G.R. No. L-12702; March 30, 1962
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. FILEMON CUTURA, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

The case originated from the killing of Jesus Cimafranca in Bohol in December 1944. Following a prior altercation at a benefit dance where Cimafranca fired a gun and defied guerilla officers, he was apprehended on December 13, 1944, by members of a guerilla detachment under Lt. Guillermo Cuevas. Cimafranca was brought to headquarters with his hands tied. Upon seeing him, Lt. Cuevas admonished Cimafranca that he would pay for his actions. Immediately thereafter, several individuals, including appellant Filemon Cutura, assaulted Cimafranca. The prosecution presented multiple witnesses who testified that Cutura hit the victim on the head with a large piece of wood. Cimafranca was subsequently stabbed by another accused, Rufino Orillosa, and died from the combined injuries.
The Court of First Instance found Cutura and Orillosa guilty of murder, appreciating the mitigating circumstance of obfuscation. Cutura appealed to the Court of Appeals, which then certified the case to the Supreme Court, holding that the proper penalty, absent the unsupported mitigating circumstance, would be reclusion perpetua, which falls under the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction.

ISSUE

The primary issue is whether appellant Filemon Cutura is criminally liable for the death of Jesus Cimafranca and, if so, to what extent. A secondary issue is whether the mitigating circumstance of obfuscation or Amnesty Proclamation No. 8 applies.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed Cutura’s criminal liability but modified the penalty. The Court held that Cutura’s participation in the assault was conclusively established by the consistent testimonies of six witnesses who identified him as the one who struck the victim’s head with wood. The Court applied the principle that each assailant is responsible for the death if his act contributed to it, even if the injury inflicted was not independently fatal. The blow accelerated the victim’s death, satisfying the requirement for liability.
The defense claim for amnesty was rejected. The evidence showed the arrest and killing stemmed from personal strife arising from Cimafranca’s defiance of authority during the dance incident, not from any hostile activities against the resistance movement. The trial court’s finding of obfuscation was also erroneous, as the record contained no evidence that Cutura was provoked into a sudden passion. The attack was a deliberate response to the lieutenant’s admonition, not a spontaneous reaction to an unlawful act by the already subdued and bound victim. With no modifying circumstances, the proper penalty for murder under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code is reclusion perpetua. The decision was modified to impose this penalty, with the indemnity and costs affirmed.