FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 254767. May 5, 2021.]
ROBERTO SALONGA y CABRERA, petitioner,vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated May 5, 2021 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 254767 (Roberto Salonga y Cabrera v. People of the Philippines). — Before this Court is a Petition for Review on Certiorari1 filed by Roberto Salonga y Cabrera (Salonga) assailing the Decision 2 dated March 13, 2020 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR No. 42034 which affirmed with modification the Decision of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila City, Branch 16 in Criminal Case No. R-MNL-17-01280-CR, 3 finding Salonga guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Homicide.
The Dispositive portion of the RTC Decision reads:
WHEREFORE, this Court finds the accused ROBERTO SALONGA y CABRERA guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the crime of HOMICIDE and is hereby sentenced to suffer imprisonment of six (6) years and one (1) day of prision mayor as minimum, to fourteen (14) years, eight (8) months and one (1) day of reclusion temporal as maximum.
Accused is likewise ordered to pay the heirs of the victim RAUL ANSANO BAUSA the following:
1. P90,800.00 representing the burial expenses;
2. P50,000.00 as civil indemnity for death; and
3. P50,000.00 as moral damages
with six percent (6%) interest per annum on the civil indemnity and moral damages from the finality of this Decision until fully paid.
Let a Mittimus be issued immediately.
SO ORDERED. 4 (Emphasis in the original)
In the assailed Decision 5 dated March 13, 2020, the CA partly granted Salonga's appeal by appreciating the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender, thus:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant appeal is PARTIALLY GRANTED. The Decision dated June 19, 2018 of the Regional Trial Court of Manila City, Branch 16 in Criminal Case No. R-MNL-17-01280-CR is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION. Accused-appellant Roberto Salonga y Cabrera is sentenced to suffer 6 years and 1 day of prision mayor as minimum and 14 years of reclusion temporal as maximum.
SO ORDERED. 6 (Emphasis in the original)
After a perusal of the records of the case, this Court resolves to deny the petition of Salonga for his failure to sufficiently show any reversible error in the assailed Decision of the CA. Nonetheless, the award of damages imposed by the RTC and affirmed by the CA must be modified. While the amounts awarded are in line with the law and recent jurisprudence, 7 the RTC only imposed the six percent (6%) per annum legal interest on the civil and moral damages. All damages awarded, including the burial expenses or actual damages, shall earn interest at the legal rate of six percent (6%) per annum from the date of finality of the Resolution until fully paid. ETHIDa
WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED. The Decision dated March 13, 2020 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR No. 42034 finding Roberto Salonga y Cabrera guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Homicide and sentenced to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of six (6) years and one (1) day of prision mayor as minimum and fourteen (14) years of reclusion temporal as maximum, is AFFIRMED. The award of damages is MODIFIED in that petitioner Roberto Salonga y Cabrera is ORDERED to pay the heirs of Raul Ansano Bausa the following:
1) P90,800.00 representing the burial expenses;
2) P50,000.00 as civil indemnity for death; and
3) P50,000.00 as moral damages.
All the foregoing are subject to the legal interest of six percent (6%) per annum from the date of finality of this Resolution until fully paid.
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. 11-23.
2. Penned by Associate Justice Germano Francisco D. Legaspi with the concurrence of Associate Justices Franchito N. Diamante and Walter S. Ong; id. at 30-36.
3.Id. at 30.
4.Id. at 32.
5.Supra note 2.
6.Rollo, p. 35.
7.People v. Jugueta, 783 Phil. 806, 852 (2016).