People V Rodil

People v.
Rodil
(Insult to public authorities)
FACTS:
At about 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon of April 24, 1971, Phil. Constabulary (PC) Lt.
Guillermo Masana together with PC soldier Virgilio Fidel, Philippine Coast Guard serviceman
Ricardo Ligsa and Patrolman Felix Mojica of Indang, Cavite, was having lunch inside a restaurant
in front of the Indang market. Appellant who was whistling outside caught their attention. Lt.
Masana, in civilian clothing, and Fidel went to approach the appellant, introduced himself as PC
officer and asked whether the gun tucked on his waist had a license. Appellant responded by
attempting to draw his gun. Fidel immediately grabbed it. They proceeded inside the restaurant
and there, Lt. Masana wrote the receipt for the gun. When asked to countersign, appellant refused
and suddenly pulled out a double-bladed dagger and with it, he stabbed Lt. Masana several times,
on the chest and stomach causing his death.
Chief of Police Primo Panaligan who was also there brought the accused to the municipal
building. The cadaver of Lt. Masana was autopsied and the doctor remarked that cause of death
is cardio-respiratory arrest due to severe shock and intrathoracic hemorrhage as a result of
multiple stab wounds of the body.
The accused claimed self-defense relying on the following facts:
Accused was in the restaurant with his wife when Lt. Masana approached him and asked
him whether he was Floro Rodil and whether he was a member of the Anti- Smuggling Unit which
he affirmed. Lt. Manasa invited accused to join him in his table and the former told the latter not
to report any smuggling activity. Lt. Masana asked the accused for his ID card. When accused
showed his, Lt. Masana said it was fake and tried to take it away from accused. Due to refusal of
accused to give the ID, Lt. Masana got mad and hit the accused on the head twice with his gun
causing blood to gush. When Lt. was about to hit for the third time, accused pulled his
"pangsaksak" and stabbed the officer two or three times and then pushed him away from him and
ran out. Accused proceeded to the municipal building to surrender to the authorities meeting Chief
Panaligan on his way. He was given first aid and thereafter, was detained for 2 days before being
transferred.
In the case at bar, the accused contends that it was the deceased, Lt. Guillermo Masana
who committed unlawful aggression when the latter hit him on his head with the handle of his gun
after he refused to surrender his (the accused) ID to him.
ISSUE: Whether or not the crime committed [murder or homicide merely] or [murder or homicide
complexed with assault upon an agent of authority].
RULING:
It is unbelievable that refusal of accused to give his ID could have provoked or enraged
the deceased to the extent of drawing his pistol and hitting it on the former. Furthermore,
deceased was unarmed, he being then on leave and was in civilian clothing. Accordingly, We are
constrained to draw the inescapable conclusion that it was the accused, not the deceased, who
initiated the aggression which ended in the fatal wounding of the deceased resulting in his death.
Accused also claimed he was hit by the deceased; however, record shows he was hit on
the right side. They were facing each other and were both right handed. Then, the blow would
have been on the left side of the recipient. Therefore, the Court reject such claim for being
improbable, the same being contrary to the natural course of human behavior.
The required knowledge, like a qualifying circumstance, although proven, would only be
appreciated as a generic aggravating circumstance. Applying this principle, the attack on the
victim, who was known to the appellant as a peace officer, could be considered only as
aggravating, being "in contempt or with insult to the public authorities" (Par. 1, Art. XIV of
the Revised Penal Code), or as an "insult or in disregard of the respect due the offended party on
account of his rank, ..." (par. 3, Art. XIV, Revised Penal Code).
It is essential that the accused must have knowledge that the person attacked was a
person in authority or his agent in the exercise of his duties, because the accused must have the
intention to offend, injure, or assault the offended party as a person in authority or agent of a
person in authority (People vs. Villaseñor 35 SCRA 460 [19701, People vs. Rellin 72 Phil. 1038
[1947]; US vs. Alvear et al., 35 Phil. 626 [1916]).
The aggravating circumstance of disregard of rank should be appreciated because
it is obvious that the victim, PC. Lt. Masana identified himself as a PC officer to the accused who
is merely a member of the Anti-Smuggling Unit and therefore inferior both in rank and social status
to the victim. In the case at bar, the appellant is accused of murder only. Consequently, either
aggravating circumstance should be considered in the imposition of the penalty.
Chief of Police Primo Panaligan of Indang was present as he was taking his lunch when
the incident occurred. As a matter of fact, the said chief embraced or grabbed the accused from
behind, wrested the dagger; thereafter brought him to the municipal building of Indang. And
appellant admittedly knew him even then as the town chief of police, although he now claims that
he went to the municipal building to surrender to the chief of police who was not allegedly in the
restaurant during the incident.
With two aggravating circumstances and no mitigating circumstance, the appellant should
therefore be condemned to suffer the maximum period of reclusion temporal the penalty
prescribed for homicide.
WHEREFORE, having been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of homicide
aggravated by contempt for or insult to a public authority or disregard of the respect due the
offended party on account of his rank, appellant Floro Rodil is hereby sentenced to suffer an
indeterminate term of imprisonment ranging from 12 years of reclusion temporal as maximum.

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