GR 134373; (February, 2001) (Digest)
G.R. No. 134373 . February 28, 2001
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CASTANITO GANO Y SAGUYONG a.k.a JERRY PEREZ, ALLAN PEREZ, ALLAN SAGUYONG and JERRY GANO, accused-appellant.
FACTS
On 30 December 1994, Ponciano Salen, his wife Anicia, and their daughter Conchita Marbella were brutally murdered in their residence in San Mateo, Rizal. The accused-appellant, Castanito Gano, a former bakery employee of Ponciano, was identified as the perpetrator by Conchita’s young daughter, Angelica, who witnessed the attack. Investigation revealed that several valuables, including cash and jewelry, were missing from the victims’ home. The police pursued Gano, who was apprehended at Butuan City airport in possession of two wristwatches and cash belonging to the victims. During the return trip to Manila, Gano confessed to the killings and the robbery.
The Regional Trial Court convicted Gano of the complex crime of robbery with homicide under Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code. The trial court appreciated the two additional killings (beyond the one homicide inherent in the complex crime) as aggravating circumstances and Gano’s confession as a mitigating circumstance. Balancing these, it imposed the death penalty. The case is now under automatic review.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court correctly appreciated the two other killings as separate aggravating circumstances to justify the imposition of the death penalty for the crime of robbery with homicide.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court modified the penalty to reclusion perpetua. The legal logic is grounded in the nature of a complex crime. Robbery with homicide is a single, indivisible offense under Article 294. The homicide committed on the occasion of the robbery is treated as a component of the complex crime, not as a separate offense. The killing of multiple persons does not convert the single complex crime into multiple crimes or create distinct aggravating circumstances. The plurality of victims is inherent in the commission of the complex crime and is already accounted for in the prescribed penalty of reclusion perpetua to death. To treat the additional killings as aggravating would constitute improper double counting.
Furthermore, the Court found that Gano’s confession was not a proper mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender. His admission was qualified, as he admitted the killings but denied the robbery—the very essence of the complex crime charged. With no valid aggravating or mitigating circumstances present, Article 63 of the Revised Penal Code mandates the imposition of the lesser penalty of reclusion perpetua. The Court affirmed the conviction but modified the awards, ordering the accused to pay P50,000 as civil indemnity and P50,000 as moral damages to the heirs of each of the three victims.