G.R. No. 116765 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. JACOB QUITORIO, JAYSON POMIDA AND PACIFICADOR CAMPOMANES, ACCUSED-. D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, this court do [sic] hereby sentence [sic] accused Jacob Quitorio and Jayson Pomida each to Two [terms of] Reclusion Perpetua and each to an additional imprisonment [term] of ten (10) years of prision mayor, as minimum to seventeen (17) years and four (4) months of Reclusion Temporal, as maximum. If reclusion perpetua (though not synonimous [sic] [with] but distinct from life imprisonment and an [being] indivisible penalty) is to be computed at thirty (30) years, then the total penalty for each of the two accused, Jacob Quitorio and Jayson Pomida would be as it is hereby ordered to be seventy (70) years as minimum to seventy-seven (77) years and four (4) months, as maximum. The third accused, Pacificador Campomanes, who at the time of the commission of the crime was only 16 years, 9 months and 9 days having been born only on November 27, 1975, as evidenced by his Certificate of Live Birth found on page 327 and Certification found on page 49 of the records, is a Youthful Offender. Considering therefore his age of about 17 years only at the time of the commission of the crime, he shall be entitled to a penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law. The law provides that: When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, a homicide is committed, the penalty shall be death. (Last par. of Art. 335, Revised Penal Code, as amended by RA 2638, approved June 18, 1960, and RA 411, approved June 20, 1964). However, in the case of People vs. Narit, G.R. No. 77087, May 23, 1991: The Supreme Court considered the death penalty as no longer impossible [sic] in consonance with the provision of Section 19(1), Article III of the 1987 Constitution, hence, the death sentence imposed on the accused-appellant has been automatically commuted to reclusion perpetua. As a consequence, the penalty of reclusion perpetua which should have been imposed on the third accused, Pacificador Campomanes, is hereby reduced to one degree lower pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 68 of the Revised Penal Code. That is, to reclusion temporal or 12 years and 1 day to 10 years. Applying the indeterminate sentence law, the accused Pacificador Campomanes for one count and that is for himself alone is hereby sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of imprisonment ranging from 10 years of prision mayor, as minimum to 17 years and 4 months of reclusion temporal, as maximum. But having conspired with the other two accused, Jacob Quitorio and Jayson Pomida in raping and killing the victim Elena Gabane, he is further sentence[d] to two more [terms of] 10 years of prision mayor as minimum to 17 years and 4 months of reclusion temporal, as maximum. The total penalty therefore of accused Pacificador Campomanes is thirty (30) years, as minimum to fifty-two (52) years, as maximum. This court further orders the three accused herein to indemnify joint and several [sic] the heirs of the victim Elena Gabane, the sum of P50,000.00 as actual damages for the death of the said victim; P75,000