GR L 29994; (July, 1979) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-29994 July 20, 1970
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. JOSE BALICTAR ALIAS BODO, SOFIO ADA, TITO NALE ALIAS BANDOT AND PEDRO DUARTE, defendants-appellants.
FACTS
The accused, including appellants Tito Nale and Pedro Duarte, were charged with the murder of Lucio Lebeco Sr. The incident originated from a drinking session. An altercation ensued when Nale jestingly refused to return Lebeco’s cap, leading to a challenge between Lebeco and co-accused Jose Balictar. Balictar suddenly snatched Lebeco’s bolo and stabbed him. A fight followed involving Lebeco’s sons. Balictar later pleaded guilty to homicide. The trial court acquitted Sofio Ada, convicted Nale (imposing the death penalty due to quasi-recidivism), and convicted Duarte as a co-conspirator, sentencing him to reclusion perpetua.
ISSUE
The core issue is whether the killing was qualified by abuse of superior strength to constitute murder, or if it was merely homicide.
RULING
The Supreme Court modified the judgment. It ruled that the crime committed was homicide, not murder. The trial court erred in appreciating the qualifying circumstance of abuse of superior strength. The legal principle is that superiority in number does not automatically equate to superiority in strength. The prosecution must prove that the attackers cooperated to secure an advantage from their superior strength. The evidence did not establish such coordinated action. The initial odds were not overwhelmingly disproportionate, as the Lebeco group also had armed members. Thus, the killing lacked the qualifying circumstance for murder.
Consequently, the penalty is reclusion temporal for homicide. Regarding the appellants: Pedro Duarte was ACQUITTED because his guilt was not proven beyond reasonable doubt; no evidence showed he conspired in the fatal attack. For Tito Nale, the Court considered his voluntary surrender as a mitigating circumstance. However, this could not offset the aggravating circumstance of quasi-recidivism, as he was a parolee from a prior homicide conviction. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, Nale was sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 12 years of prision mayor as minimum to 18 years of reclusion temporal as maximum, and ordered to indemnify the heirs.