THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. FERNANDO PUGAY y BALCITA, & BENJAMIN SAMSON y MAGDALENA, accused-appellants; G.R. No. L-74324 November 17, 1988

Samson showered deceased with a can of gas. Pugay lighter him. 3 weeks after, he died. Pugay guilty of reckless imprudence resulting in Homicide. Samson guilty of homicide with mitigating circumstance of no intention to commit such grave a wrong.

TOPIC: ELEMENT OF CULPA - IMPRUDENCE

RATIONALE:

A man must use common sense and exercise due reflection in all his acts; it is his duty to be cautious, careful, and prudent, if not from instinct, then through fear of incurring punishment. He is responsible for such results as anyone might foresee and for acts which no one would have performed except through culpable abandon. Otherwise his own person, rights and property, all those of his fellow-beings, would ever be exposed to all manner of danger and injury.

(U.S. vs. Maleza, et. al. 14 Phil. 468, 470)

ACCUSED: FERNANDO PUGAY Y BALCITA and BENJAMIN SAMSON Y MAGDALENA

DECEASED: BAYANI MIRANDA, a retardate

Crime charged: MURDER; Sc ruled: HOMICIDE 

 

FACTS:

1. Deceased Miranda, a 25-year old retardate, and the accused Pugay were friends. Miranda used to run errands for Pugay and at times they slept together

2. May 19, 1982, a town fiesta fair was held in the public plaza of Rosario, Cavite. Sometime after midnight,

3. Eduardo Gabion was sitting in the ferris wheel and reading a comic book with his friend Henry. Later, the accused Pugay and Samson with several companions arrived. These persons appeared to be drunk as they were all happy and noisy. As the group saw the deceased walking nearby, they started making fun of him. They made the deceased dance by tickling him with a piece of wood.

4. Not content with what they were doing with the deceased, the accused Pugay suddenly took a can of gasoline from under the engine of the ferns wheel and poured its contents on the body of the former. Gabion told Pugay not to do so while the latter was already in the process of pouring the gasoline. Then, the accused Samson set Miranda on fire making a human torch out of him.

5. The ferris wheel operator later arrived and doused with water the burning body of the deceased. Some people around also poured sand on the burning body and others wrapped the same with rags to extinguish the flame.

 

6. The body of the deceased was still aflame when police officer Rolando Silangcruz and other police officers of the Rosario Police Force arrived at the scene of the incident. Upon inquiring as to who were responsible for the dastardly act, the persons around spontaneously pointed to Pugay and Samson as the authors thereof. Bayani was rushed to the hospital.

7. CFI Cavite pronounced them guilty beyond reasonable doubt as principals by direct participation of the crime of MURDER for the death of Bayani Miranda.

8. Hence, they appealed to SC for the reversal of judgment on the ground that their written statements, admitting that Pugay poured a can of gasoline on the deceased and Samson set the deceased on fire, were forced by the police. They claimed that the police maltreated them into admitting authorship of the crime. They also engaged in a concerted effort to lay the blame on Gabion for the commission of the offense. Gabion testified that he saw Pugay pour gasoline on the deceased and then Samson set him on fire.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the accused-appellants conviction of MURDER be affirmed.

RULING:

NO. They are not guilty of MURDER. There is nothing in the records showing that there was previous conspiracy or unity of criminal purpose and intention between the two accused-appellants immediately before the commission of the crime. There was no animosity between the deceased and the accused Pugay or Samson. Their meeting at the scene of the incident was accidental. It is also clear that the accused Pugay and his group merely wanted to make fun of the deceased. Hence, the respective criminal responsibility of Pugay and Samson arising from different acts directed against the deceased is individual and not collective, and each of them is liable only for the act committed by him

-    PUGAY: GUILTY OF HOMICIDE THROUGH RECKLESS IMPRUDENCE (Art. 365) Having taken the can from under the engine of the ferris wheel and holding it before pouring its contents on the body of the deceased, this accused knew that the can contained gasoline. The stinging smell of this flammable liquid could not have escaped his notice even before pouring the same.   Thus, he is criminally responsible for failing to exercise all the diligence necessary to avoid every undesirable consequence arising from any act that may be committed by his companions who at the time were making fun of the deceased.

-    Sentence: indeterminate sentence of four (4) months of arresto mayor, as minimum, to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional, as maximum

 

-    SAMSON: NOT GUILTY OF MURDER. For the circumstance of treachery to exist, the attack must be deliberate and the culprit employed means, methods, or forms in the execution thereof which tend directly and specially to insure its execution, without risk to himself arising from any defense which the offended party might make. No doubt that Samson knew the liquid poured was gasoline and flammable for he wouldn’t have set the fire if not. However, it can be conceded that his intention was to merely set the deceased’s clothes on fire as part of their fun-making. This however, DOES NOT RELIEVE HIM of CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY. But there is an entire ABSENCE OF PROOF that Samson had some reason to kill the decease as they were just having fun that evening. Burning the clothes of the victim would cause at the very least some kind of physical injuries on his person, a felony defined in the Revised Penal Code. If his act resulted into a graver offense, as what took place in the instant case, he must be held responsible therefor. Article 4 of the aforesaid code provides, inter alia, 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.

 

-    Thus, he is found GUILTY OF HOMICIDE (Art. 249) with ordinary mitigating circumstance of no intention to commit so grave a wrong as that committed as there is evidence of a fact from which such conclusion can be drawn. The eyewitness Gabion testified that the accused Pugay and Samson were stunned when they noticed the deceased burning

-    Sentence: indeterminate penalty of eight (8) years of prision mayor, as minimum, to fourteen (14) years of reclusion temporal, as maximum.

 

-    both accused-appellants PUGAY & SAMSON shall be jointly and severally liable for the aforesaid amount plus the P10,000.00 as moral damages and P5,000.00 as exemplary damages as found by the court a quo.