EUNICE FRANCIA A.

MACAGBA

emacagba@yahoo.com.ph

THE UNITED STATES, petitioner vs. AH CHONG, defendant-appellant

G.R. No. L-5272, March 19, 1910

FACTS:

The defendant Ah Chong, a Chinese man, was employed as a cook at Fort Mc Kinley,

Rizal Province at Officer’s Quarter No. 27 with Pascual Gualberto, the deceased, who also

happened to be employed in that same place as a houseboy or muchacho. They lived together

in a detached house which was 40 meters away from the nearest building. The room they

occupied in that house was small, unsecured because it was not furnished with a permanent

bolt or lock and they also had to place a chair against the door to make sure the door was

fastened, and it had only one window that opened to the porch and the porch was said to be

covered by a heavy growth of vines, thus, making the room where they stay in really dark at

night.

Both the defendant, Ah Chong, and the deceased were good friends as they appeared to

have been friendly towards each other. They also had an agreement that whenever one of them

returned at night, that person should knock and acquaint his companion with his identity.
 On August 14, 1908 , Pascual Gualberto, the deceased, left the house early in the

evening to go out for a walk with his friends, Celestino Quiambao and Mariano Ibanez, who

were also employed in the same building but they worked for Officer’s Quarter No. 28.

At about 10 o’clock in the evening, Ah Chong, a scaredy cat, was suddenly awakened

by someone who was forcibly opening the door. He called out two times asking who that person

is but Gualberto did not reply. On the third time, he asked again and even threatened the other

person that he will kill him but still, the person did not reply. At that moment, he was struck

just above the knee by the chair that was placed against the door. Since it was dark, and there

was a news that several robberies took place prior to that date, he was very afraid because his

mind was clouded with negative thoughts thinking that perhaps it was a burglar or ladron trying

to force his way into the room. As a matter of fact, he thought the blow had been inflicted by

the person who forced to open the door, so with this, he immediately seized the knife he kept

under his pillow and aimed wildly at that person who happened to be his roommate, Gualberto.

Gualberto, who was desperately wounded, ran out to the porch and fell down, followed

by the defendant who abruptly recognized him in the moonlight. Upon seeing his roommate,

Ah Chong called his employers who slept in the next house and returned to their room to get

bandages for Pascual’s wounds.

ISSUE(S):

1. Whether or not the defendant Ah Chong is criminally liable?

HELD:

NO. Ah Chong is not criminally liable because he can invoke the defense of honest

mistake of fact. A mistake of fact is an act or omission which is the result of a

misappreciation of facts that is voluntary but not intentional. The acts would be lawful had

the facts been as he believed them to be. A careful examination of the facts disclosed in the

case at bar convinces us that Ah Chong who inflicted the fatal blow alleged in the

information in the firm belief that the intruder who forced open the door was a thief. He

thought that he was in imminent peril, both of his life and the property committed to his

charge, that in view of all the circumstances that appeared to the defendant during that time,

he acted in good faith, without malice or criminal intent, believing he was only exercising his

right of self-defense; that had the facts been as he believed them to be. Mistake of fact is an

absolutory fact or a justifying circumstance, which means that when the acts of the actor are

in accordance with law, he is justified, hence, there is no criminal liability.