GR L 31327; (May, 1983) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-31327-29 May 16, 1983
People of the Philippines, plaintiff-appellee, vs. Nonceto Gravino alias Ceto alias Nonoy, defendant-appellant.
FACTS
The accused-appellant, Nonceto Gravino, was convicted by the trial court for the murder of Nicolas Diagbel, Jr. (Criminal Case No. 124), the frustrated murder of Nicolas Diagbel, Sr. (Criminal Case No. 124-A), and the murder with unintentional abortion of Anita Diagbel (Criminal Case No. 124-B), with the death penalty imposed for the two murder charges. The crimes stemmed from an incident on June 10, 1969, in Magsaysay, Davao del Sur. Gravino, who had been courting Zosima Diagbel, entered the Diagbel family home at night wearing a mask after Zosima ended their relationship due to parental objection. Upon being discovered by the parents, he attacked the family using a bolo he picked up inside the house, killing Nicolas Jr. and the pregnant Anita, and seriously wounding Nicolas Sr.
ISSUE
The core issue for automatic review is the correctness of the trial court’s judgment, particularly the classification of the crimes as murder and the imposition of the death penalty.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions but modified the penalties, reclassifying the crimes from Murder to Homicide and Frustrated Homicide. The Court found that the qualifying circumstance of treachery was not sufficiently established. The attack was not proven to be deliberately adopted to ensure execution without risk to the assailant, as the initial surreptitious entry was for a different purpose (to see Zosima) and the violent assault commenced only after Gravino was discovered, suggesting a sudden impulse. Evident premeditation was also not proven. The Court recognized the presence of two mitigating circumstances: plea of guilty and voluntary surrender. These were offset by two aggravating circumstances: dwelling and disguise. Applying the rules for compensating and offsetting circumstances in the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the Court imposed indeterminate prison terms. The death penalties were accordingly set aside.