Article 301
What is an inhabited house, public building, or building dedicated to religious worship and their
dependencies.
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
VS.
FELIXBERTO VENTURA AND DOMINGO VICENTE,
DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
G.R. NO. 13715 JANUARY 22, 1919.
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
VS.
FELIXBERTO VENTURA AND DOMINGO
VICENTE, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
ISSUE:
WHETHER OR NOT ACCUSED COMMITTED ROBBERY IN A DEPENDENCY OF AN
INHABITED HOUSE.
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
VS.
FELIXBERTO VENTURA AND DOMINGO VICENTE, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
On the night of August 18,1917, or early in the morning of the following day, the 4 defendants, having previously and
successively joined each other on the initiative of Felixberto Ventura, went, at a late hour that night to the vicinity of the
house and small store of Calixto Dizon in barrio Talibao, Calasiao, and while the defendants Apostol and Carcha
remained outside in the street to keep watch, by arrangement of Ventura and Vicente, the latter proceeded to open a hole
in the inclosure or bamboo partition of the ground floor of the said house.
After the opening had been made they entered the store; after a while they came out of it, Felixberto Ventura carrying a
bundle of cloth, and Domingo Vicente a basket containing matches, cakes of soap, and other articles, which they had
stolen from the inside of the said store and which were worth all together P67.
Thereupon, one of the two last named, before leaving, gave to Pio Apostol a two-peso bill, with the instruction that he
should tell no body of what he had seen; but Ramon Carcha, on seeing what had happened, became frightened and ran
away.
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
VS.
FELIXBERTO VENTURA AND DOMINGO VICENTE, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
Ruling:
The Court ruled that a robbery was committed in dependency of inhabited house.
This crime is classified in the last paragraph of Article 508 of the Penal Code as one of robbery in a dependency of an inhabited house,
and is punished with considerable severity for the reason that the inmates of the house living on the upper floor might be more exposed to
personal danger if, on becoming aware of the robbery, they should appear to defend their property.
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
VS.
FELIXBERTO VENTURA AND DOMINGO VICENTE, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
Elements of Dependencies of an inhabited house, Application
public building or building dedicated to religious
worship:
1. Must be contiguous to the building; The small store in which the robbery was committed, located
2. Must have an interior entrance connected therewith; on the ground floor of the house belonging to the owner of the
3. Must form part of the whole. store, should, for the purposes of the definition of the criminal
act and for those of the penalty applicable thereto, be deemed
a dependency of the house, not only because the house and
the store form one single whole, there being no partition or
wall between them, but also because, on the contrary, such
communication or connection does exist; for the owners or
inmates of the house, in going down its main stairway and
passing through the lot of the house, enter the store through its
door of ingress which is fastened with a padlock.
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE,
VS.
FELIXBERTO VENTURA AND DOMINGO VICENTE, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
Ruling:
In the commission of the crime the aggravating circumstance of nocturnity was undoubtedly present, inasmuch as, without the darkness
and the silence of the night — on which occasion the malefactors knew that the inmates of the house, of which the said store is a
dependency, and the other residents of the locality were asleep and at rest — they would not have dared to perpetrate the robbery by
means of the opening which they made in the enclosure or wall of the store, which acts they undoubtedly would not have ventured to
perform in broad daytime.
Hence, Felixberto Ventura and Domingo Vicente, jointly and severally with Ramon Carcha, are ordered to return the stolen articles, or to
pay an indemnity for their value, and, in case of insolvency, they shall suffer the corresponding subsidiary imprisonment.
