THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. FLORENCIO MANGANTILAO, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

“The facts of the present case as we see them may be
stated as follows: the defendant on coming home late one night heard
his wife scream for help. He rushed upstairs, found the room in
darkness and his wife and children frightened and huddled together to
escape the bob thrusts made by an unknown assailant through the wall of
coconut palm leaves of his home. He also heard the assailant
challenging him to come down and threatening to come up instead if the
defendant failed to do so. Believing, as he had reason to believe, that
his assailant was armed, the defendant stabbed him on the forearm as it
was thrust through the partition wall for the third time. On the
following day, the defendant voluntarily went to the office of the
police to give an account of the incidents of the night before. We
believe that the ends of justice would be sadly defeated if the courts
of our country were to send this defendant to prison for acting the way
he did under the circumstances in which he found himself and his
family. The reasons for the favorable disposal of the appeal in the
cases of United States vs. Paras (9 Phil., 367) and United States vs.
Ah Chong (15 Phil., 488) are, we think, appropriate here also, and we
recommend the application of the rule there laid down to the instant
case.”

With that, we agree. Apparently, the defendant has been convicted of
the crime of homicide in the defense not only of his own home, but of
his little children and the person of his wife. The defendant had the
legal right to act on appearances. The deceased while drunk had no
license to enter the home of the defendant in his absence and terrorize
his wife and little children. Neither had he any legal right upon the
return of the defendant to thrice thrust his hand through the wall of
the little home, armed with a bolo in a violent and threatening manner,
or to challenge the defendant to come out and fight. Any man who loves
his home, his wife and his little children would naturally resent such
an attack made by a drunk man on his own home in the dead hour of
night. The record shows that the defendant is a poor man; that he was
defended in this court by an attorney de oficio; and that he has been
confined in jail or prison since his trial and conviction. . The
judgment of the lower court is reversed and the defendant is acquitted
with the costs de oficio, and ordered to be forthwith released. So
ordered.

Avancena, C. J., Johnson, Street, Villamor, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.