G.R. No. 265481 - THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. XXX265481, PANFILO DELGADO LADE, JR., REYNALDO LOGRONIO DELA TORRE, JR.,* AND YYY265481,** ACCUSED;PANFILO DELGADO LADE, JR. AND REYNALDO LOGRONIO DELA TORRE, JR., ACCUSED-.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, Panfilo, Reynaldo, XXX265481, and YYY265481 were charged with slight physical injuries and murder committed against Normel and Julius, respectively, before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) docketed as Criminal Case Nos. 62, 240-2007 and 62, 241-2007: Criminal Case No. 62, 240-2007: That on or about October 21, 2007, in the City of xxxxxxxxxxx , Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-mentioned accused, conspiring and mutually helping each other, attacked, assaulted and punched one Normel Lapinig, thereby inflicting upon the latter slight physical injuries, which required the necessary medical attendance for a period of two (2) days and incapacitated the said offended party from performing [his] customary labor for the same period of time, to his damage and prejudice. Criminal Case No. 62, 241-2007: That on or about October 21, 2007, in the City of xxxxxxxxxxx , Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-mentioned accused, armed with a bladed weapon, conspiring and mutually helping each other, with intent to kill and taking advantage of superior strength , wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously attacked, assaulted and stabbed to death with the said weapon one Julius Bacolod Caramonte, hitting and inflicting upon the latter fatal wounds which caused his instantaneous death, thereby causing damage and prejudice to the heirs of said Julius Bacolod Caramonte. [6] (Emphasis supplied) At the arraignment, XXX265481 admitted the crimes while Panfilo, Reynaldo, and YYY265481 pleaded not guilty to the charges. The RTC then issued a judgment of conviction against XXX265481. Trial then ensued. Panfilo, Reynaldo, and YYY265481 denied any participation in the commission of the crimes. Panfilo and Reynaldo claimed that on October 20, 2007, they were hired to post campaign materials for a barangay elections candidate from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. YYY265481 was unable to join Panfilo and Reynaldo because he had a fever. Thereafter, Panfilo and Reynaldo went to the candidate's house for a meeting. At 10:00 p.m., they went home and stayed in their respective houses until 6:00 a.m. the following day. The relatives of Panfilo, Reynaldo, and YYY265481 corroborated these accounts. [7] On February 6, 2019, the RTC found that Panfilo, Reynaldo, and YYY265481 conspired to commit slight physical injuries for mauling Normel and murder for killing Julius. The RTC gave credence to Normel's positive identification of Panfilo, Reynaldo, and YYY265481 as the perpetrators of the crimes, [8] thus: Positive identification prevails over alibi since the latter can easily be fabricated and is inherently unreliable. We have likewise consistently assigned less probative weight to a defense of alibi when it is corroborated by relatives since we have established in jurisprudence that, in order for corroboration to be credible, the same must be offered preferably by disinterested witnesses. Defense opted to rely on