Rivera v People (2005) case digest

G.R. No. 138553               June 30, 2005

ENRIQUE "TOTOY" RIVERA Y DE GUZMAN, petitioner,
vs.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.

GARCIA, J.

FACTS:

Assailed and sought to be set aside in this petition for review on certiorari are decisions convicting herein petitioner Enrique "Totoy" Rivera of the crime of direct assault, and denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration.

The accused did employ force and seriously resist one Lt. EDWARD M. LEYGO, knowing him to be a policeman, by then and there challenging the latter to a fistfight and grappling and hitting the said policeman on his face, thus injuring him in the process while the latter was actually engaged in the performance of his official duties.

ISSUE: 

Whether or not petitioner is guilty of direct assault.

HELD: 

Yes. Direct assault, a crime against public order, may be committed in two ways: first, by any person or persons who, without a public uprising, shall employ force or intimidation for the attainment of any of the purposes enumerated in defining the crimes of rebellion and sedition; and second, by any person or persons who, without a public uprising, shall attack, employ force, or seriously intimidate or resist any person in authority or any of his agents, while engaged in the performance of official duties, or on occasion of such performance.

Petitioner's case falls under the second mode, which is the more common form of assault and is aggravated when: (a) the assault is committed with a weapon; or (b) when the offender is a public officer or employee; or (c) when the offender lays hand upon a person in authority.