CALSADO, LOURDES ANTONETTE V.

151662

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee vs.TOBIAS RIBADAJO, ROMEO

CORPUZ, FEDERICO BASAS, ROSENDO ANOR and RODOLFO TORRES, defendant-
appellants
G.R. no. L-40294, July 11, 1986
Melecio-Herrera, J.

FACTS:
On November 18, 1971 at 7:56 P.M., Defendant-appellants from brigade 3-C went into dormitory
3-A through a false key while the inmates were getting their food rations. After getting into the
dormitory, they stabbed Bernardo Cutamora simultaneously which ultimately led to his death.
Defendant-appellants admitted to the crime and said that they only did it because inmates from 3-
A mocked them and threw human waste at them so they decided that they would kill anyone from
brigade 3-A on November 18, 1971.
During the arraignment, accused Tobias Ribadajo, Romeo Corpuz, Loreto Rivera, and Rodolfo
Torres, all with the assistance of counsel de officio, pleaded Guilty, while the other two accused
Federico Basas and Rolando Aunor, alias Rolando Amor, alias Rolando Anor, alias Tagalog,
entered pleas of Not Guilty. When it was time to present evidence, Ribajado, Corpuz and Torres
withdrew their guilty plea. Ribadajo and Corpuz said that the confession they made was under
duress while Torres and Basas admitted to executing confessions. Rosendo Anor withdrew his not
guilty plea and plead guilty to lesser crime of homicide. The court ruled that they were all guilty
of murder and would be sentenced to death penalty. Defendant-appellants seek for infirmity on the
matter.
ISSUE/S:
1. Whether or not the lower court erred in giving weight to an extrajudicial confession done?
2. Whether or not the lower court erred in finding the aggravating circumstances of treachery,
evident premeditation, and recidivism?
3. Whether or not the lower court erred in imposing death penalty.
RULING:
WHEREFORE, the judgment of conviction is hereby AFFIRMED. However, for lack of the
necessary votes, the penalty to be imposed on all the accused-appellants is reduced to reclusion
perpetua. The indemnity to be paid to the heirs of the deceased is hereby raised to P30,000.00.
Proportionate costs against the accused.
RATIO DECIDENDI:
1. NO. The lower court did not err in giving weight to an extrajudicial confession because it
was not done by force. The confessions casted did not show any suspicious circumstance
that would prove that they were forced to confess. Further, only the defendants could
 have been able to give the testimonies that were presented because it was so specific, the
investigators could not have made it up and forced them to sign the confession. There is a
presumption that the confessions were voluntary unless proven otherwise so the court can
put weight in their confessions despite them repudiating the confessions.
2. NO. The court did not err in finding the aggravating circumstances of treachery, evident
premeditation and recidivism. There was treachery because the attack on Cutamora was
sudden and unexpected and it was during a time that no one could help Cutamora when
they did the attack. There was evident premeditation because defendants met up at 1:00
PM to plan and carried it out at almost 8:00 PM with a false key. Finally, there was
recidivism because the defendants were all serving sentences for crimes that are under the
same title in the RPC. Corpuz for Homicide; Ribadajo for Murder; Basas for Murder;
Anor for Murder; and Torres for Homicide.
3. NO. The penalty for murder was reclusion temporal to death so it is within the range to
impose death penalty. However, since the defendants are already serving their sentences,
it would not be right to impose the maximum penalty to them so the court reduced it to
reclusion perpetua.