FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 241415. January 10, 2019.]
ARNOLD BOHOL y GUTAY ALIAS "ANOT", petitioner,vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution datedJanuary 10, 2019which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 241415 (Arnold Bohol y Gutay alias "Anot" v. People of the Philippines). — The motion for extension of time to file petition for review on certiorari is GRANTED.
This notwithstanding, we DENY the petition and AFFIRM Court of Appeals' (CA) Decision dated December 29, 2017 and Resolution dated July 24, 2018 in CA-G.R. CR No. 35485 for failure to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in upholding petitioner's conviction for homicide.
As the CA correctly held, the prosecution sufficiently established all the elements of homicide and petitioner failed to prove his claim of self-defense. The location, number, and the gravity of the wounds inflicted on the victim were clearly indicative of petitioner's intent to kill the victim and not merely to prevent or repel an attack from the latter.
However, we delete the award of actual damages in the amount of P13,000.00. The settled rule is that when actual damages, proven by receipts during the trial, amount to less than the sum allowed by the Court as temperate damages, the award of temperate damages is justified in lieu of actual damages which are of a lesser amount. Conversely, if the amount of actual damages proven exceeds, then temperate damages may no longer be awarded; actual damages based on the receipts presented during trial should instead be granted. The rationale for this rule is that it would be anomalous and unfair for the victim's heirs, who tried and succeeded in presenting receipts and other evidence to prove actual damages, to receive an amount which is less than that given as temperate damages to those who are not able to present any evidence at all. 1 Here, as prevailing jurisprudence now fixes the amount of P50,000.00 as temperate damages, 2 we award temperate damages in lieu of actual damages.
WHEREFORE, the Court of Appeals Decision dated December 29, 2017 and Resolution dated July 24, 2018 in CA-G.R. CR No. 35485 are AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION that the award of actual damages is DELETED.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.People v. Racal, G.R. No. 224886, September 4, 2017, 838 SCRA 476, 498.
2.People v. Jugueta, G.R. No. 202124, April 5, 2016, 788 SCRA 331, 388.