Since the killing was not attended by any circumstance qualifying it to murder, appellant should only be held liable for homicide. The penalty for homicide under Article 249 of the Revised Penal Code is reclusion temporal. There is no mitigating or aggravating circumstance, hence, the imposable penalty is reclusion temporal, in its medium period. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the maximum term of the indeterminate penalty shall be the medium period of reclusion temporal, while the minimum term is anywhere within the range of prision mayor, the penalty next lower to that of reclusion temporal. In line with People vs. Casingal, appellant should suffer the indeterminate penalty of ten (10) years of prision mayor as minimum to seventeen (17) years and four (4) months of reclusion temporal, medium as maximum. [G.R. No. 111541. December 17, 1996]
