FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 257346. September 7, 2022.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,vs. BERNARD GALANG, accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated September 7, 2022which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 257346 (People of the Philippines v. Bernard Galang). — Before the Court is an appeal 1 assailing the Decision 2 dated 09 September 2020 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 12370. The CA affirmed, with modification as to the amount of civil indemnity and damages, the Decision 3 dated 20 August 2018, of the Regional Trial Court, Santiago City, Branch 36 (RTC), in Criminal Case No. 36-4751.
The RTC found accused-appellant Bernard Galang (accused-appellant) guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the special complex crime of carnapping with homicide, as defined and penalized under Republic Act No. (RA) 6539, 4 otherwise known as the Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972, as amended by Section 20 of RA 7659. 5 Accused-appellant was sentenced to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of reclusion perpetua. He was also found civilly liable for the death of Adolfo Tugade and was ordered to pay P100,000.00 as civil indemnity, P75,000.00 as moral damages, and P50,000.00 as exemplary damages. 6
Accused-appellant appealed the RTC's decision to the CA, 7 which resulted in the now-assailed Decision. Aggrieved, accused-appellant appealed to this Court. 8
On 14 February 2022, this Court issued a Resolution where it resolve, among others, to require the Superintendent of the New Bilibid Prison, Bureau of Corrections, Muntinlupa City to confirm to the Court the confinement of accused-appellant. 9
On 12 May 2022, the Court received a Letter 10 dated 06 April 2022 from the Bureau of Corrections stating that accused-appellant died on 13 June 2020, as shown by the attached Notice of Death and Certificate of Death. 11 The Certificate of Death showed that the proximate cause of accused-appellant's death was "CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE 2º TO ATRIAL FIBRILLATION." Under the portion on underlying cause, it also stated "COVID 19 SUSPECT." The place of death is NBP Hospital, Muntinlupa City. 12
Under prevailing jurisprudence, accused-appellant's death prior to a final conviction by the Court renders dismissible the criminal case against accused-appellant because his or her criminal liability and civil liability ex delicto are totally extinguished. 13
Article 89, paragraph 1 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) provides:
ART. 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. CAIHTE
In People v. Bayotas, 14 the Court summarized the rules on the effects of the death of an accused on his liabilities pending review of his conviction as follows:
1. Death of the accused pending appeal of his [or her] 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 or her] 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) x x x
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 [or her] 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 [de]privation of right by prescription. 15 (Citations omitted)
Accordingly, accused-appellant's death pending the resolution of his appeal extinguished his criminal liability, inasmuch as there is no longer a defendant to stand as the accused, as well as his civil liability ex delicto, grounded as it is on the criminal action. The Court, however, clarifies that accused-appellant's civil liability in connection with his acts against the victim may be based on sources of obligations other than delict. For this reason, the victim's heirs may file a separate civil action against the estate of accused-appellant, as may be warranted by law and procedural rules. 16
WHEREFORE, the Court RESOLVES to:
(a) DISMISS Criminal Case No. 36-4751 before the Regional Trial Court, Santiago City, Branch 36, by reason of the death of accused-appellant Bernard Galang; and
(b) DECLARE the instant case CLOSED and TERMINATED.
No costs.
SO ORDERED."
By authority of the Court:
(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADivision Clerk of Court
By:
MARIA TERESA B. SIBULODeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Rollo, pp. 3-4.
2. Id. at 9-25. Penned by Associate Justice Danton Q. Bueser and concurred in by Associate Justices Geraldine C. Fiel-Macaraig and Alfredo D. Ampuan.
3. Id. at 28-66. Penned by Judge Anastacio D. Anghad.
4. Entitled "AN ACT PREVENTING AND PENALIZING CARNAPPING." Approved: 26 August 1972.
5. Entitled "AN ACT TO IMPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY ON CERTAIN HEINOUS CRIMES, AMENDING FOR THAT PURPOSE THE REVISED PENAL CODE, AS AMENDED, OTHER SPECIAL PENAL LAWS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." Approved: 13 December 1993.
6. Rollo, p. 66.
7. Id. at 9.
8. Id. at 3.
9. Id. at 67.
10. Id. at 78.
11. Id. at 78-80.
12. Id.
13. People v. Abungan, 395 Phil. 456, 462 (2000).
14. 306 Phil. 266, (1994).
15. Id. at 282-284.
16. People v. Abungan, supra.