Case Summary (G.R. No. L-36858)
Relevant events and procedural milestones
- Death of victim: May 21, 1970 (occurred in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte).
- Autopsy performed: May 25, 1970 (conducted at cemetery before burial at the request of the deceased’s daughter).
- Lower court judgment: conviction and sentence imposed March 20, 1973 (reclusion perpetua; indemnity awarded P12,000; costs).
- Appeal: Review of lower court’s conviction and factual/causal findings by the appellate court.
Applicable Law and Legal Principles
Governing substantive and doctrinal law
- Criminal liability under the Revised Penal Code, including Article 4 principle that a person is liable for the felony though the wrongful act be different from that which he intended.
- Relevant medico-legal doctrine on causation and shock as a cause of death (as cited in the decision and medical jurisprudence authorities).
- Where present, the constitution in effect at the time of the court’s reasoning informs procedural and substantive interpretation.
Foundational Facts Established by the Record
Uncontested and contested factual findings
- The parties do not dispute that Asuncion Pablo died in the evening of May 21, 1970 and that Macario Ulep inflicted physical blows on that day.
- The Chief of Police initially was told the death was a heart attack; an autopsy was requested but initially refused by the husband and later permitted by the victim’s daughter, leading to a necropsy at the cemetery.
- Two written statements (Exhibits A and B), executed and sworn before Fiscal Abaya, contain admissions by the accused that he elbowed the victim on the breast and caused her death. The accused later retracted those admissions and offered an alternative explanation at trial (an earlier accident in 1969 involving a bullcart and subsequent treatment by an “arbularyo”).
Autopsy Findings and Pathological Diagnosis
Objective medical findings from Dr. Bonoan’s necropsy
- External and skeletal findings: multiple complete rib fractures — left 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th ribs (with extravasated blood and tissue injury), and right 3rd and 4th ribs fractured near rib-cartilage junction with surrounding tissue injury and extravasated blood. A 1" x 3" bluish-black area on the left upper anterior arm was noted.
- Thoracic and abdominal cavities: approximately 200 cc of serous fluid in the thoracic cavity (pleura lacerated at fracture sites) and approximately 500 cc of serous fluid in the abdominal cavity.
- Cardiovascular and central nervous system: small amount of clotted blood in the heart, congested coronary and meningeal vessels.
- Reported cause of death: “cardiac arrest — primary shock,” attributed to traumatic injuries to the chest.
Confessions, Retraction and Evidentiary Weight
Admissions in sworn statements and subsequent trial retraction
- The accused executed two sworn statements admitting he elbowed and attacked his wife and that those acts caused her death; the trial court observed the accused never repudiated those sworn statements prior to trial.
- At trial the accused retracted, claiming instead that the ribs had been fractured earlier (circa 1969) when the victim was pinned by a bullcart and treated by an arbularyo. The defense introduced a witness who recalled past rib fractures but without specifying which ribs or providing comparable detail.
Defense Medical Theory and Challenges to Causation
Defense assertions on chronic disease and incompatibility of injuries with fatal causation
- The defense argued that (a) absence of contusions at chest surface means elbow blows could not have produced the rib fractures, because fractures typically produce extravasation and swelling; (b) the rib fractures were old and healed or longstanding, accounting for lack of swelling; (c) the fractures were not depressed and thus could not have injured or compressed the heart to produce cardiac arrest or primary shock; and (d) the abdominal and pleural fluids and cardiac clots could be explained by chronic internal disease (e.g., nephritis, hepatic change, cardiac hardening) rather than recent trauma.
Prosecution Medical Explanations and Rebuttal
Forensic counterarguments supporting traumatic causation of death
- Dr. Bonoan testified that the rib fractures showed fresh extravasation and surrounding tissue injury consistent with recent trauma; pleural laceration at fracture sites and serous fluid were consistent with traumatic injury.
- The pathologist explained alternative explanations offered by the defense: the increased abdominal serous fluid could result from embalming diffusion; small clots in the heart and congested vessels are commonly seen postmortem and do not necessarily indicate a chronic circulatory failure.
- The prosecution relied on accepted medico-legal doctrine that shock or cardiac arrest may follow otherwise apparently minor or non-external injuries and that chest compression or strong elbow blows on a thin-framed person can cause fatal shock even without extensive external bruising.
Court’s Legal Analysis on Causation and Liability
Application of causation doctrine and precedent to the facts
- The court emphasized established doctrine that, even if a victim had preexisting internal disease, the assailant is criminally liable if his act was (a) the efficient or proximate cause of death, (b) accelerated death, or (c) materially contributed to death. Article 4 of the Revised Penal Co
Case Syllabus (G.R. No. L-36858)
Case Caption and Citation
- Reported at 245 Phil. 157, First Division, G.R. No. L-36858, decided June 20, 1988.
- Parties: People of the Philippines (Plaintiff-Appellee) v. Macario A. Ulep (Accused-Appellant).
- Opinion authored by Justice Gancayco; Justices Narvasa, Cruz, Grino-Aquino, and Medialdea concurred.
Introductory Judicial Statement
- The decision opens with a moral and social observation by the Court: a husband must love and protect his wife; one who beats and kills her ceases to be a man and becomes a beast.
- The Court frames the gravity of the offense: when killing occurs in the process, the law imposes the supreme penalty; here, the case involves parricide.
Trial Court Disposition and Sentencing
- The Court of First Instance of Ilocos Norte, Second Judicial District, convicted Macario A. Ulep.
- Original sentence (trial court decision dated March 20, 1973): reclusion perpetua; indemnity to the heirs of the deceased in the amount of P12,000.00; and payment of costs.
- On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence but modified the indemnity, increasing it to P30,000.00; otherwise the judgment was affirmed.
Undisputed Facts — Time, Place, and Death
- Date and time of death: May 21, 1970, at nine o'clock in the evening.
- Place: San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte.
- Victim: Asuncion Pablo Ulep, age stated as 42 in the autopsy report.
- Cause asserted in fact-finding: the victim died as a result of physical injuries inflicted upon her on the same day by her husband, accused Macario Ulep.
Post-Death Events and Autopsy Procedure
- The Chief of Police of San Nicolas received a report alleging the deceased had died of a heart attack.
- The Chief of Police and the Rural Health Officer visited the house, saw the body on a bamboo bed surrounded by relatives, friends, and the husband.
- The Chief of Police suggested an autopsy but the husband (accused) refused permission initially.
- The daughter of the deceased by a previous marriage asked for a day or two to decide; at her behest, the request for an autopsy was made shortly before burial.
- An autopsy was conducted by Dr. Eliseo Bonoan when the police and physician caught up with the funeral procession at the Catholic cemetery; the husband was present when the autopsy was performed.
- The necropsy/autopsy report is dated May 25, 1970 and marked as Exhibit D in the record.
Detailed Autopsy Findings (Dr. Eliseo V. Bonoan)
- Identification: Name Asuncion Pablo Ulep, age 42, Filipino, address No. 24, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte; date of examination May 25, 1970.
- Skin: A rectangular area about 1" x 3", bluish black in color, on the upper half anterior aspect of the left arm.
- Skeletal System:
- Complete fractures of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th ribs on the left side.
- The 4th and 5th ribs fractured along the midclavicular line, left.
- The 6th and 7th ribs fractured along the anterior axillary line, left.
- Presence of extravasated blood and injuries of surrounding tissues at the fractured rib areas, left.
- Complete fracture of the 3rd and 4th ribs at the juncture of the rib and external cartilages with concomitant injury to surrounding tissues and extravasated blood on the right side.
- Thoracic Cavity: Presence of about 200 cc of a serous fluid within the cavity; pleura lacerated at the points of fractures.
- Cardio-Vascular System: Heart with small amount of clotted blood; coronary vessels congested; big blood vessels contained small amount of clotted blood.
- Abdominal Cavity: Presence of about 500 cc of serous fluid within the cavity.
- Digestive System: Apparently normal.
- Central Nervous System: Meningeal vessels were congested.
- Pathological diagnosis and cause of death: Cardiac arrest; primary shock stated as cause of death.
Statements and Admissions by the Accused (Exhibits A and B)
- Two weeks after the burial, two constabulary sergeants investigated Macario Ulep; a statement was prepared and signed by the accused and sworn before Fiscal Cesar Abaya (Exhibit "A").
- In Exhibit "A" the accused admitted causing the death of his wife by elbowing her because she was drunk and uttering indecent words.
- The following day PC Sergeant Damian Bautista conducted another investigation; a second written statement was made and subscribed before Fiscal Abaya (Exhibit "B").
- In Exhibit "B" the accused reiterated that he elbowed his wife on her breast and that this caused her death.
- Accused's account of events in the statements: the elbowing and attack took place at their home at 5:30 in the afternoon; the victim vomited and went to bed; the accused left for the fields and returned around 9:00 p.m. finding his wife dead on her bed; he reported the death to their barrio captain.
Retraction at Trial and Alternative Explanation Offered by Accused
- At trial the accused retracted his earlier sworn statements, narrating an alternative factual account.
- Alternative version: more than a year before the death, while the wife went to have their palay milled, their bullcart loaded with sacks of rice turned upside down and pinned the wife on her breast.
- Alleged consequence of the bullcart incident: the wife was treated by a country quack or "arbularyo" and purportedly had prior rib injuries from that event.
- A witness for the defense testified that sometime in February or March 1969 the wife was pinned down by a sack of rice and the side portion of a bullcart and was attended by an arbularyo; this witness said two ribs on each side of the chest were fractured but did not specify which ribs.
Issues Raised on Appeal by the Accused
- The accused raised the following errors as grounds for reversal: I. That the lower court erred in holding that cause of death was due to elbow blows by the accused as admitted in Exhibits "A" and "A-T English translation," arguing such admission was merely a belief. II. That the lower court erred in not holding that the cause of death was due to a long-standing process or condition in the deceased's bodily system, as testified by Dr. Pedro Blanco for the defense. III. That the lower court erred con