FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 248422. May 14, 2021.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs.FAUSTINO "TINNY" DOMAN-AG, AT LARGE, ET AL., accused;
JIMMY QUESORA y SOGALA, accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated May 14, 2021which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 248422 (People of the Philippines v. Faustino "Tinny" Doman-ag, at large, et al., accused; Jimmy Quesora y Sogala, accused-appellant). — This is an appeal 1 filed by accused-appellant Jimmy Quesora y Sogala (Quesora) which seeks to reverse and set aside the Decision 2 dated November 29, 2018 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 01867-MIN, convicting accused-appellant Quesora for the crime of Murder.
After trial, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Malaybalay City, Branch 8, rendered a Decision 3 dated August 15, 2017 in Criminal Case No. 23174-12 finding accused-appellant Quesora guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Murder as defined and penalized under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and sentenced him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua. In addition, the RTC ordered Quesora to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the amounts of P100,000.00 as civil indemnity, P100,000.00 as moral damages and P100,000.00 as exemplary damages. 4
On appeal, the CA affirmed the decision of the trial court finding no reversible error in its finding of facts and conclusion of law. 5
On June 14, 2019, Quesora appealed the Decision of the CA to this Court.
However, in a letter 6 dated December 31, 2020, which the Court electronically received on January 4, 2021, 7 CCSupt. Julie May Taguiam (CCSupt. Taguiam), Acting Superintendent of the Bureau of Corrections-Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF), informed the Court that Quesora, who was received for confinement at DPPF on January 12, 2018, died last October 6, 2020 at the Davao Regional Medical Center due to respiratory failure, hospital acquired pneumonia, and acute pancreatitis, 8 as stated in the copy of his Cadaver Release Form. 9 The following day, October 7, 2020, Quesora was dropped from the list of Persons Deprived of Liberty present in DPPF. 10
In a letter dated January 6, 2021, which the Court received on January 26, 2021, 11 CCSupt. Taguiam submitted the Certified True Machine Copy of the Death Certificate of Quesora. 12 IAETDc
Ruling of the Court
Under prevailing law and jurisprudence, the death of Quesora prior to his final conviction shall result to the extinguishment of the criminal case against him. Under Article 89 (1) 13 of the RPC, as amended, the death of the offender prior to his judgment of conviction by the Court extinguishes his civil and criminal liability ex delicto.
In People v. Culas, 14 the Court has enunciated the following guidelines construing the above provision in case the accused dies before final judgment:
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) 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 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 there with 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. 15
Applying these guidelines, upon the death of Quesora pending his appeal before the Court, the criminal action is extinguished as there is no longer a defendant to stand as the accused; the civil action instituted therein for the recovery of the civil liability ex delicto is ipso facto extinguished, grounded as it is on the criminal action. 16
In view of the death of Quesora on October 6, 2020 during the pendency of his appeal before the Court, he is relieved of all personal and pecuniary penalties attendant to his crime, his death occurring before the Court could render the final judgment.
WHEREFORE, the Court resolves to DISMISS Criminal Case No. 23174-12 before the Regional Trial Court of Malaybalay City, Branch 8 by reason of the death of the accused-appellant Jimmy Quesora y Sogala on October 6, 2020. The instant case is hereby DECLARED CLOSED and TERMINATED. DcHSEa
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, p. 17.
2. Penned by Associate Justice Ruben Reynaldo G. Roxas with the concurrence of Associate Justices Edgardo A. Camello and Evalyn M. Arellano-Morales; id. at 4-16.
3. Penned by Presiding Judge Isobel G. Barroso; CA rollo, pp. 33-53.
4.Id. at 53.
5.Rollo, p. 16.
6.Id. at 47.
7.Id. at 44.
8.Id. at 47.
9.Id. at 50.
10.Id. at 47, 49.
11.Id. at 59.
12.Id. at 61-61-A.
13. 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;
14. 810 Phil. 205 (2017).
15.Id. at 208-209, citing People v. Layag, 797 Phil. 386, 390-391 (2016), citing People v. Egagamao, 792 Phil. 500, 507-508 (2016), citing People v. Bayotas, 306 Phil. 266, 282-284 (1994).
16.People v. Culas, supra note 14 at 209.