Indispensable Participant

When two or more persons agree to commit a felony and decide to commit it, all of them are criminally liable as co-principals regardless of the degree of their participation because of conspiracy. But how is conspiracy proven? This is the issue raised and answered in this case of Baldo and Berto.

Baldo and Berto are inmates confined in a penal colony serving their sentence for a crime they have committed. They were assigned as domestic helpers of Gorio, the security guard of the colony residing in a house inside the prison compound with his wife Ester and four children.

One evening when only Gorio and his two children Gardo and Ginnie ate dinner in their house attended to by Baldo and Berto, Gorio left the house to attend a bible study at a dormitory in the prison colony.

After Gorio left, Ginnie went to the living room to study. A little while later Berto called from the kitchen and told Ginnie that Gardo was calling for her. Ginnie ignored Berto twice but was later perturbed when she heard “aah, aah” coming from the kitchen located ten meters away from the house. So Ginnie ran to the kitchen and was appalled to see Gardo sprawled on the ground near the kitchen, face down and bloodied. Standing over Gardo were Baldo and Berto each armed with a bolo. The horrified Ginnie then ran back to the house but Baldo overtook her, tied her hands and mouth to prevent her from shouting. Then Baldo dragged Ginnie outside the house toward the mountains as Berto followed later. The three then climbed up the mountain and stayed under a big tree after walking for six hours. Baldo and Berto told Ginnie that they would release her later. Then Berto left Ginnie with Baldo who detained and did not release her for six days. After Baldo left her, Ginnie climbed down the mountain alone until she was found by Nardo the owner of a hut near a river. Nardo then brought and turned over Ginnie to the personnel of the penal colony and police officers.

When Gorio went home and did not find his children, he searched for them at his brother’s house but did not find them there. So they rushed back to the house and proceeded to the dirty kitchen where they saw the bloodied body of Gardo who was brought to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival due to severe hemorrhage secondary to multiple stab wounds and laceration of the neck.

Baldo and Berto were thus charged with crimes of murder and kidnapping for conspiring and confederating together and mutually helping one another in killing Gardo with treachery and evident premeditation, and in kidnapping Ginnie and detaining her for more than five days.

Berto died before he could be arraigned while Baldo pleaded not guilty. He denied the charges and blamed Berto for killing Gardo and for kidnapping and detaining Ginnie to avenge the cruelty of their father Gorio who always maltreated Berto by spanking and boxing him whenever the latter was angry. Baldo said that he was only acting under duress in doing what Berto asked him to do.

But the lower court still convicted Baldo for the crime of murder and sentenced him to death; and for the crime of kidnapping with a sentence of reclusion perpetua as it relied more on the straightforward and unwavering testimony of the 12-year-old Ginnie.

So Baldo elevated the case to the Supreme Court (SC) insisting that he had nothing to do with the crime and blaming Berto.

The SC however still affirmed his conviction for the two crimes committed with some modifications.  The SC found the testimony of Ginnie, the 12-year-old principal witness of the prosecution, more credible as against the bare denial of Baldo which it found to be farcical. The SC also ruled that even if the prosecution failed to adduce evidence that Baldo killed Gardo and kidnapped Ginnie, it has adduced indubitable proof that he conspired with Berto, not only in killing Gardo but also in kidnapping and detaining Ginnie.

Conspiracy may be proven by direct evidence or circumstantial evidence. It may be inferred from the acts of the accused before, during and after the commission of the felonies pointing to a joint purpose and design and community of intent. It is sufficient that at the time of the commission of the offense, all the conspirators had the same purpose and were united in the execution of the felonies. For Baldo to be guilty of murder and/or kidnapping therefore, it is not necessary that he actually attacks or kills Gardo and abducted and detained Ginnie. As long as he and Berto performed specific acts with such closeness and coordination as to unmistakably indicate a common purpose or design in the commission of the crimes, both of them are criminally liable as principals.

In these cases, there is conclusive proof that Baldo conspired with Berto to kill Gardo and kidnap Ginnie as narrated by Ginnie. The evidence of the prosecution was even buttressed by the admissions of Baldo that after releasing Ginnie he went to hide in another city where he was arrested a week later; and that he and Berto had motive to kill Gardo and kidnap Ginnie to avenge the repeated maltreatment and physical abuse of Gorio Sr., the father of the victims.

But even if the killing of Gardo is murder because it was done with treachery since Gardo was only 12 years old, the penalty should be reclusion perpetua only, there being no aggravating circumstance in the commission of the crime. The same is true in the case of the kidnapping of Ginnie. (People vs. Baldogo G.R. 128106-07, January 24, 2003).

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