JOEL M. SANVICENTE v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES G.R. No. 132081. (Digested)

JOEL M. SANVICENTE v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINESG.R. No. 132081. November 26, 2002.YNARES-SANTIAGO, J.

Facts:

·         Petitioner was charged with homicide for the killing of one Dennis Wong y Chua. after the latter allegedly attempted to rob him of a large amount of cash which he had just withdrawn from the automatic teller machine.

·         Responding policemen found the lifeless body of the victim

·         police authorities located petitioner’s car and took custody.

·         Petitioner’s counsel, Atty. Leonardo A. Valmonte, turned over to Police Station 9 petitioner’s .45 caliber Mark IV pistol bearing Serial No. 5504095. He also wrote a letter addressed to P/Major Antonio Diaz, which reads, among others, the narration of what happened during the unfortunate event and letter shall serve as a voluntary surrender, without admission of guilt on the part of the accused.

·         Petitioner begged leave to file a demurrer to evidence, which was granted by the trial court. 8 Hence, on August 29, 1996, petitioner filed a Motion To Dismiss (On Demurrer to Evidence) which was granted by the Court.

·         Prosecution filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals. Denied via a resolution.

Issue:

     

 Held:

      The crux of the problem lies in the confusion between the due execution of a piece of documentary evidence vis-a-vis the truth of its contents. Likewise at the core of the dilemma is the fundamental distinction between an admission and a confession. The prosecution maintains that the letter, Exhibit LL, constituted a confession and argues thus: "What better evidence is there to positively identify the perpetrator of the crime than the confession of the petitioner himself, freely and voluntarily given, assisted by counsel?" According to the prosecution, this "extrajudicial confession constitutes the strongest evidence of guilt."

An admission is defined under Rule 130, Section 26 of the Rules of Court as the act, declaration or omission of a party as to a relevant fact. A confession, on the other hand, under Rule 130, Section 33 is the declaration of an accused acknowledging his guilt of the offense charged or any offense necessarily included therein.chanrob1es virtua1 1aw 1ibrary

More particularly, a confession "is a declaration made at any time by a person, voluntarily and without compulsion or inducement stating or acknowledging that he had committed or participated in the commission of a crime. The term admission, on the other hand, is usually applied in criminal cases to statements of fact by the accused which do not directly involve an acknowledgment of the guilt of the accused or of criminal intent to commit the offense with which he is charged." 

In short, in a confession, an accused acknowledges his guilt; while there is no such acknowledgment of guilt in an admission.  Only recently in People v. Licayan,  the Court distinguished "confession" and "admission" in this wise:

A confession is an acknowledgment in express terms, by a party in a criminal case, of his guilt of the crime charged, while an admission is a statement by the accused, direct or implied, of facts pertinent to the issue, and tending, in connection with proof of other facts, to prove his guilt. In other words, an admission is something less than a confession, and is but an acknowledgment of some fact or circumstance which in itself is insufficient to authorize a conviction, and which tends only to establish the ultimate fact of guilt. (Emphasis ours) 

letter dated June 14, 1995 is an admission, not a confession, because of the unmistakable qualification in its last paragraph that —

For all intense (sic) & purposes, this letter shall serve as a voluntary surrender, without admission of guilt on the part of my client. . . . (Emphasis and Italics supplied).