GR 116734; (March, 1996) (Digest)
G.R. No. 116734 March 29, 1996
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. LARRY LAURENTE Y BEJASA, MELVIN DAGUDOG and RICHARD DISIPULO, accused. LARRY LAURENTE Y BEJASA, accused-appellant.
FACTS
Accused-appellant Larry Laurente, along with two others, was charged and convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Pasig for the crime of Highway Robbery with Homicide under Presidential Decree No. 532 (the Anti-Piracy and Anti-Highway Robbery Law of 1974). The trial court found that the accused robbed and killed a taxi driver, sentencing Laurente to death. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court for automatic review due to the imposition of the capital penalty.
ISSUE
Whether or not the accused-appellant can be validly convicted of Highway Robbery with Homicide under P.D. No. 532 for the robbery and killing of a specific, predetermined victim.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court acquitted Laurente of the charge under P.D. No. 532, though he remained liable for other crimes under the Revised Penal Code. The Court meticulously distinguished the crime of highway robbery/brigandage under the decree from simple robbery. The legal logic is that P.D. No. 532 is a special law aimed at suppressing lawless elements who form bands to commit acts of depredation indiscriminately against any person on highways, as gleaned from its preambular clauses and jurisprudential history. It is a modern iteration of the old law on brigandage (bandolerismo). The essence of the offense is the formation of a band organized for the purpose of indiscriminate highway robbery, not a robbery committed by a group against a particular, preconceived victim. Since the evidence only established a single robbery against a specific taxi driver, the acts did not constitute the indiscriminate, widespread threat to public order that the decree was designed to punish. Therefore, the accused could not be convicted under this special law, as its elements were not satisfied. The conviction was set aside, and the case was remanded for proper proceedings under the appropriate provisions of the Revised Penal Code.