G.R. No. L-21937 November 29, 1969
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. FELIPE B. PAREJA, ET AL., defendants, FELIPE B. PAREJA, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

On the evening of July 3, 1961, Antonio Abad Tormis, a lawyer and columnist-editor for The Republic News in Cebu City, was shot and killed as he entered his car outside the Esquire Barber Shop. The investigation led to the arrest of Gaspar Mesa, who executed a sworn statement identifying Cesario Orongan as the gunman and implicating a certain “Toto” (later identified as Avelino Monzolin, the driver-bodyguard of City Treasurer Felipe B. Pareja) as the one who supplied the weapon and instructed the killing. Mesa stated that on the morning of the killing, he and Orongan were brought by Monzolin to the office of Pareja at City Hall, where the plan was finalized. Monzolin, upon arrest and confrontation, confessed in a sworn statement that Pareja ordered him to find a killer to assassinate Tormis due to Tormis’s relentless newspaper attacks against Pareja regarding the “garbage can scandal,” offering a reward of P400.00. A search of Pareja’s office and home, conducted with warrants, yielded a .32 caliber Colt revolver from his office safe, which ballistics tests later established as the murder weapon. Cesario Orongan, the gunman, was also arrested, confessed, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Pareja, Monzolin, and Mesa were charged with murder. Pareja and the others pleaded not guilty, but after trial, the court found Pareja guilty as a co-principal, sentencing him to death. Pareja appealed.

ISSUE

The primary issue is whether the evidence, particularly the extra-judicial confessions of co-defendants and the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the murder weapon, sufficiently establishes the guilt of appellant Felipe B. Pareja as a co-conspirator and principal in the crime of murder.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court, finding Pareja guilty of murder as a co-principal by induction. The Court held that the extra-judicial confessions of Monzolin, Orongan, and Mesa, which were corroborated by each other and by physical evidence, were admissible against the confessants and could be used to establish the conspiracy and Pareja’s role as the mastermind. The discovery of the murder weapon in Pareja’s office safe, to which he had exclusive access, provided strong corroborative evidence of his participation. The Court found that Pareja induced the commission of the crime by ordering Monzolin to procure an assassin and by providing the weapon and reward money. The qualifying circumstance of treachery was present, as the attack was sudden and gave the victim no opportunity to defend himself. The Court modified the penalty from death to reclusion perpetua, as the required votes for the death penalty were not obtained. The presence of one aggravating circumstance (taking advantage of public position) without any mitigating circumstance justified the maximum penalty under the law, but only reclusion perpetua could be imposed.