G.R. No.

12607 September 27, 1917

THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. RUFINO PARRO, defendant-appellant.
(p. 500, Reyes)
FACTS
The defendant and appellant had had trouble with his brother Silverio Parro regarding family
property by reason of which personal enmity had been engendered between them. With this as
the motive, the defendant procured an ignorant man by the name of Gabino Calindatas to kill
the brother and grandniece of the defendant for a reward of P60 and a promise to maintain the
family of Calindatas could not be prosecuted after the expiration of three years. Calindatas,
following the instructions of the defendant, on the night of April 16, 1913, waylaid the brother
Silverio Parro and the small girl Paciencia Sendencia in an uninhabited place on the seashore
and killed them with a dagger. Calindatas then reported to the defendant that his orders had
been executed, whereupon the defendant sent men to bury the bodies in the sea.
ISSUE
W/N the qualifying circumstance of in consideration of a price, reward, or promise under Art
248, par. 2, attended the crime
RULING
These facts constitute murder by inducement for a price and make the defendant guilty as
principal in the commission of the crime. There also concur the aggravating circumstances of
evident premeditation, relationship, and commission in the night time and in an uninhabited
place (and possibly others), offset by no mitigating circumstance. The trial court sentenced the
defendant and appellant to cadena perpetua, to indemnify the heirs of the deceased Silverio
Parro and Paciencia Sendencia each in the among of P500, and to pay the costs. Agreeable to
the recommendation of the Attorney-General and following the mandatory precepts of the law,
we are forced to eliminate from this judgment so much as provided for life imprisonment and in
lieu thereof to sentence the defendant and appellant Rufino Parro to be hanged until dead in
accordance with law, with the costs of this instance.