People Of The Philippines v. Resurreccion

ENDENCIA, J.:

Charged with and found guilty of arson on an inhabited building, with the aggravating circumstances of premeditation and nighttime, without any mitigating circumstance to offset the same, the accused spouses were sentenced by the Court of First Instance of Manila to suffer reclusion perpetua , with the accessory penalties of the law, to pay jointly and severally indemnity in the sum of P11,870.47 as follows: P3,400 to the Alto Surety & Insurance Co., P3,475 to New Zealand Insurance Co., P1,895 to Malayan Insurance Co., P1,600 to South British Insurance Co., P1,500 to Pacific National Fire Insurance Co., plus one-half of the costs. They appealed from this decision on the ground that the court erred- 1. In allowing the exclusion of Florencio Camilo from the complaint in order to make him a state witness despite the opposition of the herein accused; 2.

In not stating in its decision that the corpus delicti in the case at bar was not proven; 3. In not finding that since the testimony of the sole witness for the prosecution as regards the guilt, of the accused James Uy, alias James Kay and Aw Ming, alias Taba, was not credible, it should likewise be incredible as regards the herein appellants; 4. In not finding that the testimony or Florencio Camio comes from an impure source and hence it should not prevail over the testimony of herein appellants; and 5.

In not acquitting the herein appellants. Upon careful examination of the record of the case, we find to be completely undisputed and positively shown by the evidence on record the following facts: that in response to an alarm, at about 7:40 on the evening of October 8,1950, Capt. Braulio Alonia, Chief of the San Lazaro Fire Station, rushed with his men to the corner of Echague and Rizal Avenue, City of Manila.

Upon arriving at the place, they found on fire the second floor of the appellant's building located in that corner. His men proceeded to quench the blaze and succeeded in doing so in a few minutes. Soon after the fire had been put out, Capt.

Alonia inspected the second floor and found on the Echague wing thereof two broken glass jars, ten unbroken glass jars containing gasoline, lines of toilet paper dipped in the gasoline content of the jar and arranged in such a manner as to connect them to one another, and eleven green tin covers, Exhibits B, B-1 to B-9; C, C-1 to C-10; D and I. Photographs of the fire scene were taken by the photographers of the Police and Fire Department, (Exhibits F, G, H, I, J, U and V), all of which clearly depict the burned area, the broken glass jars and the arrangement on the floor of the unbroken glass jars which contained gasoline as well as the connecting lines of tissue papers. In the course of investigation of the fire, Capt. Alonia made a sketch from which the data appearing on Exhibit T were taken, and a glance at these photographs and sketch will convince anyone but for the timely and efficient handling of the fire by the firemen the entire building might have been burned because the ingenuous device of connecting the gasoline-filled glass jars with tissue paper would have rapidly spread the fire all over the Echague wing of the building and had the fire run its natural course traces of its criminal inception and design would have been obliterated or its detection made impossible by the resulting debris.

The building in question consists of two wings, one of which fronts Rizal Avenue and the other Echague Street (Exhibit D). The appellant spouses were keeping a room in the second floor at the corner of Rizal Avenue and Echague Street.

The Echague wing was occupied by the Republic Vocational School, owned by Dr. Felix Acevedo, and the Rizal Avenue wing was rented out to various tenants. The stairs leading to the second floor were located on Rizal Avenue and at the top of the said stairs there used to be a door, but this was removed on orders of appellants sometime before the fire. Entering the second floor from the said stairs, the appellants would turn right to reach their room and at the left side of the door thereof.

A corridor run thru the middle of the Echague wing. Along both sides of said corridor were several rooms containing desks, tables, books, typewriters, a steel cabinet and a sewing machine, and at the end of this corridor was a room with windows opening on Estero Cegado and Echague Streets. The fire started in the above-described corridor, about 5 or 6 meters from the door of the said room of the appellants (Exhibits D, M and N).

The first floor and undivided one-half of the second floor of the building were owned by the appellant spouses who insured the entire building with four insurance companies under their different policies for a total sum of P175,000 as follows: People's Surety & Ins. Co.- July 3, 1950 to July 3, 1951 P15,000.00 (Exh. W-1).

September 15, 1950 to September 15, 1951 10,000.00 (Exh. W-2). September 8, 1950 to September 8,1951 10,000.00 (Exh.

W-3). August 25, 1950 to August 25,1951 20,000.00 (Exh. W-4).

August 25, 1950 to August 25,1951 10,000.00 (Exh. W-5). Central Surety Company- November 23, 1949 to November 23, 1950 50,000.00 (Exh.

X to X-6). June 19, 1956 to June 19, 1951 20,000.00 (Exh. Y).

Alto Surety & Ins. Co.- September 26, 1950 to September 26, 1951 15,000.00 (Exh. Z to Z-1).

September 25, 1950 to September 25, 1951 5,000.00 (Exh. AA to AA-1). Manila Underwaters Ins.

Co.- May 15, 1950 to May 15, 1951 20,000.00 (Exh. BB to BB-2) Total