THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. SIXTO ARIOJA, ET AL., DEFENDANTS, HERMOGENES ARARAO, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

Review of a sentence of death imposed by the Court of First Instance of
Bataan, Hon. Ambrosio T. Dollete, presiding, on accused Hermogenes Ararao in
Criminal Case No. 5104 of said Court, for the murder of one Mrs. Elisa
Campos.

In an information filed by the Provincial Fiscal of Bataan on June 14, 1957,
Sixto Arioja, Hermogenes Ararao, Pedro Verano, Alejandro Policarpio, Mario
Mojica and Rufino Ararao were charged with the murder of one Mrs. Elisa Campos,
with the qualifying circumstance of evident premeditation and the aggravating
circumstance of nocturnity.

Sixto Arioja and Pedro Verano pleaded guilty and were sentenced accordingly,
and so the trial proceeded against the other accused. After trial, judgment was
rendered by the court below, finding Hermogenes Ararao guilty as leader of the
group that attacked and assaulted the victim, Mrs. Elisa Campos. The court found
that the crime was committed with the qualifying circumstance of abuse of
superior strength and so it sentenced Hermogenes Ararao to death. This
proceeding is a review of the decision of the court below, insofar as it imposes
upon Hermogenes Ararao the supreme penalty of death.

The principal witness presented by the prosecution is Pedro Verano, one of
the accused who had pleaded guilty of the charge. He testified that in the
evening of June 6, around 9:00, Hermogenes Ararao went to his house to invite
him to go serenading. Verano agreed and so went with Hermogenes. Sixto Arioja
and Mario Mojica also joined them. It was their plan to borrow a guitar from
some neighbors of the place where they would serenade, but they were not able to
do so. Inspite of the absence of a guitar they went nevertheless to the house of
the girl they intended to serenade. Upon reaching the house, they gave their
greetings and a man came out with a lamp. Hermogenes immediately grabbed the
lamp from him and put out the light. Hermogenes ordered him to go down the
stairway, to show the way, but he refused to do so. At that instant a girl went
to the kitchen. Hermogenes immediately pulled her and dragged her out. Then the
four brought her to the fields. Hermogenes and Arioja led the girl, while Mojica
and Verano followed them. Verano asked Hermogenes where they were going and the
latter answered that they were going to the fields.

Upon reaching the fields, Arioja immediately held the girl down and raped
her. Hermogenes also did the same, and after him Verano himself followed. The
last one to rape the victim was Mojica.

After raping the girl they brought her to a place known as Patawiran. And
once there Hermogenes and Arioja declared that the girl should be killed. Verano
was directed to beat the girl with a piece of wood which Mojica was carrying. At
that time the girl had already fallen down because Arioja had boxed her on the
arm and on the abdomen, as a result of which she fell down. Verano followed his
order and so he hit the girl with a piece of wood. After that Arioja also took
the piece of wood from Verano and also hit the girl with it, Verano had hit her
with the piece of wood three times, but as she appeared to be alive yet Arioja
hit her again several times. After that they left the girl in the place where
she had fallen down.

The other evidence submitted shows that in the morning of June 7, a
detachment of the Constabulary at Cabcaben, Bataan received a report from the
Commanding Officer at Mariveles, that on the previous night of June 6, Mrs.
Elisa Campos was kidnapped by unknown persons. Upon receipt of the report
various patrols were organized. The body of the victim was found at the place
where his assailants had left her. It was already in a decomposed state. A
physician examined the body and his findings are contained in his report,
Exhibit “A”, as follows:

“Autopsy Finding:

A female Filipina, 4 ft. 11 inches in height in a slightly decomposed
state.

“External Finding:

1. Bloated face; hair and face matted with dried blood; eyes bulging and tongue
   protruded; Nose and mouth severely contused; right jaw and neck with hematoma.

2. Multiple hematoma and contusion on the anterior chest wall; scattered
   hematoma and contusions on both shoulder joints.

3. Hematoma and contusion on both inner thighs and both knee joints.

4. Contused wound on the right occipital region of the head with comminuted
   depressed fracture of the occipital bone.

5. Severe intracranial injuries with cerebral hemorrhage.

6. Negative vaginal smear for spermatozoa.

“Cause of Death:

Comminuted depressed fracture on the right occipital region of the skull with
severe intracranial injuries and cerebral hemorrhage.”

The first person whom the.Constabulary apprehended is Pedro Verano. They
subject him to questioning and they found out from him that five other persons
were involved in the kidnapping and they were Sixto Arioja, Hermogenes Ararao,
Mario Mojica, Alejandro Policarpio and Rufino Ararao. All these individuals were
picked up by the Constabulary and their written statements were taken before the
Justice of the Peace. These statements were introduced at the trial. The
statement of Hermogenes Ararao was presented in court as Exhibit “C”. It is
embodied in the decision of the court below. So are the statements of the other
accused. The incident of the kidnapping and the killing of the victim is
described in the statement of Hermogenes Ararao, Exhibit “C”, as follows:

“Upon arrival at the house of Mang Baswil, I was standing at a distance of
three (3) arm lengths from where Sixto, Pedro Verano and Alejandro were. After a
while Pedro fired the gun in front of the house. When the woman went out, Sixto,
grabbed and carried her on his shoulders to the forest with our company. After
Sixto had raped, he was followed by Pedro and then Alejandro. Afterwards, Sixto
boxed the woman at the face, and she fell down. Then Pedro hit her with a piece
of wood, and when the woman was still showing life, Sixto took the piece of wood
from Pedro and with it hit also the woman. Then we went home. Upon nearing our
house, Pedro ordered me to hide his firearm and the two of them threatened to
kill me if I did not comply. This is all and we went home to
sleep.”

Pedro Verano testified that the leader of the gang was Hermogenes Ararao, who
gave the orders. Verano followed the orders of Ararao because the latter was
provided with a revolver, which he carried in his waist. Upon investigation,
Hermogenes Ararao confessed that he had a pistol (without license) with him, and
that he hid it by the creek near their house at Cabcaben, Mariveles, and that he
delivered it up voluntarily to the authorities. For the illegal possession of
the revolver he was also prosecuted and found guilty. All the accused in this
case were also prosecuted for rape and were convicted.

There is no question that Hermogenes Ararao was among those who kidnapped and
raped Mrs. Elisa Campos during the night of June 6, 1957. The only controversy
revolves around the manner of his participation in the killing of the victim;
for while Verano declared that he was invited by Hermogenes and the latter gave
orders regarding the killing of the victim, Hermogenes, in his confession,
declared that he was merely an onlooker. This is the substance of his confession
in Exhibit “C”. At the trial, Hermogenes did not take the witness stand and the
only witness he presented in his favor was Sixto Arioja, who declared that
Hermogenes was a companion of theirs in the kidnapping in the evening of June 6;
that he (Hermogenes) did not do anything; and that it was he, the witness, and
Verano, who raped and murdered the girl. On cross-examination, however, he was
confronted with his statement, Exhibit “I”. Upon being read his confession, he
rejected the same and all that is contained therein, except the fact that it was
he and Verano that committed the rape and hit the victim to death.

Upon examination of Sixto Arioja’s statement, Exhibit “I”, we find that it
was Hermogenes who invited him that evening for the purpose of serenading a
woman; that it was Hermogenes who called at the house of the woman and ordered
her husband to go down; that it was Hermogenes who fired at the man, then
ordered Policarpio to go up the house and grab the victim; that after reaching a
place known as Patawiran, it was Hermogenes who told him to rape the woman and
that he obeyed Hermogenes; that after they had raped the girl, they started to
go home, but after they had walked 15 meters, Hermogenes told them to “sock” the
woman and so they “socked” her and the woman fell down; that after they “socked”
the woman, they were told to hit her, so the witness hit the woman with a piece
of wood they were carrying; that after this Hermogenes ordered that the woman be
hit some more so she will not be left alive.

The facts stated by witness Arioja for Hermogenes Ararao in Exhibit “I”,
clearly show that his (Ariojas) testimony in court, absolving Hermogenes Ararao
of participation in the rape and leadership in the killing, is not true.
Arioja’s testimony in court is, therefore, fully discredited.

A consideration of the evidence submitted, as above indicated, satisfies Us
that Hermogenes Ararao was the mastermind and the leader of the group that
kidnapped Mrs. Elisa Campos and raped and killed her on the evening of June 6,
1957. His participation as leader is corroborated by the fact that he was then
only one who was armed with a revolver. We also note that Hermogenes was 21
years old, Mojica, 16, Policarpio, 21, Sixto Arioja, 18, Verano, 17, so that
Hermogenes was the oldest in the group, most of his companions being merely
teenagers. The fact that he did not even care to testify to deny the imputation
against him by Verano, or his statement taken before the Justice of the Peace,
Exhibit “C”, clearly shows his guilt and participation in the crime as testified
to by Verano.

But while we are convinced that the finding of the trial court that
Hermogenes Ararao was the leader of the group that committed the forcible
abduction, the rape and the killing, the imposition of the supreme penalty on
him (Hermogenes Ararao) for the killing is not justified. The information
alleges, as qualifying circumstance of the crime of murder, that of evident
premeditation. The evidence shows that after using the girl and after going back
(distance stated in Exhibit “I” of place of rape to place of murder is about 15
meters) Hermogenes Ararao decided that the victim be killed. Certainly, no
evident premeditation could have been present, because there was no previously
concerted plan to kill the victim and no sufficient time elapsed between the
inception of said plan, if any, and its fulfillment. In this finding, the
Solicitor General agrees.

However, it is contended by him that another qualifying circumstance, that of
abuse of superior strength, attended the commission of the crime. We find that
there was abuse of superior strength, not only because the conspirators were
many, six in number, and one of them was armed with a revolver and another with
a piece of wood. But this circumstance of abuse of superior strength can not be
considered as a qualifying circumstance, for the reason that the same is not
alleged in the information. It may therefore, only be considered as an
aggravating circumstance. (People vs. Alonzao, L-5504, prom. July 31,
1954.)

In view of the above circumstances, we find that there is no qualifying
circumstance which may be considered as having attended the commission of the
crime and which will raise the crime committed to murder, because the qualifying
circumstance of evident premeditation alleged was not proved, and the
aggravating circumstance of abuse of superior strength, which was proved, is not
alleged. The offense committed therefore is that of homicide, attended by the
aggravating circumstances of abuse of superior strength and nocturnity. There
is. therefore, no justification for imposing the supreme penalty of death upon
the accused Hermogenes Ararao. Under the facts proved and the allegations
contained in the information, Hermogenes Ararao can only be found guilty of the
crime of homicide, with two aggravating circumstances of abuse of superior
strength and nocturnity.

Wherefore, the judgment of conviction sentencing the accused Hermogenes
Ararao to the supreme penalty of death is hereby set aside, and another one
entered finding the accused guilty of homicide, with two aggravating
circumstances and sentencing him to suffer the penalty of from 17 years, 4
months and 1 day as minimum to 20 years of reclusion temporal as maximum.
In all other respects, the decision of the court below is hereby affirmed, with
costs.

Bengzon, C.J., Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Reyes, J.B.L., Paredes,
Dizon, De Leon, and Natividad, JJ., concur.