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SUPREME COURT
Manila
- versus-
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES,
respondent.
x--------------------------------------------------/
MEMORANDUM
(For the Prosecution)
PREFATORY STATEMENT
STATEMENT OF FACTS
On the 20th day of isolation, the miners asked the rescuers how
long will they be saved. Gerald, in behalf of the miners, asked by radio
the members of the rescue team if they would be able to survive if they
consumed the flesh of one of them. From the testimony of the
petitioners, which was not objected, it appears that it was Barretto who
first proposed the use of some methods of casting lots.
On the 23rd day, it was learned by the rescue team that Barreto had
been killed and eaten by his companions.
ISSUES
ARGUMENT/DISCUSSION
“Art. 248. Murder. – Any person who, not falling within the provisions of
article 246, shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder xxx, if committed
with any of the following attendant circumstances:
1. With treachery, xxx taking advantage of superior strength xxx;
xxx
2. With evident premeditation; xxx
xxx
3. xxx
4. xxx
5. xxx
6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the
suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse .
The elements of Murder are (1) that a person was killed, (2) that
the accused killed him, (3) that the killing was attended by any of the
qualifying circumstances mentioned in article 248 of the Revised Penal
Code, and (4) that the killing is not parricide or infanticide.
Treachery is present
The treachery was present when the petitioners casted the die
among themselves notwithstanding the fact that Barretto had already
withdrawn his participation thus consent is absent.
Taking advantage of superior strength is present
Barretto was in fact among those trapped inside the cave with
impossible chance of escape. It is advantageous of the petitioners to
perform the murder when the victim is overpowered by a greater
proportion – one against four.
Premeditation is present
As to the second element, the casting of the die was the external
act that they must kill one of them shows that they have deliberately
clung unto their will.
Cruelty is present
In People vs. Carmina, the court stated “Even if treachery were not
present in this case, the crime would still be murder because of the
dismemberment of the dead body. One of the qualifying circumstances
of murder under Article 248, par. 6, of the Revised Penal Code is
"outraging or scoffing at (the) person or corpse" of the victim. There is
no question that the corpse of Billy Agotano was outraged when it was
dismembered with the cutting off of the head and limbs and the opening
up of the body to remove the intestines, lungs and liver. The killer
scoffed at the dead when the intestines were removed and hung around
Victoriano's neck "as a necklace" and the lungs and liver were
facetiously described as "pulutan."
CONCLUSION
PRAYER
Copy Furnished:
Chief Justice Vir Celito Raymundo