GR L 38859; (July, 1982) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-38859 July 30, 1982
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. DANILO VIZCARRA, LEOBINO SALAMATIN, JOSE DELOS REYES and LIBERATO FERNANDO, accused-appellants.
FACTS
The case involves the gang rape and killing of fourteen-year-old Erlinda Manzano. Her body was discovered in a vacant lot in Novaliches, Quezon City, on June 27, 1969, with a ligature around her neck and showing signs of violent sexual assault. The medico-legal reports confirmed death by ligature strangulation and genital injuries consistent with forcible intercourse. Following an investigation, appellants Danilo Vizcarra, Leobino Salamatin, Jose delos Reyes, and Liberato Fernando, along with others, were charged with rape with homicide. State witness Rodolfo Bagtasos provided a detailed account of the crime, testifying that the group conspired to bring the victim to the location, where each appellant successively raped her while the others used force to subdue her, after which Vizcarra strangled her to death.
The trial court convicted the four appellants and imposed the single penalty of death for the complex crime of rape with homicide under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court for automatic review, with the appellants challenging the verdict.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court correctly imposed the penalty upon the appellants for the crime committed.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty. The Court held that the appellants committed not a single complex crime of rape with homicide, but four separate crimes of rape, with homicide as a consequence. The legal logic is that when multiple persons conspire to commit rape and homicide results, each rapist is liable for the homicide as a co-conspirator. However, the rape committed by each accused constitutes a distinct felony. Since the evidence conclusively established that all four appellants successively raped the victim, each appellant is criminally liable for his own act of rape and, by conspiracy, for the homicide caused by their co-conspirator.
Consequently, each appellant should be sentenced for four counts of rape, each qualified by homicide. Given the presence of aggravating circumstances—such as nighttime, abuse of superior strength, and deliberate aggravation by causing unnecessary wrong—with no mitigating circumstances, the supreme penalty is warranted for each count. The Court imposed four death penalties on each appellant, emphasizing that multiple sentences accurately reflect the severity of their individual criminal acts and serve as a significant deterrent against potential executive clemency, as a commutation would then entail a longer aggregate prison term. The judgment was modified accordingly.