Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila

EN BANC

G.R. No. L-27097 January 17, 1975

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,

vs.
ANTONIO TOLING y ROVERO and JOSE TOLING y ROVERO, defendants-appellants.

Office of the Solicitor General Felix V. Makasiar and Solicitor Dominador L. Quiroz for plaintiff-appellee.
Santiago F. Alidio as counsel de oficio for defendants-appellants.

FACTS:

Antonio Toling and Jose Toling, brothers, appealed from the decision of the Court of First Instance of
Laguna, finding them guilty of multiple murder and attempted murder, sentencing them to death and
ordering them to indemnify each set of heirs of (1) Teresita B. Escanan, (2) Antonio B. Mabisa, (3)
Isabelo S. Dando, (4) Elena B. Erminio (5) Modesta R. Brondial (6) Isabel Felices and (7) Teodoro F.
Bautista in the sum of P6,000 and to pay Amanda Mapa the sum of P500 (Criminal Case No. SC-966).

The defendant – apellants were twin brothers and natives of Mondragon, Samar. They were illiterate
farmers tilling their own lands.

On January 6, 1965, the brothers decided to visit their children in Manila. It was their first trip in the big
city. Antonio was able to meet with his daughter, Leonora, and his grandson. On the other hand, Jose
was not able to find his children.

On January 8, 1965, the brothers boarded the night Bicol express train at about 5:00 PM to go back
home. The train departed at 6:00 PM that evening.The twins were in coach No. 9 which was the third
from the rear of the dining car. They were seated side-by-side on the fourth three-passenger from the
rear, facing the back door.

At around 8:00 PM, the the train stopped at Cabuyao, Laguna. Not long after the train resumed moving,
Antonio stood up and stabbed the man sitting in front of him with a scissors. Jose stabbed the sleeping
old woman seated opposite of him with a knife. Jose also stabbed another passenger named Amanda
Mapa who attempted to leave her seat. Most of the passengers scurried away for safety but the twin
stabbed everyone they encountered inside the coach.

Constabulary Sergeant Vicente Z. Rayel, a train escort, was informed of the commotion in Coach No. 9.
On his way, Rayel saw a man holding a knife on the platform separating Coaches Nos. 8 and 9. He
shouted that he was a Constabularyman and ordered the man to lay down his knife. The man did not
obey Rayel’s orders and stabbed himself on his left breast on a suicidal impulse.

Constabulary Sergeant Vicente Aldea was also on the train. He saw Antonio stabbing two women, a
small girl and Teresita Escanan with scissors. Aldea shouted at Antonio to surrender. When Antonio was
about to stab another person, Aldea stood on a seat and struck Antonio on the head to knock him down.
At the Calamba station, 4 Constabulary soldiers escorted the twins and turned them over to the custody
of the Calamba police. Rayel took down their names. The scissors and knife were turned over to the
Constabulary Criminal Investogation Service (CIS).

There was a total of 12 dead victims. 8 out of 12 died from stab wounds and their bodies were found in
the coach. 4 out of 12 apparently died from jumping out of the moving train to avoid being killed and
their bodies were found along the railroad tracks between Cabuyao and Calamba.

The trial court observed that the reason or motive that actuated the accused to run amuck appeared to
be the despondency on the part of the accused coupled with their unfounded suspicion of evil intention
on the part of those who happened to stare at them that broke the limit of their self-control. Hence,
they became hostile to their co-passengers. Their pent-up hostility erupted into violence and murderous
fury.

Issues:

1. Were the accused – appellants guilty for the charges of 8 counts of murder and 1 attempted
murder?
2. Were the accused – appellants criminally responsible for the deaths of 4 victims whose bodies
were found along the railroad tracks between Cabuyao and Calamba?
3. Were the accused – appellants guilty of multiple frustrated murder based on the injuries of the
other victims?

Held:

1. Yes. The accused – appellants were found guilty, as co-principals, of 8 separate murders and 1
attempted murder. There was no doubt on the twins’ culpability since they were caught in
flagrante delicto. There is no doubt as to the corpus delicti as the twins, from their own
admissions and their testimonies, not to mention the testimonies of Rayel, Aldea, Mapa and the
CIS Investigators, were the authors of the killings. The defense failed to prove that persons,
other than the twins, could have inflicted the stab wounds.

The 8 killings and attempted murder should be treated as separate crimes of murder and
attempted murder qualified be treachery (Art. 14 [16], Revised Penal Code). The unexpected,
surprise assaults perpetrated by the twins upon their co-passengers was a mode of execution
that insured the consummation of the twins’ diabolical objective to butcher their co-passengers.

In addition, the 8 killings and attempted murder were perpetrated by means of different acts.
Hence, they cannot be regarded as constituting a complex crime under Article 48 of the Revised
Penal Code which refers to cases where “a single act constitutes two or more grave felonies, or
when an offense is a necessary means for committing the other”.

2. No. The trial court dismissed the charge for lack of evidence and it also did not adjudge the
victims whose heirs should be indemnified. According to the conjecture, the 4 victims jumped
from the moving train to avoid being killed but in doing so, met their untimely and horrible
deaths.

Article 4 of the RPC provides that “criminal liability shall be incurred by any person committing a
felony although the wrongful act done be different from that which he intended”. The rule is
 that “if a man creates in another man’s mind an immediate sense of danger which causes such
person to escape, and in doing so injures himself, the person who creates such a state of mind is
responsible for the injuries”.

However, no one testified that those 4 victims jumped from the train. The necropsy reports
were not reinforced by testimony showing that the proximate cause of their deaths was the
violent and murderous conduct of the twins.

In short, the absence of eyewitness testimony as to the jumping of the train of the 4 victims
precludes the imputation of criminal responsibility to the apellants for the ghastly deaths of said
victims.

3. No. The trial court dismissed the charge of multiple frustrated murder based on the injuries of
the other victims. The observation of the court is the same as in the previous number. Unlike
Mrs. Mapa, the offended parties involved did not testify on the injuries inflicted on them.