People vs. Dasig

Acts committed in furtherance of rebellion, such as the killing of a person in authority, are deemed absorbed in the single crime of rebellion and cannot be the basis for a separate charge for murder or direct assault.

Rodrigo Dasig was charged with Murder with Direct Assault for the killing of Pfc. Redempto Manatad, a police officer on traffic duty in Mandaue City on August 4, 1987. The prosecution alleged that Dasig, together with Edwin Nuñez and others, conspired to shoot the victim. Dasig and Nuñez were later apprehended in a suspected NPA safehouse. Dasig gave an extrajudicial confession admitting his membership in the NPA's "sparrow unit" and participation in the killing.

• The Incident: On August 4, 1987, Pfc. Redempto Manatad was on traffic duty in Mandaue City. A group of eight suspicious persons, including Edwin Nuñez, was observed. Two members approached Manatad, while others engaged his colleague, Pfc. Catamora, in a gunfight. Shots were fired at Manatad, who fell to the ground. Two persons then took his gun and fired at him again to ensure his death before the group fled.
• Apprehension and Confession: On August 16, 1987, police conducted surveillance on a suspected NPA safehouse. Dasig and Nuñez were seen escaping. Dasig was shot and captured. A .38 caliber revolver was confiscated from him. At the hospital on August 19, 1987, Dasig was interrogated by M/Sgt. Ariston Ira. He was assisted by Atty. Fortunato Parawan, provided by the military after Dasig agreed to his services. Dasig confessed in Cebuano, admitting he and his group (the "sparrow unit") killed Manatad. The confession was signed and sworn to before Asst. Fiscal Salvador Solima.
• Defense Claims: Dasig later claimed the confession was inadmissible, alleging he was sick during interrogation and that Atty. Parawan, a known anti-communist, did not actively assist him.

• Inadmissible Confession: Petitioner argued the extrajudicial confession was legally defective, obtained while he was sick, and taken with the assistance of a counsel (Atty. Parawan) who was not his own choice and whose law firm represented AFP officers, thus failing to provide genuine protection.
• Wrong Crime Charged: Petitioner contended that assuming conspiracy, his acts constituted the political crime of simple rebellion, not murder with direct assault.

• Confession Valid: Respondent countered that the confession was voluntary, made with the assistance of counsel after proper constitutional warnings, and subscribed before a fiscal who certified its voluntariness.
• Proper Crime is Murder: The Solicitor General initially agreed with the appellant that the crime was rebellion, not murder with direct assault, as the killing was in furtherance of the NPA's subversive ends.

• Admissibility of Confession: Whether the extrajudicial confession of appellant Rodrigo Dasig was admissible in evidence.
• Proper Crime: Whether the appellant should be convicted of Murder with Direct Assault or simple rebellion.

• Admissibility of Confession: The extrajudicial confession was admissible. The prosecution established it was given voluntarily, with the appellant assisted by counsel of his choice (Atty. Parawan), after being informed of his constitutional rights, and subscribed before a fiscal. The appellant's bare allegations of coercion and ineffective assistance were self-serving and unsubstantiated.
• Proper Crime: The crime committed was rebellion, not murder with direct assault. The killing of a person in authority, when committed by a member of a rebel group like the NPA's sparrow unit as an act in furtherance of its objective to overthrow the government, is absorbed into the crime of rebellion. It cannot be prosecuted as a separate felony.

• Absorption Principle in Rebellion — Complex crimes or felonies committed as a necessary means or in furtherance of the crime of rebellion are deemed absorbed therein. Rebellion is a vast movement, and acts like killing a person in authority, though punishable separately, are considered mere components or ingredients of the rebellion when done to promote its subversive ends.
• Admissibility of Extrajudicial Confession — A confession is presumed voluntary and admissible. The burden is on the accused to prove it was obtained through violence, intimidation, threat, or promise of reward. Compliance with constitutional rights (right to counsel, right to be informed) and subscription before a fiscal who certifies its voluntariness creates a strong presumption of regularity.

• "The crime of rebellion consists of may acts. It is a vast movement of men and a complex net of intrigues and plots. Acts committed in furtherance of rebellion though crimes in themselves are deemed absorbed in one single crime of rebellion."
• "The settled jurisprudence on the matter is that a confession is admissible until the accused successfully proves that it was given as a result of violence, intimidation, threat or promise of reward or leniency."

• People v. Parojinog, G.R. No. 95850, 203 SCRA 673 — Cited to support the principle that an accused who does not object to the counsel provided during investigation and later subscribes to the confession cannot belatedly claim the counsel was not of his own choice.
• Enrile v. Amin, G.R. No. 93335, 189 SCRA 573 — Cited for the doctrine that acts committed in furtherance of rebellion are absorbed into that single crime.
• People v. Mangallan, 160 SCRA 116 — Applied by analogy where an NPA member's killing of an informer was held to be rebellion, not murder.

• Article 135, Revised Penal Code — Defines and penalizes the crime of rebellion. The Court applied this provision to impose the penalty of prision mayor and a fine.
• Section 12(1), Article III, 1987 Constitution — Guarantees the rights of a person under custodial investigation to remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel. The Court found these rights were observed in obtaining Dasig's confession.
• Section 2, Republic Act No. 4203 (Indeterminate Sentence Law) — Cited to state that the law does not apply to persons convicted of rebellion.

• Chief Justice Andres R. Narvasa
• Justice Teodoro R. Padilla
• Justice Florenz D. Regalado