GR L 2300; (May, 1949) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-2300. May 27, 1949.
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. MARCELINO TUMAOB, defendant-appellant.
FACTS
Marcelino Tumaob, a civilian security guard for the Surplus Property Commission on Tubabao Island, Samar, was posted as a sentry outside a fenced compound storing surplus property. On December 1, 1947, at 10:00 a.m., Eduardo Basas, a 17-year-old, entered the enclosure and was shot and killed. The accused initially admitted to the chief of police that he shot Basas while the latter was gathering firewood, a version corroborated by the victim’s ante-mortem declaration and the location of the fatal wound (entering the right buttock and exiting the abdomen). At trial, however, the accused denied this statement and claimed he fired warning shots, was then fired upon by unseen looters inside the compound, returned fire, and only later discovered Basas dead. The trial court found him guilty of murder.
ISSUE
Whether the killing constituted murder qualified by treachery (alevosia) or simple homicide.
RULING
The crime committed is simple homicide, not murder. The qualifying circumstance of treachery is not present. The Court held that treachery requires the conscious adoption of means, methods, or forms of execution to ensure the commission of the crime without risk to the aggressor. Here, the accused and the victim were strangers; the accused’s sudden decision to shoot was motivated by a mistaken desire to protect property from a perceived thief, not by a deliberate plan to attack from a position that would eliminate any risk from the victim. The victim’s posture (stooping) was accidental and not a consciously exploited condition. The Court cited analogous jurisprudence, including a Spanish Supreme Court decision, supporting the view that such a sudden shooting in defense of property, without a personal motive and without a calculated method to avoid risk, lacks treachery. With the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender and no aggravating circumstances, the penalty is modified to an indeterminate sentence of 6 years and 1 day of prision mayor to 12 years and 1 day of reclusion temporal, with an increased indemnity of P6,000 to the heirs.
AI Generated by Armztrong.