G.R. No. 102062 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. CAMILO FERRER AND ROMEO REYES, ACCUSED-.

Ruling

Accordingly, Sgt. Villegas filed an amended complaint naming therein as accused, aside from Agner and Galasi, "Romy Reyes, Milo Perel (sic), Doming Doe, John Doe (sic), Peter Doe and Bernard Doe." [15] On August 6, 1976, the Municipal Court of Quirino [16] ordered the issuance of warrants for the arrest of all the accused but dismissed the case as regards Galasi who had died. [17] After due investigation, the aforequoted Information was filed. The Defense: Denial and Alibi In their defense, appellants interposed denial and alibi, swearing that they were both at home when the crime was committed. Merlita Cajalne, the wife of Reyes, testified that April 27, 1976 was their wedding anniversary, having been married on April 27, 1971. After taking their supper with their five children at 6:00 oclock that night, they went to bed. She woke up at 6:00 oclock the following morning and found her husband still asleep. She was sure that her husband did not leave home during the night because she got up six (6) times that night to answer the call of nature. [18] Appellant Reyes testified that he did not even go out of his home in Aga, Delfin Albano, Isabela that fateful day, much less that evening. He denied having been to Vintar. He was able to go to Quirino only when he was arrested. The police of Quirino took him from the municipal jail of Delfin Albano. They rode a jeep from Delfin Albano up to Santiago from where they walked to Quirino. According to Reyes, Agner implicated him in the murder case because he had not paid Agner for services rendered in planting and harvesting his (Reyes) palay. [19] For his part, appellant Ferrer, who used to farm the land of Antonio Gambalan in Aga, Magsaysay (now Delfin Albano), testified that he could not have gone to Vintar on April 27, 1976 because his sister, Margarita, was lying in state at their home. She had died at dusk of April 26, 1976 after she failed to deliver the child she was carrying. [20] Pedro Ferrer, appellants father, testified that he and his son Camilo, had gone to bed at the same time in the evening of "a certain day in April, 1976" when they served coffee to some visitors who attended the wake of his dead daughter, Margarita. On cross-examination, however, Pedro Ferrer declared that on that day, they were celebrating the death anniversary of their grandmother. [21] Appellant Ferrers 70-year-old mother, Quintina Francisco, could not remember the date of the death of her daughter Margarita. However, she insisted that on April 27, 1976, her son Camilo was in their house. On cross-examination, she declared that her daughter Margarita died in the early evening of April 27, 1976. [22] As stated above, the trial court held appellants guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of murder. It found that of the two qualifying circumstances alleged in the information, namely, evident premeditation and treachery, only the latter was duly proven. Evident premeditation had no factual basis whereas treachery