United States vs. Protasio Eduave – G.R. No.

L-12155, 2 February 1917, 36 Phil

209

FACTS:

Defendant Protasio Eduave is the querido of the victim’s mother. Eduave attacked the
victim from behind using a bolo creating a gash 8 1/2 inches long and 2 inches deep
because the latter accused defendant of having commiting rape against said victim.
Upon thinking that he has already killed the victim, he threw the body into the bushes
and left.

ISSUE/S:

What is the crime committed by Eduave?

HELD:

Article 3 of the Penal Code defines a frustrated felony as follows:

A felony is frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of execution which should
produce the felony as a consequence, but which, nevertheless, do not produce it by
reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.

An attempted felony is defined thus:

There is an attempt when the offender commences the commission of the felony directly
by overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which constitute the felony
by reason of some cause or accident other than his own voluntarily desistance.

Accused is guilty of frustrated murder. The fact that Eduave attacked the victim from
behind, in a vital portion of the body, shows treachery qualifying it as murder. The crime
was not consummated, because the elements of the crime’s execution and
accomplishment were not complete, as the victim did not die. Neither was the crime an
attempted one because the accused’s actions has already passed the subjective phase,
that is, there was no external force preventing defendant from performing all the acts of
execution necessary to commit the felony. Consequently, the victim did not die because
an external element has prevented such death after Eduave has performed all the
necessary acts of execution that would have caused the death of the victim.