THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. JUAN REYES ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLANTS.

These two cases were heard jointly and decided in one judgment.
In case 28197 Juan Reyes, Pedro de la Cruz, Pedro Ronzales and Agustin Santiago
were charged with the murder of Alejandro Aquino. In case 28193 the same
defendants were charged with the murder of Jose Aquino.

In the first case (28197) the trial court found Juan Reyes,
Pedro Ronzales, Pedro de la Cruz and Agustin Santiago guilty, and sentenced each
of them to life imprisonment, with the accessories of the law, to indemnify the
deceased’s heirs in the amount of P500, and to pay the proportional part of the
costs of the action. In case 28198 the trial court found Pedro de la Cruz
gjuilty as principal and sentenced him to life imprisonment, with the
accessories of the law, providing that this penalty, together with the other one
imposed in the other; case, should not exceed forty years; the court found
defendant lAgustin Santiago guilty as an accomplice and imposed upom him the
penalty of twelve years and one day cadena temporal, with the accessories of the
law; and sentenced both of them to indemnify the heirs of Jose Aquino in the
amount of P500 and each to pay the proportional part of the costs, absolving the
other defendants in this case.

On the night of July 25, 1927, Alejandro Aquino and his two
sons, Pastor and Jose, were asleep in their hut in the sitio of Looc,
municipality of Malolos, Province of Bulacan. Pastor wsas awakened by a certain
noise, thus becoming aware that some persons had entered the hut and began to
assault them; so he jumped out of the hut and went to Bonifacio Santiago’s house
to report the incident; thence, both of them went to the municipal building.
Bonifacio Santiago is the lessee of the land which Alejandro tilled. After
policemen Nicomedes Espiritu and Vicente Cruz had learned of the incident, they
accompanied Pastor and Bonifacio to the hut, at which they arrived at about 2
o’clock in the morning. There they found Alejandro Aquino stretched out on the
ground floor of the hut. On being asked by policeman Nicomedes, after the latter
had made himself known, who had wounded him, Alejandro mentioned the appellants’
names. Jose Aquino, too, was wounded, but he could no longer speak. A flashlight
was found under the hut, which according to Alejandro, was carried by the
appellant Pedro de la Cruz.

Upon the wounded men being conducted to the municipal building,
Alejandro Aquino made a statement (Exhibit E) before the justice of the peace,
as follows: That at about 1 o’clock in the morning he (Alejandro Aquino) was
awakened by a bolo stab in the face and head by Pedrong Munti, who carried the
flashlight; that Pedrong Munti, focused the flashlight on his son Jose Aquino,
who was asleep, stabbing him, too, with the same bolo; that he then grabbed
Pedrong Munti, and they clinched, and while thus engaged, Gusting, whom he
recognized by his voice, pricked his foot from below saying “Hurry up, kill
him!”; that while he was thus clinched with Pedrong Munti, both of them fell at
the staircase, and then Juan Maitim approached, who gave him a bolo blow on his
arm, and Pedrong Malaki, gave him another bolo blow on his back; so he had to
let go of Pedrong Munti, who said, “I told you something would happen”; that he
recognized all of them by the light of the stars; that the appellants bore him
a grudge because he tilled the land of the municipal president of Malolos leased
to Bonifacio Santiago, which had been the object of a strike on the part of the
appellants, all of whom were members of the Kapatirang Magsasaka society, who
therefore felt vexed. Immediately after having made this statement, the
appellants were presented to Alejandro one by one, and he recognized them as the
same ones wno entered his house, identifying Pedro Ronzales as Pedrong Malaki,
Pedro de la Cruz as Pedrong Munti, and Juan Reyes as Juan Maitim, and Agustin
Santiago as Gusting. Both this declaration and the identification of the
appellants were made after Alejandro Aquino, when asked about his condition, and
whether he believed he was going to die of his wounds, anstwered, “Opo, seguro
po”

Counsel for the appellants in this instance alleges that this
declaration of Alejandro Aquino is not an ante-mortem declaration, because he
did not make it in the certain belief that he was about to die. It is contended
that the words “Opo, seguro po” mean that he believed he might die, but not that
he would surely die. But these words may also mean that he was sure or certain.
At any rate, as they could mean both things, we believe that, considering the
seriousness of his wounds, eighteen of them all told, which caused his death two
days later, Alejandro Aquino signified by these words the belief that he was
going to die. But even if this statement is not deemed to be an ante mortem
declaration, yet it was res gestae, since it was made immediately after the
incident, when policeman Nicomedes went to the same place, and hence is also
competent evidence to support conviction. Moreover, this statement was
corroborated by Agustin Santiago’s testimony before the justice of the peace of
Malolos.

As to case 28198, for the murder of Jose Aquino, it is alleged
that there is no evidence as to the participation of the appellants, as
Alejandro Aquino’s ante mortem declaration cannot be considered in connection
with Jose Aquino’s death. But once it is admitted that it was the appellants who
entered the hut of the victims, and that on the same night, besides Alejandro
Aquino, Jose Aquino was also killed, it must be admitted beyond all doubt that
it was the appellants, or some one of them, who murdered Jose Aquino. The
circumstances of the case show that a common purpose brought them to the hut,
and all of them must answer equally for the crimes committed. For this reason we
find the Attorney-General’s recommendation to be correct, to the effect that
Agustin Santiago must be considered in connection with Jose Aquino’s death, as a
coprincipal and not as a mere accomplice.

Furthermore, as the act was committed in the dead of the night,
while the deceased were asleep, the circumstance of treachery was present,
qualifying the crime as murder.

We find the appellants’ guilt proven beyond all reasonable
doubt, and pursuant to the Attorney-General’s recommendation, with the
understanding that Agustin Santiago is sentenced to life imprisonment, the
judgment appealed from is affirmed in all other respects. The sentence in case
No. 28198 as to Agustin Santiago and Pedro de la Cruz must be served after the
penalty imposed upon them in case No. 28197, both penalties not to exceed forty
years, with the costs against the appellants. So ordered.

Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Ostrand, Romualdez, and
Villa-Real, JJ., concur.