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People of the Phil vs. Emerito Abella

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiffs-appellee, vs. (1) EMERITO ABELLA alias Kulot, (2) GORGONIO A?OVER, (3) RODOLFO APOLINARIO, (4) MAXIMO APOLONIAS, (5) DOMINGO ASTROLOGIA alias Blackie, (6) JOSE BARBAJO, (7) PERFECTO BILBAR alias Porping, (8) CATAL

G.R. No. L-32205 | 1979-08-31

D E C I S I O N

AQUINO, J:

This case is about the massacre of certain prisoners in the Davao Penal Colony. It was a reprise of a similar riot which occurred in the national penitentiary at Muntinlupa, Rizal on Sunday morning, February 16, 1958 (People vs. De los Santos, L-19067-68, July 30, 1965, 14 SCRA 702).

The record reveals that in the morning of Sunday, June 27, 1965 Numeriano Reynon, a prisoner-trustee, was performing guard duty at the jailhouse of the penal colony in Panabo, Davao del Norte.

The jailhouse (bartolina) was a two-story building whose second floor was divided by a corridor or passageway one and half meters wide. On...