Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence


Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence > Year 1914 > July 1914 Decisions > G.R. No. 9781 July 30, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. AGUSTIN LANSAÑGAN

027 Phil 474:




PHILIPPINE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. 9781. July 30, 1914. ]

THE UNITED STATES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AGUSTIN LANSAÑGAN, Defendant-Appellant.

Filomeno Diaz for Appellant.

Solicitor-General Corpus for Appellee.

SYLLABUS


1. MURDER; "ALEVOSIA." — The qualifying circumstance of treachery (alevosia) exists whenever one person employs means, methods, or forms which insure the execution or commission of the crime of assassination without any danger arising or resulting to himself from the acts of the person assassinated.

2. ID.; ID.; MURDER OF CHILD OF TENDER YEARS. — The qualifying circumstance of treachery or alevosia exists in the commission of the crime of murder, when an adult person illegally attacks a child of tender years and causes its death.


D E C I S I O N


JOHNSON, J. :


This defendant was charged with the crime of assassination, alleged to have been committed as follows: "That the said Agustin Lansañgan, on or about the 6th day of December, 1913, in the municipality of Concepcion, Province of Tarlac, willfully, maliciously, and criminal, with premeditation and treachery, did kill one Marcelino Tipay, a child of 7 years of age; contrary to law."cralaw virtua1aw library

The defendant was duly arrested, arraigned, tried, found guilty of the crime of homicide in the Court of First Instance of the Province of Tarlac, and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of fourteen years eight months and one day of reclusion temporal, with the accessories of the law, to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the sum P1,000 and to pay the costs. From that sentence the defendant appealed to this court. Here the appellant was represented by an attorney de officio. The only defense made by the appellant is that the proof adduced during the trial of the cause does not justify, beyond a reasonable doubt, the conclusions of the lower court.

From an examination of the evidence brought here we find that the following facts are sustained beyond a reasonable doubt:chanrob1es virtual 1aw library

That for a long time before the death of the said Marcelino Tipay, the defendant and Maria Bautista, the mother of the deceased, had been living and cohabiting together; that a short time before the 6th day of December, 1913, the defendant and the said Maria Bautista had a quarrel and the defendant left the house where he had been living with Maria Bautista, threatening to kill her or some of her children; that a few days after the defendant had left the house of Maria Baustista, the deceased Marcelino Tipay and one of the other children of the said Maria Bautista were playing in the highway on the afternoon of the 6th day of December, 1913; that the defendant passed by where the children were playing and, for some reason or other, induced the said Marcelino Tipay to accompany him in the direction of an estero; that later on the same day, the child (Marcelino Tipay) not having returned home, a search was made for it; that late in the evening one of the children met the defendant in the highway or road, leaving the estero, and at that time the clothing of the defendant was wet up to his waist; that inquiry was made of him concerning the whereabouts of the said Marcelino Tipay, whereupon he immediately returned to the estero, went into the water and picked up the dead body of the child from the bottom of the estero and brought it ashore; that upon an examination of the body of the said Marcelino Tipay, it was found that the cervical vertebra had been dislocated. Suspicion was at once directed to the said defendant as the person who had caused the death of the said Marcelino Tipay and the next day (the 7th of December, 1913) a complaint was presented against him in the court of the justice of the peace of the municipality of Conception, Province of Tarlac, and a preliminary examination was held by the said justice of the peace, who found that there was probable cause to believe that the defendant was guilty of the crime and ordered him to be held for trial in the Court of First Instance of said province. Later the case was brought to trial in the Court of First Instance.

After hearing the evidence the Honorable Julio Llorente, judge, in a carefully prepared opinion, in which he makes an extensive summary of the evidence adduced during the trial of the cause, reached the conclusion that the evidence showed, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant was guilty of the crime of homicide. The lower court found that there were no circumstances upon which he could qualify the crime as assassination.

The defendant, at the time of the trial, was a man of forty years of age. The deceased was a child of seven years of age. The supreme court of Spain has held in numerous decisions, and those decisions have been allowed by this court, that the qualifying circumstance of treachery exists whenever one person employs means, methods and forms which insure the execution or commission of the crime without any danger arising of resulting to himself from the acts of the person attacked. 1 Alcubilla, 444. Decision of the supreme court of Spain of July 13, 1897; U. S. v. De Leon (1 Phil. Rep., 163); U. S. v. Ricafor (1 Phil. Rep., 173); U. S. v. Rubeta (1 Phil. Rep., 331); U. S. v. Abelinde (1 Phil. Rep., 568); U. S., v. Abaiger (2 Phil. Rep., 417); U. S. v. Santos (2 Phil. Rep., 453); U. S. v. Alvarez (3 Phil. Rep., 24).

The supreme court of Spain has also held (and this court has followed said decisions) in considering alevosia as a qualifying circumstance of the crime of assassination, that when an adult person illegally attacks a child of tender years and causes its death, that he runs no risk whatever of personal injury to himself from such attack and that therefore in such a case alevosia should be considered as a qualifying circumstance of the crime, and the same should be qualified as assassination. In the present case the child was of tender years, being but seven years old. Whatever method the defendant employed, in causing the death of the deceased, the same was done without any possibility of danger resulting to himself from the child. The crime, therefore, in the present case should be qualified as that of assassination. Decisions of the supreme court of Spain: January 26, 1877 (where the child was 30 months old); October 29, 1879 (where the child was 11 years old); October 29, 1883 (a child of tender years); November 15, 1895 (where the child was 3 years old); July 13, 1897 (a young child). U. S. v. Larion (2 Phil. Rep., 476); U. S. v. De Jesus (14 Phil. Rep., 190).

From the record we find no aggravating circumstances accompanying the commission of the crime. Considering all of the facts and circumstances, however, and the ignorance of the defendant, we are disposed to give him the benefit of article 11 of the Penal Code as an extenuating circumstances, and impose upon him the minimum penalty provided for the crime of assassination. The sentence of the lower court is therefore hereby reversed and it is hereby ordered and decreed that a sentence be entered declaring that the defendant is guilty of the crime of assassination, with the qualifying circumstance of alevosia, and the extenuating circumstance of article 11 of the Penal Code, and sentencing the defendant to be imprisoned for a period of twenty years a cadena temporal, to suffer the accessory penalties provided for by law, to indemnity the heirs of the deceased in the sum of P 1,000, and to pay the costs.

Arellano, C.J., Torres, Carson, Moreland and Araullo, JJ., concur.




Back to Home | Back to Main




















chanrobles.com





ChanRobles On-Line Bar Review

ChanRobles Internet Bar Review : www.chanroblesbar.com

ChanRobles MCLE On-line

ChanRobles Lawnet Inc. - ChanRobles MCLE On-line : www.chanroblesmcleonline.com






July-1914 Jurisprudence                 

  • G.R. No. 9536 July 24, 1914 - QUINTINA REYES v. GUILLERMO F. RUIZ AL.

    027 Phil 458

  • G.R. No. 9483 July 25, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. CANDIDO AQUINO

    027 Phil 462

  • G.R. No. 9479 July 28, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. VALERIANO

    027 Phil 466

  • G.R. No. 9243 July 30, 1914 - GUILLERMO DE LOS SANTOS v. FELIX DE LA CRUZ

    027 Phil 469

  • G.R. No. 9781 July 30, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. AGUSTIN LANSAÑGAN

    027 Phil 474

  • G.R. No. 9762 August 3, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. VICTORIANO JOANINO

    027 Phil 477

  • G.R. No. 9192 August 7, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. ROSENDO VILLAREAL

    027 Phil 481

  • G.R. No. 9375 August 7, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. FILOMENA SANTIAGO

    027 Phil 483

  • G.R. No. 9603 August 7, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. RAFAEL MELAD

    027 Phil 488

  • G.R. No. 9721 August 8, 1914 - LOO SING v. INSULAR COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS

    027 Phil 491

  • G.R. No. 9341 August 14, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. SERVANDO BAY

    027 Phil 495

  • G.R. No. 8435 August 15, 1914 - BANK OF THE PHIL. v. ESTATE OF NICOLAS CARRANDEJA

    027 Phil 500

  • G.R. No. 9426 August 15, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. FILOMENO MARASIGAN

    027 Phil 504

  • G.R. No. 9656 August 20, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. ENRIQUE DE LEON

    027 Phil 506

  • G.R. No. 9801 August 20, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. JESSE T. WORTHINGTON

    027 Phil 512

  • G.R. No. 9808 August 20, 1914 - TAN CHI HIN v. INSULAR COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS

    027 Phil 521

  • G.R. No. 9653 August 21, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. IPIL ET AL.

    027 Phil 530

  • G.R. No. 8108 August 22, 1914 - RAMON L. ORTIZ v. ASUNCION FUENTEBELLA ET AL.

    027 Phil 537

  • G.R. No. 9265 August 22, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. JOSE GUEVARA

    027 Phil 547

  • G.R. No. 9398 August 22, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. AMADO ESMUNDO

    027 Phil 554

  • G.R. No. 9103 August 25, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. MARIANO LOPEZ

    027 Phil 558

  • G.R. No. 7353 August 26, 1914 - ISAAC BORCELIS v. VICENTE GOLINGCO ET ALL.

    027 Phil 560

  • G.R. No. 9635 August 26, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. A. A. ADDISON

    027 Phil 563

  • G.R. No. 9198 August 29, 1914 - ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF LIPA v. MUNICIPALITY OF SAN JOSE

    027 Phil 571

  • G.R. No. 6845 September 1, 1914 - YAP TUA v. YAP CA KUAN

    027 Phil 579

  • G.R. No. 7679 September 1, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. YU WA

    028 Phil 1

  • G.R. No. 7967 September 5, 1914 - PORT BANGA LUMBER CO. v. EXPORT & IMPORT LUMBER CO.

    028 Phil 5

  • G.R. No. 8834 September 9, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. JOSE B. VASQUEZ

    028 Phil 7

  • G.R. No. 9540 September 10, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. JUAN RIVERA, ET AL.

    028 Phil 13

  • G.R. No. 9073 September 11, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. MONICO CUSTAN

    028 Phil 19

  • G.R. No. 9274 September 14, 1914 - FILOMENA DEL PRADO v. TIRSO DE LA FUENTE

    028 Phil 23

  • G.R. No. 9008 September 17, 1914 - UNITED STATES v. MANUEL FLORES, ET AL.

    028 Phil 29