THIRD DIVISION
[G.R. No. 233826. June 16, 2021.]
FORTIVILLAR FLORES y ESPORMA, petitioner, vs.PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Third Division, issued a Resolution datedJune 16, 2021, which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 233826 (Fortivillar Flores y Esporma vs. People of the Philippines) — The Court resolves to NOTE the Compliance dated August 6, 2020, filed by Atty. Francesco Manuel P. Valdez V of Hinlo Valdez & Associates, counsel for petitioner, with the Resolution dated August 14, 2019, submitting the original copy of petitioner's Certificate of Death.
This is a Petition for Review for Certiorari1 under Rule 45 of the Revised Rules of Court seeking to set aside the Amended Decision 2 dated July 24, 2017 rendered by the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR No. 01418, which found petitioner guilty of committing homicide, as defined and penalized under Article 249 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
On July 24, 2020, the Court received a Notice of Death with Motion to Dismiss 3 dated May 27, 2019 from the counsel of the petitioner stating therein that petitioner Fortivillar Flores y Esporma died on February 20, 2019. 4 On August 6, 2020, petitioner's counsel submitted a Philippine Statistics Office copy of petitioner's Certificate of Death dated February 21, 2019. 5 It would, thus, appear that the petitioner passed away during the pendency of his appeal before this Court.
Article 89 (1) of the RPC provides for the consequence of petitioner's death, to wit: CAIHTE
Article 89. How criminal liability is totally extinguished. — Criminal liability is totally extinguished:
1. By the death of the convict, as to the personal penalties and as to pecuniary penalties, liability therefor is extinguished only when the death of the offender occurs before final judgment.
It is clear from the foregoing that the criminal liability of the petitioner is totally extinguished because he died before final judgment. As regards petitioner's civil liabilities, it was extensively discussed in the case of People v. Bayotas6 how the same is affected by his death, to wit:
1. Death of the accused pending appeal of his conviction extinguishes his criminal liability as well as the civil liability based solely thereon. As opined by Justice Regalado, in this regard, "the death of the accused prior to final judgment terminates his criminal liability and only the civil liability directly arising from and based solely on the offense committed, i.e., civil liability ex delicto in senso strictiore."
2. Corollarily, the claim for civil liability survives notwithstanding the death of accused, if the same may also be predicated on a source of obligation other than delict. Article 1157 of the Civil Code enumerates these other sources of obligation from which the civil liability may arise as a result of the same act or omission:
a) Law;
b) Contracts;
c) Quasi-contracts;
d) Acts or omissions punished by law; and
e) Quasi-delicts.
3. Where the civil liability survives, as explained in Number 2 above, an action for recovery therefor may be pursued but only by way of filing a separate civil action and subject to Section 1, Rule 111 of the 1985 Rules on Criminal Procedure as amended. This separate civil action may be enforced either against the executor/administrator or the estate of the accused, depending on the source of obligation upon which the same is based as explained above.
4. Finally, the private offended party need not fear a forfeiture of his right to file this separate civil action by prescription, in cases where during the prosecution of the criminal action and prior to its extinction, the private-offended party instituted together therewith the civil action. In such case, the statute of limitations on the civil liability is deemed interrupted during the pendency of the criminal case, conformably with provisions of Article 1155 of the Civil Code, that should thereby avoid any apprehension on a possible privation of right by prescription. 7
Accordingly, petitioner's civil liability, which is directly arising from, and based solely on, the violations committed, is likewise extinguished as a consequence of his death. Petitioner's civil liability, which is predicated on other sources of obligation, survives and may be filed against his estate through a separate civil action. 8 DETACa
WHEREFORE, the Court resolves as follows: (a) the criminal and civil liabilities ex delicto of Fortivillar Flores y Esporma in Criminal Case Nos. 18033-08 are EXTINGUISHED by reason of his death, and (b) the instant case filed against Fortivillar Flores y Esporma is hereby declared CLOSED and TERMINATED.
SO ORDERED." (Hernando, J., on leave)
By authority of the Court:
(SGD.) MISAEL DOMINGO C. BATTUNG IIIDivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 10-40.
2. Penned by Associate Justice Edgardo T. Lloren, with Associate Justices Rafael Antonio M. Santos and Ruben Reynaldo G. Roxas, concurring; id. at 43-52.
3.Id. at 350-352.
4.Id. at 368.
5.Id. at 365-366.
6. 306 Phil. 266 (1994).
7.Id. at 282-284.
8.Dr. Cabugao v. People, et al., 740 Phil. 9, 33 (2014), citing People v. Bayotas, supra note 6, at 284.