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Culture Documents
People VS Agbot
People VS Agbot
FACTS:
At about 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon of October 8, 1972, the accused Antonio
Agbot went to the house of his sister Leona Agbot, married to Asisclo Subat, in
sitio Panganudan, barrio Lamiawan, Carraga, Davao Oriental, and demanded
from her the return of his twelve-year old daughter Milagrosa, who had been
under the care and custody of Leona Agbot Subat since she was two years old.
Leona refused to surrender the child to the accused because of her sacrifices and
expenses in the upbringing and education of Milagrosa. The accused left angrily,
saying -- "tighten your belt", a phrase which, in the custom of the Mandayantribe
to which they belong, meant "something bad will be forthcoming to you not long
from now." (tsn, pp. 45-47, Mar. 26, 1973)
"At about 7:30 o'clock in the evening of October 8, 1972, while Asisclo Subat and
Francisco Baucan, step-son of the victim, were relaxing at the porch of their
house, and Leona Agbot Subat was preparing supper in the kitchen, a gun
explosion was heard. Asisclo Subat and Francisco Baucan tried to ascertain
where the gun report came from. Suddenly, Francisco called out -- "Mama,
mama," directing his call to his step-mother Leona Subat who came rushing from
the kitchen, wounded and bleeding on the right breast. In a few seconds, the
latter dropped on the floor and expired. (tsn, pp. 48-50, Mar. 26, 1973)
ISSUE: WON voluntarily surrendering the weapon with which he committed the
offense would be but a natural consequence of his having admitted guilt.
RULING;
With appellant's confession fulfilling all elements of admissibility, and supported
as it is by independent evidence of corpus delicti, which is the fact of the crime
having been committed, together with the finding in appellant's house of the
weapon that undisputably inflicted the fatal wounds sustained by the deceased,
it would be futile to argue against the sufficiency of the evidence to prove guilt
beyond reasonable doubt, as counsel has tried to do, and commendably so, had
it not been for his manifest misreading of the evidence. Thus, he would aver that
corpus delicti has not been proven when the fact of death due to foul means has
been so undeniably established by the lifeless body bearing wounds that
undisputably caused the death to the victim.
While lack of instruction may not be appreciated in favor of appellant as argued
by counsel, the offense of taking one's life being forbidden by natural law and
therefore within the instinctive knowledge and feeling of an human being not
deprived of reason, appellant being a member of the cultural minority may be
considered in his favor, pursuant to Sec. 106 of the Administrative Code of
Mindanao and Sulu and entitle him, regardless of the attending circumstances, to
life imprisonment instead of death. It is no legal obstacle to accord to him this
benefit of the law because he failed to invoke same in the court a quo, for in an
appeal of a criminal case, same is thrown open for a complete review of all
errors, by commission or omission, as may be imputable to the trial court.
WHEREFORE, the judgment of conviction is affirmed, but the death sentence is
hereby reduced to life imprisonment, taking also into account the length of time
he had already been in the death row. Cost de oficio. SO ORDERED.