You're currently signed in as:
User

PEOPLE v. ALEJANDRO SURILLA Y AYENG

This case has been cited 3 times or more.

2001-12-05
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.
Third, immediately after the incident, accused-appellant fled to Batangas and hid there for one and a half (1½) months.[64] Flight strongly indicates a guilty mind and betrays the existence of a guilty conscience.[65] Indeed, flight is an implied admission of guilt and accused-appellant's act of fleeing to Batangas after shooting the victims cannot but betray his guilt and his desire to evade responsibility therefor.[66] Certainly, a righteous individual will not cower in fear and unabashedly admit the killing at the earliest possible opportunity if he were morally justified in doing so. If the accused-appellant honestly believed that his acts constituted self-defense against the unlawful aggression of the victim, he should have reported the incident to the police instead of escaping and avoiding the authorities.[67]
2001-04-03
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.
Accordingly, accused-appellant should be sentenced to the lesser penalty of reclusion perpetua, not because of technicality but because of his basic right to due process as guaranteed by the Constitution.[23] Simple rape is punishable only with reclusion perpetua,[24] which is imposed regardless of any mitigating or aggravating circumstance.[25] In addition, though several rapes were proven during trial, only one conviction can prosper since only one rape is charged in the information;[26] namely, the one committed on May 27, 1996.