Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions > Year 2011 > August 2011 Resolutions > [G.R. No. 195527 : August 22, 2011] PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, APPELLEE VERSUS EDUARDO EUSEBIO Y PANISALES, APPELLANT. :

Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated 22 August 2011 which reads as follows:

G.R. No. 195527 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, appellee versus EDUARDO EUSEBIO y PANISALES, appellant. 

In a letter^[1] dated June 24, 2011, P/Supt. II Ramon M. Reyes, Chief Superintendent, New Bilibid Prison (NBP), informed the Court that appellant Eduardo Eusebio y Panisales has died at the NBP Hospital on April 13, 2011. Attached to the letter is a certified photocopy^[2]  of appellant's original death certificate on file at the hospital.

Before appellant died, his counsel had appealed^[3] the March 15, 2010 Decision^[4] of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 00037 which found appellant guilty of rape, as follows: 

WHEREFORE, the Decision dated April 22, 2004 in Case Nos. 4683-69 and 4684-69 is AFFIRMED WITH MODIFICATION. Appellant EDUARDO EUS[E]BIO y PANISALES is adjudged guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of SIMPLE RAPE in both cases and is sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua in each case, and to pay P50,000.00 as moral damages and P50,000.00 as civil indemnity each to AAA and BBB.^[5]

The CA gave due course to the appeal and elevated the records to this Court.^[6]

Appellant's death, however, compels this Court to dismiss the cases against him and consider his appeal closed and terminated. Appellant's death pending appeal of his conviction extinguishes his criminal as well as his civil liabilities arising from the said criminal act. In People v. De Jesus,^[7] we noted that one of the appellants therein, Rodelo Morales, died before his conviction attained finality. We ruled that under Article 89(1)^[8] of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, Morales's criminal and civil liabilities were extinguished by his death. Hence, we dismissed the case against Morales.

WHEREFORE, we DISMISS the cases for rape against appellant Eduardo Eusebio y Panisales docketed as Criminal Case No. 4683-69 and Criminal Case No. 4684-69 before the Regional Trial Court of Silay City, Branch 69, as his civil and criminal liabilities were extinguished by reason of his death.

The appealed Decision dated March 15, 2010 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 00037 is hereby SET ASIDE.

Let the present appeal be considered CLOSED and TERMINATED.

SO ORDERED.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) EDGAR O. ARICHETA
Division Clerk of Court

Endnotes:

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^[1] Rollo, p. 32.

^[2] Id. at 33. 

^[3] Id. at 20. 

^[4] Id. at 2-19. Penned by Associate Justice Agnes Reyes-Carpio with the concurrence of Associate Justices Samuel H. Gaerlan and Socorro B. Inting. 

^[5] Id. at 18. 

^[6] Id. at 21-22. The Resolution was also penned by Associate Justice Reyes-Carpio with the concurrence of Associate Justices Edgardo L. Delos Santos and Eduardo B. Peralta, Jr. 

^[7] G.R. No. 186528; January 26, 2011, 640 SCRA 660, 678-679. 

^[8] ART. 89. How criminal liability is totally extinguished. - Criminal liability is totally extinguished:

1. By the death of the convict, as to the personal penalties; and as to pecuniary penalties, liability therefore is extinguished only when the death of the offender occurs before final judgment; 

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