People v.

Siyoh
141 SCRA 356, Feb. 15, 1986

Facts:
Defendants were accused of qualified piracy with triple murder and frustrated murder.
The accused armed with firearms and taking advantage of their superior strength willfully,
unlawfully, and feloniously fired their guns into the air and stop the pumpboat wherein the
victims were riding, boarded the same, and stole, took and carried away all their cash money,
wrist watches, stereo sets, merchandise and other personal belongings. Not satisfied with what
they did, the defendants ordered the victims to jump into the water and fired their guns at
them, which caused the death of 3 of them, and wounding the lone survivor. The RTC ruled in
favor of the victims and sentenced them to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment. In their
defense, the accused claimed that they were also the victims of the crime and that they
immediately reported the incident to the authorities.

Issue:
Whether or not the accused should be held liable to qualified privacy.

Held:
YES. The act committed by the accused was qualified piracy since the same resulted to
consummated and frustrated murder. The Anti-Piracy and Anti-Highway Robbery Law of 1974
provides that if rape, murder or homicide is committed as a result or on the occasion of piracy,
or when the offenders abandoned the victims without means of saving themselves, or when the
seizure is accomplished by firing upon or boarding a vessel, the mandatory of death shall be
imposed. In the instant case, the lone survivor of the incident testified against the defendants.
The death certificates of the victims stated that their cause of death is hemorrhage due to hacked
wounds, consistent with the testimony of lone survivor that the victims were hacked.
Furthermore, no evidence was presented, and nothing can be inferred from the evidence of the
defense showing reason why the lone survivor should pervert the truth or fabricate or
manufacture such heinous crime. In fine, the sentence of the trial court is proper, and the
accused should be convicted of qualified piracy.