THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. DIEGO BALONDO, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

The Court of First Instance of Leyte
found the defendant Diego Balondo guilty of the crime of murder and sentenced
him to suffer the extreme penalty of death. 
This case is now before this Court on automatic review of the decision
of the trial court.

On October 21, 1966
the Provincial Fiscal of Leyte filed the following
information against the defendant:

“The undersigned Provincial Fiscal accuses Diego Balondo of the crime of murder, committed as follows:

“That on or about the 29th day of September, 1966, in the
Municipality of Kawayan, Subprovince
of Biliran, Province of Leyte,
Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the
above-named accused, with deliberate intent to kill, with treachery and evident
premeditation, did, then and there, wilfully,
unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault and strangle one Gloria Bulasa and inflicting upon the said Gloria Bulasa the following injuries, to wit:

‘1.   Liver mortis of the face, anterior abdominal
wall, and anterior chest wall;

 2.   Semi-circular
marks at the lateral portion of
the neck, both sides;

 3.   Circular
incision around the upper third of the thigh at the level of the inferior
border of the gluteal muscles of both thighs;

 4.   Complete
lose of the soft tissues of the thighs and legs in such manner that only the bones of the parts
mentioned were left;

 5.   Both
feet were missing from the ankle joints downwards;

 6.   All digits of the left hand were
missing from the carpal-metacarpal joints downward;

 7.   Incised
wound from the left shoulder along the medial border of the left scapula to the inferior angle of the right
scapula, upwards along its lateral
border to the right shoulder, medially towards the base of the neck posteriorly to the left shoulder, with lose of the skin and
the underlying tissues.’

thus causing the
instantaneous death of the aforementioned Gloria Bulasa.

“That the crime was committed
with the aggravating circumstances of
abuse of superior strength; that the wrong done in the commission of the crime
was deliberately augmented by causing another wrong not necessary for its
commission; that means was employed or circumstances brought about which add
ignominy to the natural effects or the act; that the act was committed in utter
dis­regard of sex; and also the aggravating circumstance of relationship, the
victim being the niece of the accused.

“Contrary
to Article 248 or the Revised Penal Code.”

The record shows that when this defendant was apprehended after
the discovery of the dead body of Gloria Bulasa, upon
being investigated by the Chief of Police of Kawayan,
he readily admitted having killed Gloria Bulasa.  His admission was reduced to writing in the Visayan
dialect understood by him, and signed by him. 
Subsequently, a more lengthy investigation was conducted by the Chief of
Police, and again the defendant admitted having killed Gloria Bulasa and narrated in detail how he killed Gloria Bulasa and what he did with the body of Gloria Bulasa.  The
defendant was taken to the place where the crime was committed and he even
reenacted what he did with the deceased Gloria Bulasa.  The statements made by the defendant in this
detailed examination by the Chief of Police, including his statements during
the reenactment of the crime, were reduced to writing, and were subscribed and
sworn to by him before the municipal Judge of Kawayan.  The statements made by the
defendant in his written admissions” were corroborated in important
details by Meliton Bulasa,
father of the victim, and by Anatalio Bulasa, an uncle of the victim, who both signed sworn statements
before the municipal judge.  A post mortem examination
of the body of the deceased Gloria Bulasa was made by
Dr. Jose J. Tupaz, the municipal health officer of Kawayan, and the injuries found by the medical officer on
the body of the deceased indicated the brutal acts committed by the defendant on his victim, as narrated by the
defendant him­self in his sworn statements.

The corresponding criminal complaint was filed by the Chief of
Police of Kawayan, Leyte,
before the munici­pal court of the said municipality.  During the prelimi­nary investigation of the
case, the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge of murder when he was
arraigned.  He not only admitted his
guilt, but he narrated before the municipal judge the circumstances attending
the killing of Gloria Bulasa.

On October 24, 1966
the defendant was arraigned before the Court of First Instance or Leyte. 
The trial court appointed Atty. Delia Tantuico
counsel de oficio for the
defendant.  Atty. Tantuico
conferred with the defendant, and after the conference the counsel manifest­ed
before the court that the defendant was ready for arraignment.  The information was read to the defendant in
the local dialect, called the Waray-Waray dialect,
which is understood by the defendant.  After the reading or the information the
defendant voluntarily pleaded guilty to the charge or murder alleged in the
information.  Thereafter, the trial court
rendered the decision which is now before this Court on review.

We have carefully examined the record of this case, and We fully agree with the findings and observations or the
trial court in its decision, as follows:

“From the records and varied written admissions of the
accused, Diego Balondo, that on Sept. 29, 1966, at about 6:00 o’clock, A.M., he was in his farm in the barrio of Balacson, Kawayan, Subprovince of Biliran, Leyte.  That he stayed in his farm for about three
hours clearing his camote plantation; that at about
9:00 o’clock in that same day, he went home to take his breakfast; that at
about 1:00 o’clock, he saw Gloria Bolasa going to the
direction of the nipa grooves of the Ayono Asilo, behind the Aglipayan
church; that upon seeing her, he followed behind surreptitiously; that upon
seeing her cutting the banana leaves he told her, ‘why, you are here again to
cut the banana leaves?’, that the late Gloria Bolasa
answered, ‘it is none of your business for its the property of the government’;
that he got furious and immediately grabbed her by his left hand strangled her
by the neck hand pushed her violently to the ground face downward; that he
firmly held her left arm and neck, rode on her back and pinned her down with
his knees and teen continuously
lifting her head and smashed her face against the mud; that he choked and
buried her face in the mud for about an hour until she died.

“And that when she was already dead, he lifted her from the
mud and laid her flat on her back, and then he held her by the feet, dragged
her to a place from where he killed her, at a distance or about thirty brazas; that he covered the body wit nipa
leaves to keep her from the sunlight; that the deceased was carrying a knife
for cutting the banana leaves, and she was a niece of the accused from a second
degree cousin; that he sliced and took the flesh from the thighs, legs and
shoulder by the use of the knife or Gloria Bolasa because
his bolo was
dull, after which he throw the knife away; that he cut away also the
feet; that he intended to slice all the flesh of the cadaver but he was caught
by the darkness of the night; that he put the sliced flesh with a piece of
rattan, tied it and brought it to his farm; that upon reaching his farm, he
started to build a fire and bar­becued the sliced pieces or human flesh (roasted
it) and he ate the barbecued pieces of human flesh and used it as a viand for
the roasted banana fruits; that the taste of the human flesh was bitter and
poignant like a gall bladder; that he killed Gloria Bolasa
first to taste the human flesh if its good; that after doing all those
atrocious acts, he went home at about 7:00 o’clock in that evening.”

x                    x                      x                      x

“In passing judgment to the accused, Diego Balondo,
the Court has this lamentable observation with this peculiar case.

“The spectacle of knowing a human being killed and slaughtered
in this island, subprovince at Biliran,
Leyte, for unknown motivation is not a news at all in
this jurisdiction because such incident are too common and numerous for the
court to recall.  But when one, like in
this case, choked a maiden to death just 16 years old for the simple reason
that she was getting leaves from the banana plants of the accused to wrap a
local cookies, the said accused-after killing her, sliced the flesh of the
legs, shoulder and the thigh, cooked those human flesh; devoured them like an
ancient cannibal; the accused, Diego Balondo went
bizarrely beyond the extreme or a carnivorous wild beast.”

Counsel de oficio, Atty. Justo R. Albert, in
his brief for the defendant, urges that the trial court should have
subjected the defendant to some
psychiatric test to determine his sanity before rendering judgment, and prays
this Court “that the judgment of the lower court be set aside and this
case be remanded for trial with admonition to the lower court to order the
submission of the accused to a
psychiatric test to determine his sanity.” We do not find merit in the plea of counsel de oficio.  We
find in the record sufficient justification for the conclusion that the defendant was not insane at the time of the commission of the crime.  The
defendant had made several statements, which were reduced to writing and duly signed by
him.  We find that the facts and
circumstances narrated by the defendant in those different statements tally in
important details.  The defendant
voluntarily admitted his guilt before the municipal court during the preliminary
investigation.  He likewise voluntarily
pleaded guilty when arraigned before the trial court.  Considering that the defendant is charged of having killed Gloria Bulasa way
back on September 29, 1966 – or more than three years ago – it is not possible
now to ascertain the mental condition of the defendant as of the time
when he committed the crime or which he is charged.

The trial court has
correctly found that in killing the deceased Gloria Bulasa,
the defendant had taken ad­vantage of his superior strength.  This
attendant circumstance qualifies
the crime committed as murder, defined in Article 248 of the Revised
Penal Code.

We agree with the trial
court that the commission of the crime by the defendant was attended by
the aggravating circumstances of (1)
disregard of the respect due the offended party on account of her sex, and (2)
that the wrong done in the commission of the crime was deliberately augmented
by causing other wrong not necessary for its commission.

The trial court, however,
erred when it declared that two
other aggravating circumstances attended the commission of the crime; namely, that means was
employed or circumstance brought about which add ignominy to the natural
effects of the act, and that the
victim was the niece of the accused.  We
find nothing in the record which shows
that before the deceased Gloria Bulasa died she was subjected to such indignities as would
cause her shame or moral suffering. 
Under Article 15 of the Revised
Penal Code, the alternative circumstance of relationship shall be taken into consideration only when the offended
party is the spouse, ascendant, descendant, legitimate, natural or adopted
brother or sister, or relative by affinity in the same degree of the offended (U.S. vs. Insierto,
15 Phil. 358).

One mitigating circumstance
can be considered in favor of the defendant, namely, the circumstance of
his having made a voluntary plea of
guilt in court before the presentation of evidence by the prosecution.

We, therefore, find that
the defendant had committed the crime of murder, with two aggravating
circumstances that should be counted against him, and one mitigating circumstance
in his favor.  However, for lack of the
required number of votes by the members
of the Court, for the imposition or the maximum penalty of death, the Court has
resolved to modify that portion of the judgment of the trial court which
imposes the penalty of death, by imposing on the defendant the
penalty of reclusion perpetua.

WHEREFORE, the decision of the lower court is
modified.  The defendant is sentenced to reclusion perpetua, to indemnify the
heirs of the deceased Gloria Bulasa in the sum or
P12,000.00, and to pay the costs.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon, Makalintal, Sanchez,
Castro, Fernando, and Teehankee, JJ., concur.

Barredo, J., took no part.