PEOPLE vs.

HONRADEZ
CA 40 OG, Supp. 4, 1

Topics: Mitigating Circumstances in General;

Facts:
1. The accused was less than 18 years old and was charged with robbery. He
committed the crime during nighttime which was purposely sought.

Issue: Whether nighttime can offset minority of the accused.

Ruling: No.
Ratio Decidendi:
The aggravating circumstance of nighttime cannot offset a privileged
mitigating circumstance such as minority.

PEREZ vs. PEOPLE

G.R. No. 164763, February 12, 2008

Ponente: Justice R.T. Reyes

Topics: Mitigating Circumstances; Malversation;

Case Nature: Petition for Review on Certiorari of Sandiganbayan decision

Facts:
1. An audit team of the Provincial Auditor’s Office of Bohol conducted a cash
examination on the account of petitioner who was then acting municipal
treasurer of Tubigon, Bohol.

2. The audit team counted the cash contained in the safe of petitioner in his
presence. In the course of the audit, the amount of P21,331.79 was found in
the safe of petitioner.

3. Based on the said audit, petitioner was supposed to have on hand the total
amount of P94,116.36, instead of the P21,331.79, incurring a shortage of
P72,784.57. Petitioner was also informed and required to produce the
amount of P72,784.57.

4. When asked by the auditing team as to the location of the missing funds,
petitioner verbally explained that part of the money was used to pay for the
loan of his late brother, another portion was spent for the food of his family,
and the rest for his medicine for his diabetes.

5. Petitioner remitted several amounts to the Office of the Provincial Treasurer

of Bohol for the full restitution of the missing amount. In the course of his
remittances, an administrative case was filed against him. After making the
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 last remittance of Php 8,000.00 thereby having fully restituted the shortage,
a criminal case for malversation of public funds was filed against him before
the Sandiganbayan.

6. The Sandiganbayan convicted petitioner but held that he was entitled to the
mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender. Hence, this appeal.

Issue: Whether petitioner is entitled to mitigating circumstances.

Ruling: Yes. Conviction affirmed with modification.
Ratio Decidendi:
It bears stressing that the full restitution of the amount malversed will not in
any way exonerate an accused, as payment is not one of the elements of extinction
of criminal liability. Under the law, the refund of the sum misappropriated, even
before the commencement of the criminal prosecution, does not exempt the guilty
person from liability for the crime. At most, then, payment of the amount
malversed will only serve as a mitigating circumstance akin to voluntary surrender.
But the Court also holds that aside from voluntary surrender, petitioner is
entitled to the mitigating circumstance of no intention to commit so grave a wrong.
Per his admission, petitioner used part of the funds to pay off a debt owed by his
brother. Another portion of the misappropriated funds went to his medications for
his debilitating diabetes. Further, as shown earlier, petitioner restituted all but
P8,000.00 of the funds in less than one month and a half and said small balance in
three (3) months from receipt of demand of COA. Evidently, there was no
intention to commit so grave a wrong.
Of course, the end does not justify the means. To condone what petitioner
has done because of the nobility of his purpose or financial emergencies will
become a potent excuse for malefactors and open the floodgates for more
corruption in the government, even from “small fry” like him. The bottom line is a
guilty person deserves the penalty given the attendant circumstances and
commensurate with the gravity of the offense committed. Thus, a reduction in the
imposable penalty by one degree is in order.

PEOPLE vs. MAGPANTAY

CA 46 OG 1655

Topics: Mitigating; Incomplete Self-Defense dapat; Grave Fear;

Facts:
1. In the night of May 8, 1947, Felix and Pedro took turns to guard. Thus, one
was asleep while the other was awake. At about 9:00pm, when Pedro was
asleep, the silhouette of a man passed in front of their house without any
light. The night was dark and it was drizzling. The coconut trees and bushes
on the sides of the road increased the darkness.

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 2. When Felix saw the silhouette, he asked it who it was, but it walked
hurriedly, which made Felix suspicious as it might be a scouting guard of the
Dilim gang. Felix fired into the air, yet the figure continued its way.

3. When Pedro heard the shot, he suddenly grabbed the rifle at his side and
fired at the figure on the road, causing the death of the man. This man was
afterward found to be Pedro Pinion, who was returning home unarmed after
fishing in a river. Pedro voluntarily surrendered to the barrio lieutenant and
then to the chief of police.
Issue: Whether the accused can claim a mitigating circumstance in his favor.
Ruling: Yes.
Ratio Decidendi:
The accused acted under the influence of the fear of being attacked. Having
already in his mind the idea that they might be raided at any moment by the Dilim
gang and suddenly awakened by the shot fired by Felix, he grabbed his gun and
fired before he could be fired upon. The fear, however, was not entirely
uncontrollable, for had he not been so hasty and had he stopped a few seconds to
think, he would have ascertained that there was no imminent danger.
He is entitled to the mitigating circumstance of grave fear, not entirely
uncontrollable, under paragraph 1 of Article 13 in connection with paragraph 6 of
Article 12 of the RPC.

PEPITO vs. COURT OF APPEALS

G.R. No. 119942, July 8, 1999

Ponente: Justice Mendoza

Topics: Mitigating; Sufficient Provocation;

Case Nature: Petition for Review on Certiorari of CA decision

Facts:
1. According to the prosecution:

a. At around 8:30am, while Cynthia, the wife of the victim, was in her
mother’s house, where she and her husband were staying, she heard
someone on the street calling her husband. The latter was still asleep,
having gone to bed late as he had to make rounds in the barangay the
previous night as a member of the local Bantay Bayan.

b. Upon looking out of the window, Cynthia saw accused Felipe, Sinonor,
Sonny, and Estrella Pepito armed with various weapons locally known as
“depang,” “indian pana,” and “sagangat.” Frightened, Cynthia rushed out
of the house and ran to her neighbor’s house where she sought refuge.

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 c. Felipe, Sinonor, and Sonny entered the house as Estrella stood by the
door. A commotion inside the house was heard, after which accused
Felipe, Sinonor, and Sonny were seen coming out with their weapons
bloodied. Then addressing the people outside, Sinonor announced that
the victim was already dead.

d. The victim was found dead in a pool of blood on the floor of the kitchen.
The autopsy showed that he sustained 19 stab, incise, and hack wounds.

2. On the other hand, according to the defense:

a. On the other hand, the defense evidence shows that, between 6 and 7 in
the morning, the victim, Noe Sapa, drunk and armed with a bolo and an
“indian pana,” made trouble in the neighborhood, prompting Estrella to
report the matter to the barangay captain, who brought the victim home.

b. However, half an hour later, Noe Sapa came back and challenged the
family of accused to a fight. He chased Felipe, who was then returning
home from the seashore. Felipe ran towards their house. Sapa did not
pursue any further. He stopped about 8 meters from the door of the Pepito
residence and then went home.

c. Sinonor, who was in the kitchen having breakfast, thought that his father
had been hurt. He grabbed a bolo, rushed out of the house, and went after
Noe Sapa, eventually catching up with him on the highway. Sapa hit
Sinonor with his “indian pana,” and struck him with a bolo on the right
arm. Somehow, however, Sinonor was able to grab the right arm of the
victim, which was holding the bolo, and stab him several times.

d. Sapa tried to flee, but Sinonor pursued him until they reached the
former’s house. Sapa staggered inside their house, fell on the floor of the
kitchen, and died. Felipe, Sonny, and Estrella met Sinonor as he came
out, his clothes, hands, and bolo all bloodied.

3. The trial court found all three accused guilty of homicide. The CA affirmed
the trial court. Hence this petition.

Issue: Whether Sinonor is entitled to mitigating circumstance.

Ruling: Yes. Conviction affirmed as to Sinonor only.
Ratio Decidendi:
The Court upheld gave credence to the version of the defense which was
supported by testimonies of witnesses. Provocation is defined to be any unjust or
improper conduct or act of the offended party, capable of exciting, inciting, or
irritating anyone. In order to be mitigating, provocation must be sufficient and
should immediately precede the act. Provocation is sufficient if it is adequate to
excite a person to commit the wrong, which must accordingly be proportionate in

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gravity. That the provocation must immediately precede the act means that there
should not be any interval of time between the provocation by the offended party
and the commission of the crime by the person provoked.
In the present case, the acts of the victim of challenging the family of
petitioners while armed with a bolo and an “indian pana” and of chasing Felipe
clearly constitute sufficient provocation on his part. Several witnesses for the
defense testified that Sinonor attacked the victim shortly after the latter’s
provocation. Hence, this mitigating circumstance should be appreciated in favor of
petitioner Sinonor Pepito.

PEOPLE vs. MOLINA

G.R. No. 129051, July 28, 1999

Ponente: Justice Romero

Topics: Mitigating; Vindication;

Case Nature: Automatic Review of RTC Urdaneta decision

Facts:
1. According to the prosecution:

a. At around 10:00 o’clock in the evening, Domingo Flores was asleep in

his house. His daughter, Melanie, who was then listening to the radio,
was the only one in the household still awake at that time. Hearing a
sound, she saw accused-appellant, her father’s cousin, barging in through
the kitchen door and going straight to her father’s room.

b. She peeped through a curtain and saw accused-appellant hitting her

sleeping father on the head with a stone the size of a fist and afterwards
stabbing him in the neck and eyebrow with a knife.

c. She was able to recognize her uncle as her father’s assailant because
there was a lamp near her father’s head at the time of the attack. Afraid
that she too would be harmed, Melanie did not immediately come to her
father’s aid and instead watched as accused-appellant made good his
escape.

d. It was only after Molina had left that she hastened to call her grandfather
Eufrosinio who lived nearby. Eufrosinio found his son on the bed soaked
in his own blood. As Eufrosinio lifted his son onto his lap, Domingo,
fatally wounded and bleeding, told his father that it was his “insan”
Romy who stabbed him. Hours later, Domingo died from his injuries
while being transferred to another hospital.

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 2. According to Molina, however:

a. He was mauled without provocation by Domingo and another man who

were both drunk at the time. Molina then went to a hospital to get his
wounds treated, but refused to be confined thereat.

b. Molina interposed the defense of alibi, claiming that a man named Duyag
had pity on him and took him in his house and that he only found out
about Domingo’s death a month later. Molina also said that there was no
bad blood between him and the victim. In fact, he said, Domingo was like
a father to him and he saw no reason why the victim’s family would
make any false accusations against him.

3. The RTC convicted the accused for murder, sentencing him the death
penalty. Hence this automatic review by the Court.
Issue: Whether the accused is entitled to a mitigating circumstance.
Ruling: Yes. Conviction affirmed with modification. Penalty is reclusion perpetua.
Ratio Decidendi:
As the records show, accused-appellant was treated for injuries he sustained
when he was mauled in the afternoon of July 14, 1995 and the prosecution did not
offer any rebuttal evidence to deny the allegation that Domingo was one of the
men who beat up Molina. Indeed, that accused-appellant was mauled for no
apparent reason by someone he looked up to as a father understandably engendered
a strong feeling of vengeance on his part. Sadly, however, he chose to take the law
into his own hands to satisfy his thirst for revenge.
FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES:
With respect to the accused-appellant’s defense of alibi, suffice it to say that
denials and alibis, unsubstantiated by clear and convincing evidence, are negative
and self-serving and deserve no probative weight especially in light of the
testimonies of credible witnesses who have positively identified the accused as the
assailant. In addition, it has been held that for an alibi to prevail, the defense must
establish by positive, clear and satisfactory proof that it was physically impossible
for the accused to have been at the scene of the crime at the time of its
commission, and not merely that the accused was somewhere else.
A dying declaration is entitled to the highest credence because no person
who knows of his impending death would make a careless and false accusation.
Thus, it has been held that when a person is at the point of death, every motive of
falsehood is silenced and the mind is induced by the most powerful consideration
to speak the truth.

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PEOPLE vs. RABANILLO
G.R. No. 130010, May 26, 1999

Ponente: Chief Justice Davide, Jr.

Topics: Mitigating; Passion or Obfuscation;

Case Nature: Appeal from RTC Dagupan City decision

Facts:
1. One afternoon, accused Rabanillo, the victim Morales, and several others,
were having a drinking spree at the store of the victim’s mother. Later on,
certain Willy Vito, one of the participants in the drinking session, took a
bath at the artesian well nearby and jokingly doused Suarez with water. The
latter tried to retaliate but failed; he thus ran after the others and splashed
them with water.

2. RABANILLO joined the game. He filled a container with water and tried to
pour its contents at someone, but drenched MORALES instead. The latter
reprimanded the former because water got into his ear. A heated argument
between the two ensued and culminated into a fistfight. The two were
eventually pacified by cooler heads and were ushered to their respective
houses, which were just about 15 meters apart.

3. According to the prosecution:

a. Half an hour after the fisticuff, while MORALES, Suarez, and one Mauro
Pascua were having a conversation in the terrace of the house of
MORALES, RABANILLO went out of his house wielding a one-meter
samurai. RABANILLO went straight to MORALES and hacked him.

b. Instinctively, the latter parried the blow, but he was hit on his right hand.
When he attempted to run away, he tripped and fell down to the ground.
At this point, RABANILLO hacked him two times more, hitting him at
his back and left shoulder. That same day, MORALES drew his last
breath.

4. On the other hand, according to the defense:

a. MORALES and two others were shouting at RABANILLO, saying “You

come out, Tanod Commander!”

b. Irked by the challenge and deeming it as an attack on his person and

honor as chief tanod of the barangay, RABANILLO emerged from his
house with a bolo in hand and attacked MORALES thereby killing him in
the process.

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 5. The trial court found unmeritorious RABANILLO’s claim of passion and
obfuscation and convicted him of murder. Hence, this appeal.
Issue: Whether the accused acted out of passion and obfuscation.
Ruling: No. Conviction affirmed with modification: Homicide, instead of murder.
Ratio Decidendi:
For passion and obfuscation to be mitigating, the same must originate from
lawful feelings. The turmoil and unreason that naturally result from a quarrel or
fight should not be confused with the sentiment or excitement in the mind of a
person injured or offended to such a degree as to deprive him of his sanity and self-
control. The excitement which is inherent in all persons who quarrel and come to
blows does not constitute obfuscation. Moreover, the act producing obfuscation
must not be far removed from the commission of the crime by a considerable
length of time, during which the accused might have regained his normal
equanimity. Thus, it has been held that where at least half an hour elapsed between
the previous fight and the killing, the accused cannot be given the benefit of the
attenuating circumstance of obfuscation.
The Court ruled that RABANILLO resented and felt humiliated by
MORALES’ reprimand for dousing the latter with water which entered into his ear.
The thought of revenge must have dominated RABANILLO’s mind. Clearly, the
assault was made in a fit of anger. Furthermore, in this case, 30 minutes intervened
between the fistfight and the killing of MORALES by RABANILLO. The attack
cannot, therefore, be said to be the result of a sudden impulse of natural and
uncontrollable fury. Having been actuated more by the spirit of revenge or by
anger and resentment for having been publicly berated by MORALES,
RABANILLO cannot be credited with the extenuating circumstance of passion and
obfuscation.

DEL POSO vs. PEOPLE

G.R. No. 210810, December 7, 2016

Ponente: Justice Peralta

Topics: Mitigating; Passion and Obfuscation; Hot Flat Iron;

Case Nature: Petition for Review on Certiorari of CA decision

Facts:
1. The victim, VVV was given by her biological mother to the petitioner when
she was 7 years old and the latter then acted as her guardian. When VVV
was 9 years old, petitioner ordered her to attend to petitioner’s photocopying
business. While attending the business, VVV fell asleep.

2. When petitioner saw VVV asleep, the former became furious and laid VVV
on top of an ironing board and placed a heated flat iron on her. When VVV
tried to evade the heat emanating from the flat iron, her forehead, right

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 elbow, left cheek, left buttock and back got burned. Thereafter, petitioner got
her down from the ironing board and ordered her to sleep.

3. The following morning, petitioner’s wife saw the burns on VVV and told
petitioner not to do it again. Later on, VVV went to her Lola Ma. Luisa to
watch TV and the latter, and several other people, saw the burns prompting
Lola Ma. Luisa to bring VVV to the Barangay Hall where the incident was
put on blotter. Thereafter, VVV was brought to the hospital and then to the
police station.

4. Petitioner was charged and convicted by the RTC for violation of Sec. 10(a)
of RA 7610. With the CA affirming, he filed this petition wherein he claims
that the CA erred in not appreciating the mitigating circumstance of passion
and obfuscation in his favor.
Issue: Whether petitioner can invoke passion and obfuscation.
Ruling: No. Conviction affirmed.
Ratio Decidendi:
The mitigating circumstance of passion or obfuscation only applies if the act
of the victim is both unlawful and sufficient to produce such condition of mind. A
child who fell asleep while attending to a business establishment is not an offense
at all and could not give rise to an impulse sufficiently powerful to naturally
produce a justified diminution of an adult’s self-control. The dozing off of VVV
when she was ordered to watch over the Xerox machine for possible clients is not
an unlawful act sufficient to produce passion and raging anger, even to a
disciplinarian foster parent.

PEOPLE vs. SALAS

G.R. No. 115192, March 7, 2000

Ponente: Justice Quisumbing

Topics: Mitigating; Voluntary Surrender; Walking Home from Wake;

Case Nature: Appeal from decision of RTC San Fernando, Pampanga

Facts:
1. The accused Elmer Salas and the victim Virginia Talens both gambled at a
wake. The latter had a winning streak. Afterwards, Elmer, Virginia, Orlando
and Richard made their way to their respective homes together.

2. Orlando and Richard reached their house first, thereby leaving Elmer and
Virgina together. That was the last time Virginia was seen alive. A few
hours later, she was found dead in a canal. Her purse which contained Php
2,000.00 and a gold earring was missing.

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 3. The accused, who was a prime suspect, hid from the authorities for 6
months, abandoning his job as a painter. He was only caught by the
authorities when he was involved in a vehicular accident which caused his
hospitalization. In that incident, he even used an alias “Rommel” instead of
his real name “Elmer.”

4. The RTC convicted the accused of robbery with homicide and did not
appreciate his plea of voluntary surrender. Hence, this appeal.

Issue: Whether the accused can avail of voluntary surrender.

Ruling: No. Conviction affirmed.
Ratio Decidendi:
The essence of voluntary surrender is spontaneity and the intent of the
accused to give himself up and submit himself unconditionally to the authorities
either because he acknowledges his guilt or he wants to save the State the trouble
of having to effect his arrest. Spontaneity and an intent to give one’s self up are
absent where the accused went into hiding for six months after the incident and had
to resort to an alias when he was involved in an accident being investigated by the
police authorities.

PEOPLE vs. FALLORINA

G.R. No. 137347, March 4, 2004

Ponente: Justice Callejo, Sr.

Topics: Mitigating; Voluntary Surrender; Kid flying kite on top of roof got shot;

Case Nature: Automatic Review of RTC Quezon City decision

Facts:
1. According to the prosecution:

a. The victim Vincent was a grade three pupil whose education was
supported by an American couple. The appellant was an officer of the
PNP, detailed in the Traffic Management Group, but was on detached
service with the Motorcycle Unit of the MMDA.

b. Vincent, along with his friend Whilcon, played with his kite on top of the
roof of an abandoned carinderia beside the road. Beside this carinderia
was
a basketball court, where fourteen-year old Ricardo Salvo and his three
friends were playing backan, a game of basketball.

c. Ricardo saw the accused on board his motorcycle who stopped the same
and shouted and berated Vincent and Whilcon for playing on the roof.
Ricardo knew that the accused hated it when children would go and play
up there.
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 d. After hearing the shouts of the appellant, Whilcon immediately jumped
down from the roof. Vincent, meanwhile, was lying on his stomach on
the roof flying his kite. When he heard the appellant’s shouts, Vincent
stood up and looked at the latter. Vincent turned his back, ready to get
down from the roof.

e. Suddenly, the appellant pointed his .45 caliber pistol towards the
direction of Vincent and fired a shot. Vincent was hit on the head. He fell
from the roof, lying prostrate near the canal beside the abandoned
carinderia and the basketball court.

f. Accused-appellant brought the lifeless Vincent to the hospital. Later on,

he was nowhere to be found and did not report for duty to his superiors.

2. On the other hand, according to the defense:

a. The accused was responding to a request for police assistance when his
gun fell from his waistline and fired a shot. He then saw Vincent on the
ground, picked up the bloodied child, boarded him on a tricycle and
instructed its driver to bring the boy to the hospital.

b. The appellant rode his motorcycle and proceeded to his mother’s house,
in Caloocan City but did not inform her of the incident. He then called
his superior officer, Major Isidro Suyo, informing the latter of the
accident and that a child was accidentally hit. The accused assured his
superior that he would surrender later.

c. He then went to Valenzuela City to the house of his friend PO3 Angelito
Lam, who was a motorcycle unit cop. The appellant stayed there for three
days. He also visited friends during that time. Eventually, he surrendered
himself and his gun.

3. The RTC convicted the accused for murder and did not appreciate his claim
of voluntary surrender. He was sentenced to death. Now, the accused
contends that it was error to not consider the mitigating circumstance of
voluntary surrender in his favor.
Issue: Whether the accused can claim voluntary surrender.
Ruling: No. Conviction affirmed with modification. Now reclusion perpetua.
Ratio Decidendi:
Surrender is said to be voluntary when it is done by the accused
spontaneously and made in such a manner that it shows the intent of the accused to
surrender unconditionally to the authorities, either because he acknowledges his
guilt or he wishes to save them the trouble and expense necessarily incurred in his
search and capture.

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 In this case, the appellant deliberately evaded arrest, hid in the house of PO3
Lam in Valenzuela City, and even moved from one house to another for three days.
The appellant was a policeman who swore to obey the law. He made it difficult for
his brother-officers to arrest him and terminate their investigation. It was only after
the lapse of three days that the appellant gave himself up and surrendered his
service firearm.
As aptly observed by the trial court, human behavior dictates, especially
when the accused is a policeman, that when one is innocent of some acts or when
one is in the performance of a lawful act but causes injury to another without fault
or negligence, he would, at the first moment, surrender to the authorities and give
an account of the accident. His failure to do so would invite suspicion and
whatever account or statement he would give later on becomes doubtful.

LEGRAMA vs. SANDIGANBAYAN

G.R. No. 178626, June 13, 2012

Ponente: Justice Peralta

Topics: Voluntary Surrender and Restitution are Separate Mitigating Circums.;

Case Nature: Petition for Review on Certiorari of Sandiganbayan decision

Facts:
1. An audit team of the Office of the Provincial Auditor of the Commission on
Audit (COA) for the Province of Zambales discovered that petitioner’s cash
accountability was short of P1,152,900.75.

2. Petitioner and the Municipal Mayor of San Antonio, Zambales were charged
before the Sandiganbayan for the crime of Malversation of Public Funds.
They voluntarily surrendered and the Sandiganbayan found petitioner guilty
of the crime charged. Since petitioner was able to restitute the missing
amount, she was granted the mitigating circumstances of voluntary surrender
and restitution which was akin to the latter.

3. Dissatisfied, petitioner filed this petition challenging the resolution of the

Sandiganbayan with respect to her conviction.

Issue: Whether it was proper for the Sandiganbayan to consider restitution as a

separate mitigating circumstance from voluntary surrender.
Ruling: Yes. Conviction affirmed with modification in penalty.
Ratio Decidendi:
Petitioner enjoys the mitigating circumstances of voluntary surrender and
restitution. Although restitution is akin to voluntary surrender, as provided for in
paragraph 7 of Article 13, in relation to paragraph 10 of the same Article of the
Revised Penal Code, restitution should be treated as a separate mitigating
circumstance in favor of the accused when the two circumstances are present in a
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case, which is similar to instances where voluntary surrender and plea of guilty are
both present even though the two mitigating circumstances are treated in the same
paragraph 7, Article 13 of the Revised Penal Code.
Considering that restitution is also tantamount to an admission of guilt on
the part of the accused, it was proper for the Sandiganbayan to have considered it
as a separate mitigating circumstance in favor of petitioner.

PEOPLE vs. JAVIER

G.R. No. 130654, July 28, 1999

Ponente: Justice Romero

Topics: Illness; Husband boloed wife because of lack of sleep; Cannot claim
because no medical finding was presented to prove; Willpower was not
diminished;

Case Nature: Automatic Review of RTC Agoo decision

Facts:
1. Accused Eduardo Javier and Florentina Javier were legally married. In their
forty-one years of marriage, they begot ten children. They lived with one of
their daughters, Alma.

2. Between two o’clock and three o’clock in the morning, Consolacion Javier
Panit, who lives near her parent’s house about ten to fifteen meters away,
heard her mother, Florentina shouting “Your father is going to kill me”.

3. After she heard her mother scream for help, Consolacion rushed out of her
house and met her sister, Alma who, weeping, told her that their parents
were quarrelling. Alma, at the time of the incident was living in her parents’
house. Consolacion and Alma then proceeded to their brother Manuel’s
house, which is located about seventy to eighty meters away from their
parents’ house.

4. The three then proceeded to their parents’ house. Manuel, who entered first,
found the lifeless body of his mother in their bedroom and his father, the
accused, wounded in the abdomen.

5. The accused admitted having killed his wife with a bolo, but he did so
because he could not sleep for almost a month. His mind went blank when
the killing took place. The RTC rejected his claim of insanity, convicted him
of parricide, and sentenced him to death.

6. In this appeal, the accused alleges that the trial court erred in sentencing him
to death in light of the presence of two mitigating circumstances, one of
which is illness due to insomnia.
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Issue: Whether the accused can claim illness.
Ruling: No. Conviction affirmed with modification. Now reclusion perpetua.
Ratio Decidendi:
For the mitigating circumstance of illness of the offender to be appreciated,
the law requires the presence of the following requisites: (1) illness must diminish
the exercise of the willpower of the offender; and (2) such illness should not
deprive the offender of consciousness of his acts.

Since accused-appellant has already admitted to the killing, it is incumbent

upon him to prove the claimed mitigating circumstance of illness. In this case,
however, aside from the testimony of the accused that his mind went blank when
he killed his wife due to loss of sleep, no medical finding was presented regarding
his mental condition at the time of killing. No clear and convincing evidence was
shown that accused-appellant was suffering an illness which diminished his
exercise of willpower at the time of the killing.
On the other hand, it is clear that accused-appellant was aware of the acts he
committed. First, he remembered killing his wife in their bedroom with the use of a
bolo, where he mangled her neck twice; he remembered trying to commit suicide,
by wounding himself with the same bolo he used in killing his wife; and he
remembered being brought to the hospital. Since he remembered the vital
circumstances surrounding the ghastly incident, from the time of the killing up to
the time he was brought to the hospital, it shows that he was in full control of his
mental faculties. This negates his claim that he was suffering from an illness that
diminished the exercise of his willpower.

PEOPLE vs. BELARO

G.R. No. 99869, May 26, 1999

Ponente: Justice Kapunan

Topics: Alternative Circumstance (Mitigating); Lack of Instruction;

Case Nature: Appeal from RTC Naga City decision

Facts:
1. Myrna Pastor, wife of the victim Salvador Pastor, was inside her residence
when someone from outside called “Ma” and “Pa,” summoning her
attention. Since her husband was already reclined on the bed momentarily
savoring a local drama aired on the radio, Myrna raced down the stairs to
answer the call.

2. When Myrna opened the front door, she was surprised to see the caller as
their longtime family acquaintance, appellant Romeo Belaro, posing outside
the door and armed with the armalite that he usually carries. Appellant

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 appeared to be drunk. Since the armalite’s nozzle was ominously pointed at
the door, Myrna felt an onrush of fear and instinctively shut the door.

3. Thereafter, she raced towards their bedroom and told her husband about
appellant. This time, the deceased descended to see appellant while he toted
his youngest child. However, the moment the front door was opened, Myrna
was simply surprised when her deceased husband tossed to her the child and
shoved her aside.

4. Thereafter, a volley of shots from an M16 rifle rang through the air. The
deceased was directly hit as he toppled on the floor. Then again, another
series of gunfire emitted. Appellant scampered away with 5 unidentified
men.

5. The RTC convicted the accused for murder. In this appeal, Belaro claims
that he is entitled to alternative circumstances of lack of instruction.
Issue: Whether the accused can claim lack of instruction as a mitigating
circumstance.
Ruling: No. Conviction affirmed.
Ratio Decidendi:
Illiteracy alone will not constitute such circumstance; it must be
accompanied by lack of sufficient intelligence and knowledge of the full
significance of one’s act. Thus, it is the trial court, rather than the appellate court,
to find and consider the circumstance of lack of instruction. The said court was in a
better position to gauge appellant’s level of intelligence from his appearance,
demeanor and manner of answering questions. In this case, the trial court did not
make any findings as to the degree of instruction of appellant. Indeed, the alleged
presence of this circumstance is being raised for the first time here. That alternative
circumstance cannot be considered in fixing the penalty to be imposed on appellant
on appeal.
Moreover, lack of instruction should be proved directly and positively; it
cannot be based on mere deduction or inference. There is no such proof in this
case. On the contrary, appellant, being a CAFGU member, is presumed to have
received some degree of instruction and training.
Finally, there is jurisprudence holding that the accused’s lack of instruction
cannot be considered mitigating in homicide or murder. The reason is that one does
not have to be educated or intelligent to be able to know that it is unlawful to take
the life of another person even if it is to redress a wrong committed against him.

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