THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. AGUSTIN PIAMONTE, ET AL., DEFENDANTS; GUILLERMO MASCARINAS ALIAS ELMO AND VICENTE JASME, JR., ALIAS DODONG, DEFENDANTS…

Agustin Piamonte, Guillermo Mascarinas, and Vicente Jasme, Jr. were
charged with robbery with homicide in the Court of First Instance of
Leyte, and, after due trial, were found guilty and sentenced each to
suffer reclusion perpetua, with the accessory penalties of
the law, to indemnify jointly and severally the heirs of the deceased
in the sum of P320, the amount stolen, plus the sum of P6,000, without
subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency due to the nature of the
penalty imposed, and to pay the costs. From this judgment, Guillermo
Mascarinas and Vicente Jasme, Jr. have appealed.

Early in the morning of October 28, 1951, a robbery was committed in
the house of Magno Israel in barrio Gabas, municipality of Baybay,
Leyte. In the course of the robbery Israel was seriously wounded and
was brought to the Western Leyte Hospital in Baybay for treatment. Upon
being informed of the incident, the Chief of Police of Baybay sent a
policeman to the hospital to find out what had happened. Policeman
Macario Dawal found the wounded groaning because of the serious wounds
he had received. Nevertheless, the policeman was able to get some
statements from him as to the robbery which the policeman wrote on a
typewriter upon his return to office. In the next morning, the Chief of
Police and the Justice of the Peace went to the hospital to verify the
correctness of the statements attributed to the victim and when they
arrived they found him restless, his face was pale, he was breathing
hard, and his whole body was bandaged. His legs and hands were tied to
his bed. The attending nurse informed the two officials that the
medicine being administered to the patient was only to prolong his
life. The Justice of the Peace read the written statements to the
patient and after being sure that he understood them he was asked to
ratify them. The patient did so under oath. In his affidavit, the
patient, among other things, stated that of the persons who went to his
house in the morning in question he was only able to identify Guillermo
Mascarinas who was long known to him. The robbers took away his cash
amounting to P320. He was not able to identify those who actually
wounded him.

The revelation of Magno Israel gave rise to the arrest of Mascarinas
who, upon being investigated, made a written confession (Exhibit F). He
stated that early in the morning of October 28, 1951, he was invited by
Agustin Piamonte and Vicente Jasme, Jr. to go to the house of Magno
Israel to rob him. Since they were his friends he agreed. When they
arrived at the house Piamonte went upstairs followed closely by Jasme,
Jr. while he remained downstairs to guard the place. While he was thus
guarding he noticed that Israel offered resistance and so his two
companions assaulted him. When he heard the screams of Israel he was
frightened and ran away and since then he never met again his
companions.

The revelation of Mascarinas also gave rise to the arrest of
Piamonte and Jasme, Jr. Upon being arrested, Piamonte was investigated
and made also a written confession. He stated that in the afternoon of
October 27, 1951, Mascarinas revealed to him his plan to rob the house
of Magno Israel. While he and Jasme, Jr. were attending a dance at the
Baybay National Agricultural School they met Mascarinas who told them
that after the dance they would go home together and would proceed to
the house they planned to rob. To this effect, Mascarinas borrowed the
clothes of Jasme, Jr. so that he may not be recognized by Israel who
knew him personally. When they arrived at the house of Israel, he and
Mascarinas went upstairs and when he focused his flashlight on a trunk
Mascarinas proceeded to ransack it. Israel was awakened by their
presence and Mascarinas stabbed him several times. At this juncture, he
(Piamonte) became afraid and ran downstairs followed by Mascarinas.
This time, Jasme, Jr., who was left downstairs, had already gone ahead
on the road. On their way home and upon reaching a bridge, Mascarinas
took off the clothes which he borrowed from Jasme, Jr. and returned
them to him. Mascarinas used a hunting knife in stabbing his victim. He
did not know how much money was taken by Mascarinas because the latter
did not tell him about it.

Vicente Jasme, Jr. was also arrested but refused to give any
statement to the police. The evidence further shows that Magno Israel
was operated on the very day he was brought to the hospital to save his
life. The operation did him well but he had a stormy post-operative
period. Sometime in December 19, 1951, he contracted a sickness known
as mucuous colitis which developed because of his weak condition. He died on December 28.

Mascarinas, testifying in his defense, declared that after attending
the dance held at the Baybay National Agricultural School he, Piamonte
and Jasme, Jr. went to the house of Magno Israel not to rob the latter
but merely to escort Jasme, Jr. who was the nephew of Israel. When they
arrived Jasme, Jr. went up and then he left the premises. While he was
gone for sometime he heard someone shouting for help but he thought
that it was Jasme, Jr. who was being maltreated by his uncle for coming
late. Later Piamonte joined him and both returned to their respective
homes. As regards his confessions, Mascarinas claimed that he signed it
because policeman Aurelio Altivo compelled him to do so as otherwise he
would send him to the constabulary headquarters at Ormoc City.

The defense of Vicente Jasme, Jr. consisted in a mere alibi. While
he admitted having gone to the dance held at the Baybay National
Agricultural School he declared that he did not meet there his
co-accused Piamonte and Mascarinas. He claimed that he went home with
a group of persons among whom one Macaragal, the drummer of the
orchestra, and arrived home at 4:00 o’clock in the morning. He denied
knowing Magno Israel or the place where he lived. He also said that one
week before the dance, Piamonte came to his place to ask him whether he
was willing to sell his pants and shirt and as he owed Piamonte P3.00
he agreed and gave the clothes to him.

There is no doubt that Mascarinas is guilty of the crime charged.
His guilt is established not only by his own confession (Exhibit F) but
also by the confessions of his co-accused Agustin Piamonte and Vicente
Jasme, Jr. and the ante mortem declaration of the deceased,
Magno Israel. In his confession, Mascarinas admitted not only the plan
they had conceived to rob Magno Israel but also the part he had in the
execution of said plan. This he reiterated in his testimony in court
only that this time he gave the explanation that he merely accompanied
Jasme, Jr. to the house of Israel who was his uncle and did nothing in
connection with the robbery, but this is belied by the ante mortem
declaration of the victim who pointed to him as one of those who
entered his house and robbed him. There is no question that said
declaration partakes of the nature of ante mortem as found by
the lower court because it has been established that at the time it was
taken the victim was in a very serious condition and would have
succumbed if not because of the opportune medical treatment extended to
him.

The claim of Mascarinas that he signed his written confession
because policeman Aurelio Altivo threatened to send him to the
constabulary headquarters at Ormoc City cannot be entertained, it
appearing that the investigation of the accused was conducted by the
Chief of Police and the only intervention of Altivo was to write his
answers on a typewriter. This claim is also belied by the Justice of
the Peace before whom the confession was signed who affirmed in court
that said confession was signed by him voluntarily. And his testimony
was corroborated by the Chief of Police. We do not find any justifiable
reason to brush aside the testimony of these officials in the absence
of any showing that they had testified for improper or personal reasons.

The same thing may be said with regard to appellant Vicente Jasme,
Jr. His co-accused testified that this appellant went with them to the
house of Magno Israel in the evening the latter was wounded only that
to avoid being implicated they stated that their purpose in going to
that house was merely to escort Jasme, Jr. who was a nephew of Israel.
But we now see that their real purpose was not exactly the one above
pointed out but to rob Israel in pursuance of a plan they had arranged
the previous night, as clearly manifested in their extrajudicial
confessions. If to this we add what Flaviana Escuadra testified that in
the early morning of October 28, 1951, this appellant came to her house
and left a pair of trousers and shirt which, upon inspection, were
found to be tainted with blood, his guilt becomes strengthened.

That there is conspiracy among the three accused is evident. They
were in the dance held at the Baybay National Agricultural School in
the evening preceding the commission of the crime. After the dance, or
early in the following day, they went home together and proceeded to
the house of Magno Israel, and shortly thereafter the latter was found
seriously wounded and robbed. This much appears in the testimony of
these accused. It shows that they are the ones who could have possibly
committed the act, but to save their skin they laid the blame on each
other as regards the injuries inflicted on the deceased. This certainly
cannot be sustained on the face of their suspicious behavior. There
being conspiracy in the commission of the crime the confession of one
is admissible and can be considered as corroborative evidence against
the other. Thus, “it has been held that when extrajudicial confessions
had been made by several persons charged with conspiracy and there
could have been no collusion with reference to the several confessions,
the fact that the statements were in all material respects identical,
was confirmatory of the testimony of an accomplice.” (People vs.
Badilla, et al. 48 Phil., 718.)

The remaining question to be determined is: Has the deceased died as
a result of the wounds inflicted upon him by the accused? It is true
that he did not die immediately after the infliction of the wounds and
that he was able to survive for sometime because of the operation to
which he was subjected and the medical treatment extended to him at the
Western Leyte Hospital. But the fact remains that he died as a result
of the mucuous colitis he contracted because of his weak condition
resulting from the wounds he had received. The doctors who attended him
are agreed that this weakened condition which had caused disturbance in
the functions of his intestines made it possible for him to contract mucuous colitis,
which shows that, while said wounds were not the immediate cause, they
were however the proximate cause of death. This is enough to make the
accused responsible for the crime charged.

The crime committed is robbery with homicide punishable with reclusion perpetua to
death (Article 294, paragraph 1, Revised Penal Code). Considering the
aggravating circumstances of nocturnity and dwelling without any
mitigating circumstance to offset it, the Solicitor General recommends
that the maximum penalty be imposed upon the appellants. However, some
members of the Court are of the opinion that in the light of the
circumstances obtaining in this case, the penalty of reclusion perpetua would be commensurate for the crime charged.

Wherefore, the decision appealed from is affirmed, with the proportionate share of the costs.

Paras, C. J., Pablo, Bengzon, Montemayor, Reyes, Jugo and Labrador, JJ., concur.

Padilla, J., concurs in the result.