G.R. No. L-19852 July 29, 1968
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. MANSUETO JAMERO, ET AL., defendants, MANSUETO JAMERO, RODRIGO HONORIO LOPEZ, JULIAN PABICON and JOEL BINGCANG, defendants on review.

FACTS

On July 19, 1958, Ernesto Piccio, a councilor and lawyer from Sagay, Negros Occidental, left his Bacolod City residence for Sagay. His lifeless body was found the next day in a sugarcane field in Barrio Tinampaan, Cadiz. An autopsy revealed multiple stab wounds and brain injuries as the cause of death. After investigation, an Information for Murder was filed against several accused, including Mansueto Jamero, Julian Pabicon, Rodrigo Honorio Lopez, and Joel Bingcang. The prosecution’s key witness was Inocencio Retirado, who was discharged from the Information to become a state witness over the opposition of the other accused. At trial, the prosecution presented multiple witnesses. The Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental found Jamero, Pabicon, Lopez, and Bingcang guilty of murder and sentenced them to death, while acquitting their co-accused on reasonable doubt. The convicted defendants appealed.

ISSUE

The primary issue for review is the correctness of the conviction of the appellants (Mansueto Jamero, Rodrigo Honorio Lopez, Julian Pabicon, and Joel Bingcang) for the crime of murder.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty. It found the testimony of state witness Inocencio Retirado credible and sufficient to establish conspiracy among the appellants. The court held that the killing was attended by treachery, qualifying the crime as murder. It also found the aggravating circumstances of nighttime, use of superior strength, use of a motor vehicle, uninhabited place, and cruelty to be present. However, for lack of the required number of votes to impose the death penalty, the Supreme Court reduced the sentence to life imprisonment. The court found no merit in the appellants’ charge of unfairness by the trial judge.