People vs. Otadura G.R. No. L-2154, April 26, 1950 86 Phil. 244 (1950)

Facts: Early in the morning of June 16, 1947, Leon Castro and his wife Apolonia Carreon were shot dead in their house in the City of Ormoc, Leyte. In the afternoon of June 21, 1947, Antonio Otadora was arrested in Ormoc City while preparing to escape to Camotes Island, Cebu. The next day he confessed in an extra-judicial statement (Exhibit 1) wherein he implicated the herein accused and appellant Hilaria Carreon asserting that, with offers of pecuniary gain, the latter had induced him to commit the crime. On June 25, 1947, a complaint for double murder was filed against both defendants in the justice of the peace court of Ormoc, Leyte. Preliminary investigation was waived and the record was forwarded to the court of first instance, where on September 3, 1947, Otadora pleaded guilty with the assistance of counsel. Hilaria Carreon pleaded not guilty, and asked for a separate trial, which was immediately held, with Otadora as the first witness for the prosecution. Prior the commission of the crime, Antonio Otadora met Hilaria Carreon sometime in April, 1947, through Amando Garbo. Hilaria Carreon offered 1/3 of P10,000 plus carabaos, plus P300 to assassinate the victim spouses. She gave him a revolver, a bolo, a pair of trousers of her husband Francisco Galos, a hat, and a flashlight. In August, 1947 in the Court of First Instance of Leyte, Antonio Otadora and Hilaria Carreon were charged with the murder of the spouses Leon Castro and Apolonia Carreon. Otadora pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Denying her guilt, Hilaria Carreon was tried, found guilty and sentenced to death and other accessory penalties. Her attorney filed here a voluminous brief wherein he attempted painstakingly to break down the position of the prosecution and to expound the theory that Antonio Otadora is the only person responsible for the slaying, and that Hilaria Carreon is just “the unfortunate victim of a vicious frame-up concocted against her. The Attorney assailed that the possession by Otadora of the pants of Francisco Galos and his hat. It appears that when Francisco Galos denied ownership of the pants he was ordered to put it on; and the judge found that it fitted him perfectly. This incident gave the defense opportunity for extended argument that the constitutional protection against self-incrimination had been erroneously disregarded.

Issue: Whether the order to Carreon’s husband to put on the pants used by the Otadura during the assassination of the victims constitute a violation of the privilege against self incrimination.

Held: No, Measuring or photographing the party is not within the privilege against self-incrimination. Nor is the removal or replacement of his garments or shoes. Nor is the requirement that the party move his body to enable the foregoing things to be done.