G.R. No. L-1247, December 22, 1903
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, vs. PABLO JAMINO ET AL., defendants-appellants.

FACTS:
On the morning of September 29, 1902, Sanitary Inspector Rufino de la Cara was inspecting the barrio of Baybay, Iloilo, for cholera cases. Pablo Jamino, seeing the inspector pass his house, ordered his laborers, including Emeterio Alcala and Clemente Belarmino, to seize him. They bound Cara’s elbows with rattan and brought him to Jamino. Jamino then ordered his men to take Cara to a nearby mangrove swamp. Upon arrival, Jamino ordered Cara’s death. Custodio N. and Anselmo Toledo attacked Cara with bolos, inflicting fatal wounds on his head, neck, and face. After ensuring Cara was dead, the body was hidden. That night, by Jamino’s order or knowledge, Custodio N. and Antonio N. (both at large) placed the body in a sack weighted with sand and threw it into the sea. The body was discovered floating near Iloilo’s lighthouse on October 2, 1902, identified by witnesses and the red cross insignia on the sleeve. The physician concluded death was caused by drowning, as the wounds alone might not have been fatal without timely aid. The defendants Pablo Jamino, Anselmo Toledo, and Emeterio Alcala were charged with murder. Clemente Belarmino was discharged to become a state witness.

ISSUE:
Whether the accused are guilty of the crime of murder.

RULING:
Yes, the accused are guilty as principals of the crime of murder, defined and penalized under Article 403 of the Penal Code. The killing was characterized by alevosia (treachery) as the victim was bound and completely defenseless during the assault, and the assailants acted in concert. The Court found the extrajudicial confessions of Toledo and Alcala, corroborated by witness Belarmino and others, to be voluntary and conclusive proof of guilt. All three prosecuted defendants, together with the absent Custodio N. and Antonio N., are considered co-principals, having participated with a common criminal intent.

The Court rejected the aggravating circumstances of premeditation, uninhabited place, and abuse of superiority. However, applying Article 11 of the Penal Code, the special mitigating circumstance of ignorance (the defendants erroneously believed sanitary inspectors were poisoning wells) was appreciated. Consequently, the minimum penalty for murder was imposed.

The judgment of the lower court was modified. Pablo Jamino, Anselmo Toledo, and Emeterio Alcala were each sentenced to twenty years of cadena temporal, with the corresponding accessory penalties, and to pay jointly an indemnity of 1,000 pesos to the heirs of the deceased.