Ortega

G.R. No. 116736 July 24, 1997

Lessons Applicable: Indeterminate Sentence Law
Laws Applicable: Art. 4 RPC
FACTS:
October 15, 1992 5:30 pm: Andre Mar Masangkay (courting Raquel Ortega), Ariel
Caranto, Romeo Ortega, Roberto San Andres, Searfin, Boyet and Diosdado Quitlong
were having a drinking spree with gin and finger foods.
October 15, 1992 11:00 pm: Benjamin Ortega, Jr. and Manuel Garcia who were
already drank joined them.
October 16, 1992 midnight: Andre answering a call of nature went to the back
portion of the house and Benjamin followed him. Suddenly, they heard a shout from
Andre Dont, help me! (Huwag, tulungan ninyo ako!)
Diosdado and Ariel ran and saw Benjamin on top of Andre who was lying down
being stabbed. Ariel got Benjamin Ortega, Sr., Benjamins father while Diosdado
called Romeo to pacify his brother. Romeo, Benjamin and Manuel lifted Andre from
the canal and dropped him in the well. They dropped stones to Andres body to weigh
the body down. Romeo warned Diosdado not to tell anybody what he saw. He
agreed so he was allowed to go home. But, his conscience bothered him so he told
his mother, reported it to the police and accompanied them to the crime scene.
NBI Medico Legal Officer Dr. Ludivico J. Lagat:
o cause of death is drowning with multiple stab wounds, contributory
o 13 stab wounds
o stab wound on the upper left shoulder, near the upper left armpit and left chest
wall- front
o stab wound on the back left side of the body and the stab wound on the back right
portion of the body back
Manuel Garcia alibi
o He was asked to go home by his wife to fetched his mother-in-law who performed
a ritual called tawas on his sick daughter and stayed home after
Benjamin Ortega, Jr. story
o After Masangkay left, he left to urinate and he saw Andre peeking through the
room of his sister Raquel. Then, Andre approached him to ask where his sister was.
When he answered he didnt know, Andre punched him so he bled and fell to the
ground. Andre drew a knife and stabbed him, hitting him on the left arm, thereby
immobilizing him. Andre then gripped his neck with his left arm and threatened to kill
him. Unable to move, Ortega shouted for help. Quitlong came, seized the knife and
stabbed Andre 10 times with it. Andre then ran towards the direction of the well.
Then, he tended his wound in the lips and armpit and slept.
RTC: Benjamin and Manuel through conspiracy and the taking advantage of
superior strength committed murder

ISSUE: W/N Benjamin and Manuel should be liable for murder.

HELD: NO. PARTLY GRANTED. Benjamin is guilty only of homicide. Manuel deserves
acquittal
If Ortegas version of the assault was true, he should have immediately reported
the matter to the police authorities. If Ortegas version of the assault was true, he
should have immediately reported the matter to the police authorities. It is incredible
that Diosdado would stab Andre 10 times successively, completely ignoring Benjamin
who was grappling with Masangkay and that Andre was choking him while being
stabbed.
Abuse of superior strength requires deliberate intent on the part of the accused to
take advantage of such superiority none shown
o Andre was a 6-footer, whereas Ortega, Jr. was only 54
Article 4, par. 1, of the Revised Penal Code states that criminal liability shall be
incurred by any person committing a felony (delito) although the wrongful act done be
different from that which he intended.
o The essential requisites
1. the intended act is felonious assisting Benjamin by carrying the body to the well
2. the resulting act is likewise a felony - concealing the body of the crime to prevent
its discovery
3. the unintended albeit graver wrong was primarily caused by the actors wrongful
acts (praeter intentionem) still alive and was drowned to death
a person may be convicted of homicide although he had no original intent to kill
Garcia is a brother-in-law of Benjamin
o Exempt by Article 20 of RPC
ART. 20. Accessories who are exempt from criminal liability. -- The penalties
prescribed for accessories shall not be imposed upon those who are such with respect
to their spouses, ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers
and sisters, or relatives by affinity within the same degrees with the single exception of
accessories falling within the provisions of paragraph 1 of the next preceding article.
The penalty for homicide is reclusion temporal under Article 249 of the Revised
Penal Code, which is imposable in its medium period, absent any aggravating or
mitigating circumstance, as in the case of Appellant Ortega. Because he is entitled to
the benefits of the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum term shall be one
degree lower, that is, prision mayor.

Oanis, 74 Phil. 257

G.R. No.L-47722 July 27, 1943
MORAN, J.

Lesson applicable: mitigating circumstances

Balagtas, she said that he too was sleeping in the same

room.

FACTS:
Captain Godofredo Monsod, Constabulary Provincial

ISSUE: W/N they may, upon such fact, be held

responsible for the death thus caused to Tecson

Inspector at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, received from

Major Guido a telegram of the following tenor:

HELD: appellants are hereby declared guilty of murder

"Information received escaped convict Anselmo Balagtas

with the mitigating circumstance

with bailarina and Irene in Cabanatuan get him dead or

YES.

alive." Captain Monsod accordingly called for his first

sergeant and asked that he be given four men.
The same instruction was given to the chief of police Oanis

ignorantia facti excusat, but this applies only when the

mistake is committed without fault or carelessness
appellants found no circumstances whatsoever which

who was likewise called by the Provincial Inspector.

would press them to immediate action. The person in the

Defendants Oanis and Galanta then went to the room of

room being then asleep, appellants had ample time and

Irene, and an seeing a man sleeping with his back

opportunity to ascertain his identity without hazard to

towards the door where they were, simultaneously or

themselves, and could even effect a bloodless arrest if

successively fired at him with their .32 and .45 caliber

any reasonable effort to that end had been made, as the

revolvers. Awakened by the gunshots, Irene saw her

victim was unarmed.

paramour already wounded, and looking at the door

"No unnecessary or unreasonable force shall be used in

where the shots came, she saw the defendants still firing

making an arrest, and the person arrested shall not be

at him. Shocked by the entire scene. Irene fainted; it

subject to any greater restraint than is necessary for his

turned out later that the person shot and killed was not

detention."

the notorious criminal Anselmo Balagtas but a peaceful

a peace officer cannot claim exemption from criminal

and innocent citizen named Serapio Tecson, Irene's

liability if he uses unnecessary force or violence in

paramour.

making an arrest

According to Appellant Galanta, when he and chief of

The crime committed by appellants is not merely criminal

police Oanis arrived at the house, the latter asked Brigida

negligence, the killing being intentional and not

where Irene's room was. Brigida indicated the place, and

accidental. In criminal negligence, the injury caused to

upon further inquiry as to the whereabouts of Anselmo

another should be unintentional, it being simply the

incident of another act performed without malice.
2 requisites in order that the circumstance may be taken
as a justifying one:
1.

offender acted in the performance of a duty or in

the lawful exercise of a right-present

2.

injury or offense committed be the necessary

consequence of the due performance of such duty or
the lawful exercise of such right or office.-not
present

According to article 69 of the Revised Penal Code, the

penalty lower by 1 or 2 degrees than that prescribed by
law shall, in such case, be imposed.
PEOPLE vs. OANIS
June 19, 2012 Leave a comment

People vs. Oanis July 27, 1943 (74 Phil 257)

PARTIES:
Plaintiff and appellee: People of the Philippines
Defendants and appellant: Antonio Oanis, Alberto Galanta
FACTS:

Antonio Oanis and Alberto Galanta were instructed to arrest a

notorious criminal and escaped convict, Anselmo Balagtas, and if
overpowered, to get him dead or alive. They went to the suspected
house then proceeded to the room where they saw the supposedly
Balagtas sleeping with his back towards the door. Oanis and
Galanta simultaneously or successively fired at him which resulted
to the victims death. The supposedly Balagtas turned out to be
Serepio Tecson, an innocent man.
ISSUE:
1. WON Oanis and Galanta incur no liability due to innocent
mistake of fact in the honest performance of their official duties.
2. WON Oanis and Galanta incur no criminal liability in the
performance of their duty.
HELD:
1. No. Innocent mistake of fact does not apply to the case at bar.
Ignorance facti excusat applies only when the mistake is
committed without fault or carelessness. The fact that the
supposedly suspect was sleeping, Oanis and Galanta could have
checked whether it is the real Balagtas.
2. No. Oanis and Galanta are criminally liable. A person incurs no
criminal liability when he acts in the fulfillment of a duty or in the
lawful exercise of a right or office. There are 2 requisites to justify
this: (1) the offender acted in teh perfomance of a duty or in the
lawful exercise of a right or office, (2) that the injury or offense
committed be the necessary consequence of the due performance
of such duty or the lawful exercise of such right or office. In this
case, only the first requisite is present.