People vs Umali

96 Phil 185
Facts:
In the evening of November 14, 1951, between 8:00 and 9:00, a raid was staged in the town
of Tiaong, Quezon by armed men. The raid took place resulting in the burning down and
complete destruction of the house of Mayor Marcial Punzalan, Valentin Robles and Mortega,
the death of Patrolman Domingo Pisigan and civilians Vicente Soriano and Leocadio Untalan,
and the wounding of Patrolman Pedro Lacorte and five civilians. During and after the burning
of the houses, some of the raiders engaged in looting, robbing one house and two Chinese
stories. The raiders were dispersed and driven from the town by the Philippine Army soldiers
stationed in the town led by Captain Alzate.
Issue:
Whether or not accused is guilty of the complex crime of rebellion with multiple murder,
frustrated murder, arson and robbery.
Ruling:
Yes. The court ruled that appellants are guilty of sedition, multiple murder, arson, frustrated
murder and physical injuries.
The principal and main, though not necessarily the most serious, crime committed here was
not rebellion but rather that of sedition. The purpose of the raid and the act of the raiders in
rising publicly and taking up arms was not exactly against the Government and for the
purpose of doing the things defined in Article 134 of the Revised Penal code under rebellion.
The raiders did not even attack the Presidencia, the seat of local Government. Rather, the
object was to attain by means of force, intimidation, etc. one object, to wit, to inflict an act
of hate or revenge upon the person or property of a public official, namely, Punzalan was
then Mayor of Tiaong. Under Article 139 of the same Code this was sufficient to constitute
sedition.
As regards the crime of robbery, it was not one of the purposes of the raid, which was mainly
to kidnap or kill Punzalan and destroy his house. The robberies were actually committed by
only some of the raiders, presumably dissidents, as an afterthought, because of the
opportunity offered by the confusion and disorder resulting from the shooting and the
burning of the three houses, the articles being intended presumably to replenish the
supplies of the dissidents in the mountains. For these robberies, only those who actually
took part therein are responsible, and not the three appellants herein.
With respect to the crime of multiple frustrated murder, while the assault upon policeman
Pedro Lacorte with a hand grenade causing him injuries resulting in his blindness in one eye,
may be regarded as frustrated murder; the wounding of Ortega, Anselo, Rivano, Garcia and
Lector should be considered as mere physical injuries. The crimes committed are, therefore,
those of sedition, multiple murder, arson, frustrated murder and physical injuries. The
murders may not be qualified by evident premeditation because the premedition was for the
killing of Punzalan. The result was the killing of three others intended by the raiders
(People vs. Guillen, 47 Off). The killing may, however, be qualified by treachery, the raiders
using firearms against which the victims were defenseless, with the aggravating
circumstance of abuse of superior strength. The three murders may be punished with the
penalty of death. However, because of lack of the necessary votes, the penalty should be life
imprisonment.