PEOPLE V. CEMPRON, 187 SCRA 248 TOPIC/DOCTRINE In crimes punishable with death or life imprisonment provided the resulting penalty after considering the attendant circumstances, is reclusion temporal or less, the Indeterminate Sentence Law applies. FACTS This is an appeal interposed by accused Alfredo Cempron who was convicted of the crime of Murder by the Regional Trial Court of Bohol,1 Branch 3, for stabbing to death one Gregorio Gudelusao on November 1, 1982. Appellant alleges that the trial court erred in imposing the penalty of reclusion perpetua. Prosecution witness Agripino Lofranco, a barangay official in the place of the stabbing incident, positively testified that in the same evening of said incident appellant purposely went to him and sought his help in surrendering to the police authorities and he actually turned over appellant to them. ISSUE Does the ISLAW apply? RULING No. The trial court failed to consider one (1) mitigating circumstance, that is, vol...

PEOPLE V. JAURIGUE, 76 PHIL. 174 TOPIC/DOCTRINE FACTS When the deceased sat by the side of defendant and appellant on the same bench, near the door of the barrio chapel and placed his hand on the upper portion of her right thigh, without her consent, the said chapel was lighted with electric lights, and there were already several people, about ten of them, inside the chapel, including her own father and the barrio lieutenant. She gave A. C. a thrust at the base of the left side of his neck, inflicting upon him a mortal wound 4½ inches deep, causing his death a few moments later. defendant and appellant immediately and voluntarily and unconditionally surrendered to the barrio lieutenant, admitting having stabbed the deceased, and agreed to go to her house shortly thereafter and to remain there subject to the order of the said barrio lieutenant, an agent of the authorities. ISSUE Is defendant except from criminal liability? RULING No. The court held that ; there was and...

PEOPLE V. ONG TA, 70 PHIL. 553 FACTS That on or about the 30th day of December, 1937, in the City of Manila, Philippines, the said accused, with intent to kill and with evident premeditation, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault and wound with a knife or sharp instrument one Chan Suy Hua inflicting upon him several wounds on the stomach and other parts of his body, which wounds directly caused the death of the said Chan Suy. ISSUE The question involved in this appeal refers to the applica­tion of the proper penalty. RULING The court held that the penalty for murder is reclusion temporal in its maximum period to death. (Art. 248, Revised Penal Code.) Appellant having committed the crime while a minor, over 15 and under 18 years of age, the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law, shall be imposed in the proper period; that is, prision mayor in its maximum period, to reclusion temporal in its me­dium period. Considering t...

PEOPLE V. CESAR, 22 SCRA 1024 TOPIC/DOCTRINE In a complex crime, the penalty for the more serious crime should be imposed, the same to be applied in its maximum period. The proper method is to start from the penalty imposed by the Revised Penal Code then apply the privileged mitigating circumstance and determine the penalty immediately inferior in degree, and finally apply the same in its maximum degree but within the minimum range thereof if there is an ordinary mitigating circumstance. If for instance prision mayor is the maximum of the indeterminate sentence, the minimum of the indeterminate penalty is the penalty next lower to it as prescribed by the Revised Penal Code, i.e., prision correccional. FACTS Charged of direct assault with murder in the Municipal Court of Carmen, Bohol, accused waived his right to preliminary investigation and moved that his case be remanded to the Court of First Instance of Bohol at Tagbilaran. This was granted and the accused was charged with...

PEOPLE V. DE JOYA, 98 PHIL. 238 TOPIC/DOCTRINE The determination of the minimum term of the indeterminate sentence within the range provided by law is left entirely within the discretion of the trial court, and this discretion should not be interfered with except in case of abuse. FACTS On November 5, 1951, Gaudencio de Joya, Nicanor Reyes, Julian Sumaway, Cesar Manipola, and Ricardo Hornales were charged in the Court of First Instance of Manila with the crime of theft. Appellant admits that the maximum term of his sentence is correct. He likewise admits that its minimum term (4 months of arresto mayor) is within the range prescribed by the Indeterminate Sentence Law in this case, which is arresto mayor in its minimum and medium periods, or f rom 2 months and 1 day to 4 months. His only argument in support of the appeal is that (1) the properties stolen having been recovered, (2) this being his first offense, and (3) he having pleaded guilty to the charge, which shows repen...

PEOPLE V. DUCOSIN, 59 PHIL. 109 TOPIC/DOCTRINE Under section 1 of Act No. 4103 the court must, instead of a single fixed penalty, determine two penalties, referred to in the Indeterminate Sentence Act as the "maximum" and "minimum". The prisoner must' serve the minimum penalty before he is eligible for parole under the provisions of Act No. 4103, which leaves the period between the minimum and maximum penalty indeterminate in the sense that he may, under the conditions set out in said Act, be released from serving said period in whole or in part. He must be sentenced, therefore, to imprisonment for a period which is not more than the "maximum" nor less than the "minimum", as these terms are used in the Indeterminate Sentence Law. FACTS This appeal from a judgment of the Court of First Instance of Manila convicting the appellant of the crime of frustrated murder was referred by the first division to the court in banc for the proper i...

BASAN V. PEOPLE, 61 SCRA 275  TOPIC/DOCTRINE Under the Indeterminate Sentence Law (Act No. 4103, as amended), if the offense is punishable under the Revised Penal Code, the minimum penalty should be within any of the periods of the penalty next lower in degree to that prescribed by law, and the maximum thereof should be within the proper period of the penalty that may be imposed were the sentence a straight penalty. FACTS Petitioner Francisco Basan y Gobot was charged with two (2) homicides in Criminal Cases Nos. 704 and 705 of the Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur. Upon arraignment the petitioner pleaded guilty in each case but invoked the mitigating circumstances of voluntary surrender and plea of guilty which the prosecution did not contest. He was sentenced to serve an indeterminate penalty of from six (6) years and one (1) day of prision mayor, as minimum, to ten (10) years of prision mayor, as maximum, to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the sum of P15,...

PEOPLE V. LEE, JR., 132 SCRA 66 TOPIC/DOCTRINE Application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law mandatory where imprisonment would exceed one year. FACTS This case is about the correctness of the sentence rendered by Judge German G. Lee, Jr., who imposed on Roman Amil, 57, a straight penalty of six years and one day of prision mayor for homicide. He applied the rule in People vs. Nang Kay, 88 Phil. 515, involving a conviction for illegal possession of firearms which is punished by imprisonment for not less than five years and not more than ten years. ISSUE Is the penalty correct? RULING No. The court held that the instant case is not a prosecution under a special law. It is a homicide case. The application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law is mandatory if the imprisonment would exceed one year. Judge Lee found that the homicide was attended by the two generic mitigating circumstances provocation and voluntary surrender to the authorities. There was no aggravating circu...

LUCIANO V. ESTRELLA, 34 SCRA 769 TOPIC/DOCTRINE Under Section 3(g) of the Anti-Graft Law (RA 3019), it is enough to prove that the accused is a public officer; that he entered into a contract or transaction on behalf of the government; and that such contract or transaction is grossly and manifestly disadvantageous to that government. In other words, the act treated thereunder partakes of the nature of a malum prohibitum; it is the commission of that act as defined by law, not the character or effect thereof, that determines whether or not the provision has been violated. FACTS Private respondents and several other people were charged with violation of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices for conspiring and confederating to­gether, on behalf of the Municipal Government of Makati, Rizal, enter into a contract or transaction with the JEP Enterprises, represented by Jose Gutierrez and Franco A. Gutierrez, for the delivery and installation by the JEP Enterprise...

BON V. COURT OF APPEALS, OCTOBER 30, 2006 TOPIC/DOCTRINE Article 51 of the Revised Penal Code establishes that the penalty to be imposed upon the principals of an attempted felony must be a penalty lower by two degrees than that prescribed by law for the consummated felony shall be imposed upon the principals in an attempt to commit a felony.  FACTS Eight (8) Informations were filed within the period from 21 August 2000 to 23 February 2001 against appellant Alfredo Bon, charging him with the rape of AAA and BBB, the daughters of his older brother. Both AAA and BBB testified against appellant, their uncle, and both identified him as the man who had raped them. AAA testified that she was only six (6) years old when she was first molested in 1994 in the house appellant had shared with her grandmother. BBB, on the other hand, testified that she was first raped by appellant in 1997 when she was ten (10) years old, also at the house appellant shared with her grandmother. The ...

PEOPLE V. SALOME, AUGUST 31, 2006 TOPIC/DOCTRINE Settled that the non-presentation of the weapon used in the commission of rape is not essential to the conviction of the accused. FACTS Salome entered into the house where 13-year-old Sally Idanan was sleeping. He poked a knife against her neck and then raped her. He threatened Idanan so that she may not report the incident to authorities. When she found out that she’s pregnant, she reported the incident. Salome offered the defense of alibi in court claiming that he went fishing at the time of the incident. Trial court convicted Salome of rape qualified by the use of a bladed weapon, committed inside the dwelling of Sally, as defined and penalized under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 7659. ISSUE Is presentation of the weapon used in the commission of rape essential to the conviction of the accused? Is the crime aggravated by dwelling? RULING No. The court held that it is settl...

GANAAN V. INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT, 145 SCRA 112 TOPIC/DOCTRINE Mere act of listening to a telephone conversation in an extension line is not punished by AntiWiretappingLaw. It can be readily seen that our lawmakers intended to discourage, through punishment, persons such as government authorities or representatives of organized groups from installing devices in order to gather evidence for use in court or to intimidate, blackmail or gain some unwarranted advantage over the telephone users. FACTS This petition for certiorari asks for an interpretation of Republic Act (RA) No. 4200, otherwise known as the AntiWiretapping Act, on the issue of whether or not an extension telephone is among the prohibited devices in Section 1 of the Act, such that its use to overhear a private conversation would constitute unlawful interception of communications between the two parties using a telephone line. ISSUE Whether or not an extension telephone is among the prohibited devices in S...

PEOPLE V. BARBA, G.R. NO. 182420, JULY 23, 2009 TOPIC/DOCTRINE A conviction cannot be sustained if there is a persistent doubt on the identity of the drug. FACTS The illegal drugs were seized from Barba, PO2 Rabina marked the plastic sachets with his initials. PO1 Almacen marked the tooter in the same manner. The seized aluminum foil was marked “AA,” presumably after PO2 Arnulfo Aguillon but there is no testimony on this. Once at the police station, the drugs and paraphernalia were then made the subject of a Request for Examination issued by Inspector Bauto. The specimens were then turned over to the PNP Crime Laboratory Office where Forensic Chemist Jabonillo made his conclusion that the sachets and the aluminum foil contained shabu. During trial, he testified that the specimen he examined was the same one he brought to the court. Exhibit “G” or Chemistry Report No. D-086-2003 was also presented as evidence to show that the seized items were positive for dangerous drugs. I...

PEOPLE V. BATOON, G.R. No. 184599, NOVEMBER 24, 2010 TOPIC/DOCTRINE For conviction of illegal possession of a prohibited drug to lie, the following elements must be established: (1) the accused was in possession of an item or an object identified to be a prohibited or regulated drug; (2) such possession is not authorized by law; and (3) the accused was freely and consciously aware of being in possession of the drug. Exclusive possession or control is not necessary. The accused cannot avoid conviction if his right to exercise control and dominion over the place where the contraband is located, is shared with another. FACTS Drugs seized from appellants were properly identified before the trial court. As correctly appreciated by the trial and appellate courts, a legitimate buy-bust operation led to the arrest of accused-appellants. During the police operation, PO2 Vicente received from Melchor a sachet containing the drugs. On the other hand, PO1 Cabotaje seized from Teddy three...

PEOPLE V. LAYLO, G.R. No. 192235, JULY 6, 2011 TOPIC/DOCTRINE Where the sale was interrupted when the police officers introduced themselves as cops and immediately arrested the accused and his live-in partner, the sale was not consummated but merely attempted. FACTS From the testimonies given, PO1 Reyes and PO1 Pastor testified that they were the poseur-buyers in the sale. Both positively identified appellant as the seller of the substance contained in plastic sachets which were found to be positive for shabu. The same plastic sachets were likewise identified by the prosecution witnesses when presented in court. Even the consideration of P200.00 for each sachet had been made known by appellant to the police officers. However, the sale was interrupted when the police officers introduced themselves as cops and immediately arrested appellant and his live-in partner Ritwal. Thus, the sale was not consummated but merely attempted. Thus, appellant was charged with attempted sale of...

PEOPLE V. MORILLA, G.R. NO. 189833, FEBRUARY 5, 2014 TOPIC/DOCTRINE The very act of transporting methamphetamine hydrochloride is malum prohibitum since it is punished as an offense under a special law. The fact of transportation of the sacks containing dangerous drugs need not be accompanied by proof of criminal intent, motive or knowledge. FACTS Mayor Ronnie Mitra (Panukulan, Quezon) and Javier Morilla were caught in flagrante delicto while transporting shabu on board a Starex van (driven by Mayor) and an ambulance (driven by Morilla). On a checkpoint at Real, Infanta Quezon, the Starex van was able to pass; however, police officers ordered the ambulance to stop. Policemen then ordered Morilla to open the rear door of the car for inspection of several sacks which according to Morilla are narra wooden tiles. The contents turned to be methamphetamine hydrochloride and this discovery prompted police officers to chase the Starex van. They were able to stop Mayor Mitra and asked him of hi...