G.R. No. 259916 - EDUARDO ILAYAT Y BUENO, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

accordingly proportionate in gravity." [51] For provocation on the victim's part to mitigate the crime, it "must be sufficient and should immediately precede the act of the offender." [52] In People v. Racal , [53] the Court discussed the elements of sufficient provocation as a mitigating circumstance, to wit: For sufficient provocation under Article 13, paragraph 4 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines to apply, three requisites must be present: a) provocation must be sufficient; b) it must be immediate to the commission of the crime; and c) it must originate from the offended party. "Sufficient" according to jurisprudence means adequate to excite a person to commit the crime and must accordingly be proportionate to its gravity . . . . [I]t is not enough that the provocating act be unreasonable or annoying. Certainly, calling a person gay as in this case is not the sufficient provocation contemplated by law that would lessen the liability of the accused. "Immediate" on the other hand means that there is no interval of time between the provocation and the commission of the crime. Hence, in one case . . . the Supreme Court ruled that provocation occurring more than one hour before the stabbing incident is not immediate . . . . Per admission of the defense witnesses, the taunting done by the victim occurred days before the stabbing incident hence the immediacy required by law was absent. The lapse of time would have given the accused [chance] to contemplate and to recover his serenity enough to refrain from pushing through with his evil plan. [54] (Citations omitted) Petitioner alleges that Efren's group started the scuffle by grabbing and choking, and then kicking and punching him. However, Efren did not in any way provoke petitioner into a fight that fateful night. There was no argument or physical struggle that ensued between them before petitioner stabbed him. Efren's group was just innocently walking along the road when petitioner suddenly surfaced and acted unruly. In other words, they were simply acting to de-escalate an otherwise intense and potentially lethal situation not knowing that Efren himself would become the victim of petitioner's acts. Even the medical certificates [55] and testimony of the attending physicians affirmed that the injuries of petitioner were merely superficial and slight . Dr. Reynaldo Badua, Surgeon at the Governor Faustino N. Dy, Sr. Memorial Hospital, testified: COURT : Q: How did you consider the nature of the injuries being sustained by the patient Eduardo Ilayat? A: I think it is like a slight physical injury. Q: With that kind of injuries, how many days will it take to be healed? A: For that kind or injury, it's about one (1) week. . . . . Q: Good Doctor, may we call it as superficial wounds? A: Yes, sir. Q: And the possibility of having been inflicted on the neck was, as you say, through human scratch? A: Yes. Q: Doctor, I have here in this medical certificate your diagnosis. Kindly read for us the wr