People vs Mangllalan

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People vs Mangllalan
G.R. No. L-38538
April 15, 1988

Facts:

On September 3, 1972 in Barrio Punti East, Sta. Ana, Cagayan, Ka Daniel who appears to be the leader of the New People's Army (NPA) in the area directed Andres Manglallan, Cesar Alvarez, Domingo Ramos, and Virgilio Ballesteros, members of the NPA to go to Barrio Punti and kill one Apolonio Ragual who was suspected by Ka Daniel to be a Philippine Constabulary (PC) informer. Said four went to the barrio of Ragual. Manglallan carrying a Browning shotgun, Ramos a Thompson, Alvarez a carbine, and Ballesteros a homemade gun called Bulldog. They arrived at Punti at 9:00 A.M. and they saw Ragual at the river bank giving his carabao a bath. Ramos went to him and after a while shot him with his gun. Manglallan also shot him with his Browning followed with another shot by Alvarez, as a result of which Ragual fell down and died. Manglallan then placed on the dead body of Ragual a writing and drawing made by their association warning the people and the PC of their activities. Thereafter, the group returned and reported to Ka Daniel that Ragual was already dead. Dr. Leonides Flores, the Municipal Health Officer of Sta. Ana, Cagayan conducted a post-mortem examination on the remains of Apolonio Ragual at about 4:00 P.M. of the same day, after which he issued an autopsy report showing multiple gunshot wounds suffered by the deceased and finding the cause of death to be severe hemorrhage, shock secondary to multiple gunshot wounds.

Issue:

Whether the accused is liable for the crime of murder under Art. 248 and subversive act such as rebellion or insurrection under Arts. 134 and 135 of the RPC?

Held:

Yes. The Court finds the accused Andres Manglallan guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of murder, defined and penalized under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code, without any aggravating or mitigating circumstance offsetting each other, and sentences him to suffer reclusion perpetua to indemnify the heirs of the victim in the amount of TWELVE THOUSAND PESOS (P12,000.00) without, however, serving subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency; and to pay the costs.

The judgment appealed from is modified by convicting the accused-appellant of the crime of rebellion punishable under Article 135 of the Revised Penal Code and not of murder. Considering that the commission of the offense was attended by the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrendered, and applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, appellant is hereby imposed an indeterminate penalty of imprisonment of Two (2) Years and Four (4) Months of prision correccional as minimum to Six (6) Years and One (1) Day of prision mayor as maximum to pay a fine of P10,000.00 and to indemnify the heirs of the deceased Apolonio Ragual in the amount of P30,000.00. As the accused-appellant is a detention prisoner in the New Bilibid Prisons and he appears to have been under detention for a period beyond the period of the penalty herein-above imposed on him, he is hereby ordered Released immediately from detention unless he is being held for some other charges. This Decision is immediately executory.

Case Digest by: cbcabalza2010