G.R. No. L-47959; April 30, 1941
EL PUEBLO DE FILIPINAS, querellante y apelado, vs. MAXIMO TACAD y JUAN TABACO, acusados y apelantes.

FACTS

Maximo Tacad, Juan Tabaco, and Ceferino Firme were accused of the crime of murder for the death of Deogracias Agatep in the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur. After trial, Tacad and Tabaco were found guilty. Tacad was sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 10 years and 1 day of prision mayor to 17 years, 4 months, and 1 day of reclusion temporal. Tabaco was also sentenced to an indeterminate penalty. They were ordered to indemnify the heirs of the deceased jointly and severally in the amount of P2,000 and to pay costs. Ceferino Firme was acquitted on reasonable doubt. The convicts appealed to the Court of Appeals, which elevated the case to the Supreme Court because some of its members were of the opinion that the penalty should be modified to reclusion perpetua.
The proven facts are: On April 7, 1939, during a Holy Friday religious procession, accused Maximo Tacad inserted himself in the line in front of the deceased. When Tacad stopped, the deceased pushed him and told him to move forward. Tacad took offense and attempted to slap the deceased but was prevented by others. Angered, Tacad left the procession, approached the deceased, said “I will see you on another occasion,” and then insulted him. On April 20 of the same month, the deceased, accompanied by Tomas Tagata, attended a dance at the house of Cipriano Asuncion. During the dance, accused Juan Tabaco approached the deceased, placed his arms over the deceased’s shoulders in an apparently friendly manner, and led him outside the dance. Once outside, while the deceased was being held by Tabaco, Maximo Tacad suddenly appeared and stabbed the deceased. After much effort, the deceased managed to free himself from Tabaco and ran away. The accused fled. The deceased died the next day from his wounds. An autopsy revealed a wound on the palm of the right hand and another, necessarily mortal, wound in the epigastric region that perforated the liver.

ISSUE

The main issue, as elevated by the Court of Appeals, concerns the proper penalty to be imposed on the accused-appellants for the crime of murder.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty. The proven facts constitute the crime of murder as defined in Article 248, paragraph 1, of the Revised Penal Code, due to the qualifying circumstance of treachery (alevosia). The accused acted in concert: Tabaco held the deceased, rendering him defenseless, while Tacad stabbed him. No other modifying circumstance was appreciated. The penalty for murder is reclusion temporal in its maximum period to death. Applying the penalty in its medium degree, the proper penalty is reclusion perpetua. The Court modified the appealed sentence to condemn the accused-appellants to the penalty of reclusion perpetua, and affirmed the judgment in all other respects, with costs against the appellants.