G.R. No. 1677 : March 13, 1905
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. ALEJO CARANTO, ET AL., defendants-appellants.

FACTS:
The accused, Alejo Caranto and Melchor Gloria, were charged with the crime of asesinato (murder) under Article 404 of the Penal Code. The information alleged that on September 30, 1903, in the municipality of Bautista, Pangasinan, they willfully and with deliberate premeditation killed Toribio de la Cruz and Francisco Bandong by inflicting fatal wounds with deadly weapons. The trial court convicted both accused of asesinato, finding that deliberate premeditation was established by previous threats and that the accused were identified as the perpetrators by an eyewitness, Pascual Ramos. The court sentenced them to cadena perpetua (life imprisonment), indemnification of the heirs of each deceased in the amount of 1,000 pesos, and payment of costs.

ISSUE:
Whether the evidence presented sufficiently established the qualifying circumstance of deliberate premeditation (alevosía) to convict the accused of asesinato (murder) under Article 403 of the Penal Code.

RULING:
The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s finding of deliberate premeditation. The evidence of threats relied upon by the trial courtspecifically, one accused’s statement after discovering their fishing boat was stolen that “the thieves, whoever they were, would be turned into ghosts, unless first he himself should be made into a ghost by the thieves”was not direct or specific enough to prove deliberate premeditation. The threat was general, not directed at the victims in particular, and there was no evidence linking it to a premeditated plan to kill the specific individuals. Therefore, the element of deliberate premeditation required for asesinato was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

However, the Court upheld the finding that the accused were guilty of the killings. Since homicide is necessarily included in the charge of asesinato, and no aggravating or extenuating circumstances were present, the accused were convicted of two counts of homicide. The Supreme Court modified the sentence, imposing upon each accused the penalty of fifteen years of reclusión temporal, with the accessory penalties under Article 59 of the Penal Code, indemnification of the heirs of each deceased in the sum of 1,000 pesos, and payment of costs for both instances.