People of the Philippines (plaintiff-appellee) vs.

Nemesio Talingdan, Magellan Tobias,

Augusto Berras, Pedro Bides, and Teresa Domogma (accused-appellants)

Issue: Whether or not the appellants are guilty of the crime of murder in killing Bernardo
Bagabag.

Ruling:

The court convicted the male appellants with a crime of murder, qualified by treachery,
and attended by the generic aggravating circumstances of evident premeditation and
that the offense was committed in the dwelling of the offended party . They are
sentenced to the capital punishment of death.
Teresa, being the wife of the deceased, was found guilty only as an accessory to the
crime of murder.

Facts:

Teresa Domogma (Teresa) was the supposed wife of the deceased Bernardo Bagabag
(Bernardo)
a. No certificate or any other proof of marriage could be presented by the prosecution.
b. Both Teresa and Bernardo lived in their children in Sobosob, Salapadan, Abra.
c. Teresa had deserted her family a couple of times, and the deceased, Bernardo, took
time to look out for her.
Bernardo had gotten wind that an illicit relationship was going on between Nemesio and
Teresa.
At one point, Teresa left again their house and Bernardo came to know later that she
and Nemesio were seen together in the Town of Tayum Abra.
According to Corazon (daughter), there was a violent quarrel that happened between
Bernardo and Teresa two nights before the killing of former. Bernardo slapped Teresa
several times resulting in Teresa, seeking help of the police. Nemesio, a policeman,
came armed to the vicinity of Bernardos house and called him to come down; Bernardo
ignored him; Talingdan instead left and warned Bernardo someday that he would kill
him.
For Corazons testimony, she said that on Friday morning, she saw her mother Teresa
meeting with Talingdan and his co-appellants Tobias, Berrasa and Bides, in a small hut
owned by Bernardo, some 300-400 meters away from the latters house. She heard one
of them said, Could he elude a bullet. When Teresa noticed Corazon, she shoved her
away saying You tell your father that, we will kill him. On Saturday after sunset, she
saw her mother went down the house to go to the yard where she again met with the
other appellants. She also noted the long guns the appellant was carrying. Bernardo
informed his father, but the latter paid no attention.
On Saturday after sunset, June 24, 1967, Bernardo was gunned down in his house.
The Supreme Court (SC) fully believed the testimony of Corazon.
 The offense committed by appellants was murder qualified by treachery. It being
obvious that appellants deliberately choose nighttime to suddenly and without warning
assault their victim, taking advantage of their number and arms, it is manifested that they
employed treachery to insure success in attaining their malevolent objective.
The court stated that appellants acted with evident premeditation. Talingdan made the
threat to kill Bernardo Thursday night, and then he met with his co-accused to work out
their conspiracy Friday and again on Saturday evening just before the actual shooting.