabas found September 19 in Ajuy waters; identified by clothing, deformed thumbnail, family recognition; autopsy by Dr. Nicasio Botin confirmed fatal gunshot wound to head.
- Autopsies of Suganob and Lomoljo revealed multiple gunshot wounds, blunt-force fractures, eye injury.
- Families of victims testified to monthly earnings, funeral expenses, and incurred losses.
Defense Evidence
- Dr. Ernesto Gimenez (forensic expert): maintained onl