This case has been cited 6 times or more.
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2016-01-11 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| Lastly, the lower courts limited the civil liability to civil indemnity of P50,000.00. The limitation was a plain error that we must correct. Moral damages and civil indemnity are always granted in homicide, it being assumed by the law that the loss of human life absolutely brings moral and spiritual losses as well as a definite loss. Moral damages and civil indemnity require neither pleading nor evidence simply because death through crime always occasions moral sufferings on the part of the victim's heirs.[17] As the Court said in People v. Panad:[18] | |||||
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2014-09-24 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| Anent the civil liability, the RTC granted P250,000.00 without specifying the amounts corresponding to actual and moral damages, as well as to the civil indemnity for the death of Vincent. The CA affirmed the grant. Both lower courts thereby erred on a matter of law. Actual and moral damages are different in nature and purpose. To start with, different laws govern their grant, with the amounts allowed as actual damages being dependent on proof of the loss to a degree of certainty, while the amounts allowed as moral damages being discretionary on the part of the court. Secondly, actual damages address the actual losses caused by the crime to the heirs of the victim; moral damages assuage the spiritual and emotional sufferings of the heirs of the victim of the crime. On the civil indemnity for death, law and jurisprudence have fixed the value to compensate for the loss of human life. Thirdly, actual damages may not be granted without evidence of actual loss; moral damages and death indemnity are always granted in homicide, it being assumed by the law that the loss of human life absolutely brings moral and spiritual losses as well as a definite loss. Moral damages and death indemnity require neither pleading nor evidence simply because death through crime always occasions moral sufferings on the part of the victim's heirs.[16] As the Court aptly said in one case,[17] | |||||
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2014-06-09 |
DEL CASTILLO, J. |
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| Truly, "direct evidence of the commission of a crime is not the only basis from which a court may draw its finding of guilt."[27] The rules of evidence allow a trial court to rely on circumstantial evidence to support its conclusion of guilt. Circumstantial evidence is that evidence "which indirectly proves a fact in issue through an inference which the fact-finder draws from the evidence established."[28] Under Section 4, Rule 133 of the Rules of Court, circumstantial evidence would be sufficient to convict the offender "if i) there is more than one circumstance; ii) the facts from which the inference is derived are proven; and iii) the combination of all circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt."[29] All the circumstances must be consistent with one another, consistent with the hypothesis that the accused is guilty and at the same time inconsistent with the hypothesis that he is innocent. Thus, conviction based on circumstantial evidence can be upheld provided that the circumstances proved constitute an unbroken chain which leads to one fair and reasonable conclusion that points to the accused, to the exclusion of all others as the guilty person.[30] | |||||
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2013-09-18 |
DEL CASTILLO, J. |
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| Indeed, no prosecution witness has actually seen the commission of the crime. But jurisprudence tells us that direct evidence of the crime is not the only matrix from which a trial court may draw its conclusion and finding of guilt. The rules on evidence allow a trial court to rely on circumstantial evidence to support its conclusion of guilt.[27] Circumstantial evidence is that evidence "which indirectly proves a fact in issue through an inference which the fact-finder draws from the evidence established."[28] | |||||
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2011-06-08 |
PERALTA, J. |
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| In the case at bar, it was proven that when AAA boarded the vehicle, she saw Sulpacio tied and blindfolded. Later, when they reached the fishpond, Sulpacio, still tied and blindfolded, was led out of the vehicle by the group. When the remains of Sulpacio was thereafter found by the authorities, the autopsy report indicated that a piece of cloth was found wrapped around the eye sockets and tied at the back of the skull and another cloth was also found tied at the left wrist of the victim. There is no question therefore, that the victim's body, when found, still had his hands tied and blindfolded. This situation of the victim when found shows without doubt that he was killed while tied and blindfolded; hence, the qualifying aggravating circumstance of treachery was present in the commission of the crime. In People v. Osianas, [34] the Court held that: x x x In the case at bar, the means used by the accused-appellants to insure the execution of the killing of the victims, so as to afford the victims no opportunity to defend themselves, was the act of tying the hands of the victims. Teresita saw the accused-appellants hog-tie the victims and take them away with them. Later that night, Dionisio Palmero saw the victims, still hog-tied, walking with the accused-appellants. The following day, the victims were found dead, still hog-tied. Thus, no matter how the stab and hack wounds had been inflicted on the victims in the case at bar, we are sure beyond a reasonable doubt that Jose, Ronilo and Reymundo Cuizon had no opportunity to defend themselves because the accused-appellants had earlier tied their hands. The fact that there were twelve persons who took and killed the Cuizons further assured the attainment of accused-appellants' plans without risk to themselves. [35] | |||||
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2011-01-26 |
VELASCO JR., J. |
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| The CA also correctly awarded temperate damages, instead of actual damages, as awarded by the RTC, considering that Santiago Arasula was unable to prove the actual expenses incurred by the death of his brother. Art. 2224 of the Civil Code provides, "Temperate or moderate damages, which are more than nominal but less than compensatory damages, may be recovered when the court finds that some pecuniary loss has been suffered but its amount can not, from the nature of the case, be proved with certainty." However, the award of PhP 10,000 should be modified to conform to current jurisprudence. The award of PhP 25,000 as temperate damages in homicide or murder cases is proper when no evidence of burial or funeral expenses is presented in the trial court.[42] | |||||