THIRD DIVISION
[G.R. No. 237356. June 3, 2019.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs.DANILO SALAZAR y LEONOR, accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Third Division, issued a Resolution datedJune 3, 2019, which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 237356 (People of the Philippines vs. Danilo Salazar y Leonor). — Accused-appellant Danilo Salazar y Leonor was charged with the crime of murder for the death of Tomas Navales in Criminal Case No. TG-5643-07 filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Tagaytay City, Cavite, Branch 18.
After trial on the merits, the RTC, in its Judgment 1 dated October 15, 2015, found accused-appellant Salazar guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime charged and sentenced him as follows: HTcADC
ALL THE FOREGOING CONSIDERED, judgment is hereby rendered finding DANILO SALAZAR y LEONOR guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Murder and is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua.
Accused is likewise directed to pay the heirs of Tomas N[a]vales the following amounts:
1. Php75,000.00 by way of civil indemnity;
2. Php133,700.00 by way of actual damages and
3. Php50,000.00 by way of moral damages. 2
Accused-appellant Salazar filed an appeal before the Court of Appeals, docketed as CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 08095. In its Decision 3 dated September 29, 2017, the appellate court affirmed the findings of the RTC but modified the award of damages, thus:
WHEREFORE, the appeal is hereby DENIED. The October 15, 2015 Judgment of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 18, Tagaytay City in Criminal Case No. TG-5643-07 is AFFIRMED with the following MODIFICATIONS: accused-appellant Danilo Salazar y Leonor is hereby ordered to pay the Heirs of Tomas Navales P50,000.00 actual damages and civil indemnity, moral damages, and exemplary damages in the amount of P100,000.00 each, which shall be subject to 6% interest per annum from the finality of this Decision until fully paid. 4
Undeterred, accused-appellant Salazar filed a Notice of Appeal which was given due course by the appellate court in a Resolution 5 dated November 9, 2017.
Counsel for accused-appellant Salazar filed before the Court a Manifestation (In Lieu of Supplemental Brief) dated July 4, 2018 relaying his intention not to file a supplemental brief since all relevant issues were already exhaustively discussed in the Appellant's Brief. Said Manifestation was noted by the Court in its Resolution 6 dated January 23, 2019.
The Office of the Solicitor General also filed with the Court a Manifestation and Motion (In Lieu of Supplemental Brief) dated March 26, 2019, stating that it would no longer file a supplemental brief because accused-appellant Salazar's guilt and culpability had already been exhaustively discussed in the Appellee's Brief.
Before the Court could resolve accused-appellant Salazar's appeal, it was informed by Chief Superintendent Bonifacio Lambiquit of the Bureau of Corrections, New Bilibid Prison, Muntinlupa City, through a letter dated April 8, 2019, that accused-appellant Salazar died on October 21, 2018 due to myocardial infraction or heart attack, as evidenced by the attached photocopy of his death certificate. CAIHTE
Article 89, paragraph 1 of the Revised Penal Code, quoted below, explicitly provides that the death of the accused before final judgment extinguishes his criminal liability:
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 therefore is extinguished only when the death of the offender occurs before final judgment[.]
In People v. Bayotas, 7 the Court thoroughly explained the effects of the death of an accused pending appeal on his liabilities, 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) 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 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. aScITE
Upon accused-appellant Salazar's death pending appeal of his conviction, the criminal action as well as his civil liabilities arising from the crimes allegedly committed are extinguished as there is no longer a defendant to stand as the accused. 8 Thus, the criminal case against accused-appellant Salazar should be dismissed.
WHEREFORE, the Court resolves to SET ASIDE the Decision dated September 29, 2017 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 08095 and to DISMISS Criminal Case No. TG-5643-07 before the Regional Trial Court of Tagaytay City, Cavite, Branch 18 by reason of the death of accused-appellant Danilo Salazar y Leonor.
In view of the foregoing, the Court further resolves to NOTE WITHOUT ACTION the Manifestation and Motion (In Lieu of Supplemental Brief) dated March 26, 2019 filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) WILFREDO V. LAPITANDivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. CA rollo, pp. 58-63; penned by Acting Presiding Judge Jaime B. Santiago.
2.Id. at 63.
3.Rollo, pp. 2-15; penned by Associate Justice Pedro B. Corales with Associate Justices Japar B. Dimaampao and Amy C. Lazaro-Javier (now a member of this Court) concurring.
4.Id. at 14.
5.Id. at 19.
6.Id. at 32-33.
7. 306 Phil. 266, 282-284 (1994).
8.People v. Antido, G.R. No. 208651, March 14, 2018.