People vs Ranin

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People vs Ranin
G.R. No. 173023
June 25, 2008

Facts:

Based on the antecedent facts culled from the records, in the morning of February 18, 1999, Lina de Castro, a lady guard detailed at Palma Hall in the University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman Campus, noticed appellant Ranin pacing the pathway. Appellant Ranin intermittently glanced at a photo which he kept in his pocket while his three companions sat on a bench. Sensing that the four were outsiders, de Castro asked them to leave.

Yet again, at around 3:30 p.m. the following day, de Castro saw appellant Ranin walking by the CASAA canteen as his companions rested on a bench. De Castro accosted appellant Ranin and demanded that he leave. Without responding, the latter headed towards the photocopying machine at the Arts and Sciences Building and then back. He did this routine four times while constantly checking a photo hidden in his pocket.

Meanwhile, Nino Calinao was seated on a bench with other UP students. When appellant Ranin neared their bench, he suddenly fired two successive shots at Calinao. The other students ran away as Calinao fell to the ground. While the latter was crawling on the ground holding his stomach, appellant Ranin shot him a third time. Then, appellant Ranin fired a fourth time at the fallen body of Calinao. De Castro tugged on appellant Ranin's shirt and told him, "Dodong, Dodong, tama na yan, patay na yang bata." Appellant Ranin pointed the gun at her but put it down right away. After that, appellant Ranin and his companions fled.

On September 21, 1999, Resurreccion Ranin, Jr. y Jamali, Besmart Al-Baddar Lauppah y Umparah, Rizal Sarri Lamsani y Jamang and Ommar Hadjula y Kainong were charged with murder in an Information which reads as follows:

On or about February 19, 1999, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, while confederating, conniving, conspiring and mutually helping and aiding one another, with evident premeditation and treachery, taking advantage of superior strength and employing means to weaken the defense of the victim, did then and there, with criminal and malicious intent to kill, wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously, shoot Nino Calinao with a .45 caliber pistol which caused his instantaneous death, to the damage and prejudice of his heirs.

Issue:

(a) Whether appellant Ranin be punished of death penalty against the provision of RA No. 9346 on the prohibition of the imposition of death penalty?

Held:

The Court likewise agrees with the trial court that treachery and evident premeditation attended the killing which qualified the offense to murder. There is treachery when the means, methods and forms of execution employed gave the person attacked no opportunity to defend himself or to retaliate; and such means, methods and forms of execution were deliberately and consciously adopted by the accused without danger to his person. The essence of evident premeditation, for its part, is that the execution of the criminal act was preceded by cool thought and reflection upon the resolution to carry out the criminal intent during a space of time sufficient to arrive at a calm judgment.

Evidently, Calinao was unaware of the impending danger as appellant Ranin suddenly fired two successive shots at him.

Now, as to the imposable penalty on appellant Ranin, we take into account the passage of Republic Act No. 9346, which was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on June 24, 2006. The pertinent provisions of said law states that:

Section 1. The imposition of the penalty of death is hereby prohibited. Accordingly, R.A. No. 8177, otherwise known as the Act Designating Death by Lethal Injection, is hereby repealed. Republic Act No. R.A. No. 7659, otherwise known as the Death Penalty Law, and all other laws, executive orders and decrees, insofar as they impose the death penalty are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

Section 2. In lieu of the death penalty, the following shall be imposed: (a) the penalty of reclusion perpetua, when the law violated makes use of the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code; or

Section 3. Persons convicted of offenses punished with reclusion perpetua, or whose sentences will be reduced to reclusion perpetua, by reason of this Act, shall not be eligible for parole under Act No. 4103, otherwise known as the Indeterminate Sentence Law, as amended.

The assailed Decision and Resolution of the Court of Appeals are hereby affirmed with modification. In view of Rep. Act No. 9346 prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty, appellant Ranin is hereby sentenced to reclusion perpetua without possibility of parole. The award of actual damages is reduced to P42,000, while that of moral damages is also reduced to P50,000. The appellant is further ordered to pay the heirs of Nino Calinao P75, 000 as civil indemnity and P25, 000 as exemplary damages. No pronouncement as to costs.

Case Digest by: cbcabalza2009