Case Summary (G.R. No. 24978)
Parties
Petitioner: Fernando de Fernando (appealing a conviction for murder).
Respondent: The People of the Philippine Islands (prosecution below and appellee on appeal).
Key Dates
Offense: Nighttime incident (about 7:00 p.m. per trial narrative).
Trial and appeal: Proceedings culminated in a judgment of the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga and appeal to the higher court as reflected in the record. (The decision date is not reproduced here per instruction.)
Applicable Law and Framework
The court adjudicated under the Penal Code provisions invoked by the record: homicide through reckless negligence (article referenced as 568) in relation to general homicide provisions (article referenced as 404). The legal disposition was determined according to the laws and penal provisions in force at the time of decision.
Facts Found Beyond Reasonable Doubt
- Prior escape of several Moro prisoners from San Ramon and subsequent local alarm.
- Remigio Delgado reported three suspicious persons prowling near his house; he informed the municipal policeman (Fernando) of this.
- Fernando remained in Delgado’s house talking with Paciencia Delgado. At about 7:00 p.m. an unknown man dressed in dark clothing called “Nong Miong” from about four meters away and advanced up the stairs carrying a bundle of three bolos tied together. Neither Fernando nor Paciencia recognized the caller.
- Fernando first fired a shot into the air and then fired at the advancing man. The man ran to neighbor Leon Torres’ house, placed the bolos on a table, collapsed and died. The man was Buenaventura Paulino, the nephew of the house owner.
- On examination the fatal bullet had entered the base of the neck at the right and was found embedded under the skin on the left side.
- After the shots Remigio Delgado, having recognized the voice, confronted Fernando, who replied only “Let me go, that is a cross eyed person,” then went to the barrio teniente’s house and telephoned the chief of police.
Issues on Appeal
- Whether the acts of the accused constituted the crime of murder.
- Whether the accused was exempt from criminal liability (i.e., justified or entitled to acquittal).
Court’s Factual and Legal Analysis
- The court accepted that Fernando, as an agent of the law, had notice of possible escaped prisoners and of prowlers in the vicinity; this context reasonably caused a heightened concern for public safety.
- Fernando perceived an unknown person in clothing similar in color to the prisoners’ uniform, who called out in a familiar manner (“Nong Miong”) and advanced with a visible implement. The defendant initially fired a warning shot into the air and, seeing the man continue to ascend with a bolo-like object, fired again and hit him.
- The man so shot proved to be a relative of the house owner carrying three bolos tied together; Paciencia’s silence and the late hour contributed to Fernando’s reasonable—but ultimately mistaken—belief that the man was a dangerous intruder.
- The court emphasized that the familiarity of the caller’s address (“Nong Miong”) should have suggested to Fernando the possibility that the caller was known to the household (a friend or relative). By not asking Paciencia who the caller was, Fernando failed to take an ordinary precaution that the circumstances required.
- Given Fernando’s state of mind—believing he was performing his duty and acting to defend the household against what he thought was an imminent threat—the court found that he did not act with deliberate intent or malice requisite to murder. Instead, the fatal act resulted from his failure to exercise the ordinary diligence required under the circumstances.
Legal Conclusion and Classification of Offense
- The court concluded that the defendant’s conduct did not constitute murder because malice aforethought was absent; the defendant acted under a bona fide, though mistaken, belief that force was necessary.
- The proper characterization of the offense was homicide through reckless negligence (as defined in the Penal Code provision cited), not murder. The court described the defendant’s conduct as reckless negligence: he fired a fatal shot without first exercising reasonable diligence to ascertain the true identity and relation of the approaching person.
Sentence, Civil Liability, and Credits
- The prior judgment convicting the defendant of murder was reversed.
- The defendant was convicted of homicide through reckless negligence and sentenced to one year of prision correccional (reflecting the lower range prescribed by the applicable penal provisions cited).
- Civil indemnity to the heirs of the deceased was fixed at P500 (reduced from the trial court’s P1,000 award). Subsidiary imprisonment in
Case Syllabus (G.R. No. 24978)
Procedural Posture
- Appeal from the judgment of the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga.
- Trial court originally held defendant Fernando de Fernando guilty of the crime of murder.
- Trial court's sentence: twenty years cadena temporal, indemnity to heirs of the deceased Buenaventura Paulino in the sum of P1,000, and payment of costs.
- Defendant appealed, assigning specific errors as the basis of the appeal.
- The Supreme Court reversed the appealed judgment in part, recharacterized the offense, and imposed a different sentence and indemnity.
Assigned Errors by the Accused
- The accused specifically assigned as errors:
- (1) The trial court's holding that the acts committed by the accused constituted the crime of murder.
- (2) The trial court's failure to hold that the accused was exempt from criminal liability and to acquit him.
Facts Proven Beyond Reasonable Doubt
- Prior to the incident, several Moro prisoners had escaped from the Penal Colony of San Ramon, Zamboanga.
- Residents of the barrio of Municahan, municipality of Zamboanga, were alarmed by the presence of three suspicious-looking persons prowling around the place.
- Fernando de Fernando was, at the time of the incident, a municipal policeman (an agent of the law).
- Remigio Delgado informed Fernando of the presence of three unknown, suspicious-looking persons dressed in blue prowling around his house.
- Fernando remained in Remigio Delgado’s house, seated on a bench near the window, talking with Paciencia Delgado (Remigio’s daughter).
- At about 7 o’clock at night, in the dark and at a distance of about four meters from the stairs, a person dressed in dark clothes appeared calling “Nong Miong.”
- Neither the accused nor Paciencia Delgado at that time knew who was calling.
- The unknown advanced with a bolo in hand and did not answer Fernando’s inquiry as to who he was.
- Fernando first fired a shot into the air, then fired at the advancing person.
- The unknown ran to the house of neighbor Leon Torres, placed the bolos he carried upon a table, fell on the floor, and expired.
- The deceased was Buenaventura Paulino, nephew of the owner of the house (Remigio Delgado), carrying three bolos tied together.
- Remigio Delgado, in the kitchen and having recognized the voice of the unknown, ran into the parlor upon hearing the shots, seized the defendant’s arm, and asked why he had fired at Buenaventura Paulino.
- Fernando de Fernando responded, “Let me go, that is a cross eyed person,” and immediately went to the house of the teniente of the barrio, Santiago Torres, from where he telephoned the chief of police to advise him of what had happened.