THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. IGNACIO MACASPAC AND RAFAEL PAULE, DEFENDANTS AND APPELLANTS.

The appealed judgment declares the appellants
guilty of the crime of homicide committed on the person of Silvino
Sabado, and sentences Ignacio Macaspac, as principal, to twelve years
and one day of reclusion temporal, and Rafael Paule, as accomplice, to six years and one day of prision mayor, and both to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the sum of P1,000.

The appellants lived on a parcel of land belonging to the deceased. One
day, Rafael Paule’s horses destroyed the growing crops of the deceased.
The latter reproached Paule for having let his horses loose and Paule
apologized because it was merely due to negligence on his part.
According to the evidence for the prosecution, at this juncture Ignacio
Macaspac arrived, entered into the conversation and immediately stabbed
the deceased with a penknife, inflicting upon him the wounds which
resulted in his death. According to the evidence for the defense, the
deceased, during his conversation with Macaspac, struck the latter with
a bob and it was then that Macaspac attacked him with a penknife.

The court arrived at the conclusion that the deceased and Macaspac
had agreed to fight it out. This court finds that this conclusion is
supported by the evidence. Before the fight between the deceased and
Macaspac began, both were facing each other, the deceased being armed
with a bolo and Macaspac with an open penknife, according to the
witness for the defense Feliciano Bernal, and each was cautiously
advancing towards the other, according to Paule’s affidavit made before
the trial. Under such circumstances, and in a fight which had been
acceptable to both combatants, the fact that it was the deceased who
started the aggression is of no moment, and in such case, it cannot
serve as a ground for a plea of legitimate self-defense by Macaspac.
The beginning of the aggression is but a mere incident, in view of the
attitude of the combatants prior to the fight. The fight starts from
the time it is accepted by both combatants and thereafter the
aggression may come from one or the other, according to the
circumstances, and it cannot be alleged that when one commenced it, the
other acts in legitimate self-defense.

As to Paule, his alleged liability merely consists in having held
the deceased by the arm before the fight commenced and because Macaspac
attacked the deceased while Paule was thus holding him. In his
affidavit presented before the trial, Paule stated that he did so in
order to separate the combatants in view of the fact that the deceased
carried a bolo in one hand and a knife in the other. This court has not
found in the record sufficient evidence to prove, beyond all doubt that
this intervention on Paule’s part was for the purpose of enabling
Macaspac to stab the deceased.

The appealed judgment is affirmed as to Macaspac, who is hereby
sentenced in accordance with Act No. 4103 to a penalty of from seven
years of prision mayor, as the minimum, to twelve years and one day of reclusion temporal, as
the maximum, affirming the same in all other respects as to said
defendant, with half of the costs; and Rafael Paule is acquitted of the
charge, with the other half of the costs de oflicio. So ordered.

Santos, Hull, Vickers, and Diaz, JJ., concur.