G.R. No. 177769 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. JONAS BUSTAMANTE.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, the deceased during his lifetime is even afraid of being injected. It is admitted however that the deceased's body was embalmed. Epifanio cannot understand why in the trial for the killing of his son, his daughter-in-law Josefa and her brother chose to be on the side of the accused. Complainant Epifanio Tandog also told the Court that because of Sergio's sudden death he suffered sleepless nights and worries that cannot be paid even by P500,000.00. He paid his lawyer P20,000.00 as acceptance fee, P1000.00 per appearance fees plus 25% of the damages that may be awarded. That his late son earned from his cattle trading business P10,000.00 per week, and 100 sacks of palay per harvest from his rice farm. Dr. Vito Inting, MHO of Catigbian, took the witness-stand to attest to his Postmortem findings, that the victim Sergio Tandog succumbed to irreversible shock, secondary to brain trauma and hemorrhage, due to a gunshot wound at the back portion of his head. He wanted to perform an autopsy of the victim's body to recover the slug and determine the caliber of the firearm, but Josefa Tandog, the victim's wife and then Catigbian Ex-Mayor Aurelio Dinorog, Josefa's brother, and victim's brother-in-law, prevented him from conducting the autopsy. Dr. Inting found it strange because this was the first time that he was prevented to perform an autopsy in a medico-legal case. Thus, the deceased was buried without any autopsy. The fact of death of the victim Sergio Tandog is further confirmed by his Certificate of Death on record. Immediately after the incident Jonas Bustamante left Bohol. It was only after (5) months that accused was arrested by elements of the Catigbian police on May 17, 1999 at Capalong, Davao del Norte. The prosecution also presented documents, showing that accused Jonas Bustamante has a criminal record of conviction for Direct Assault. x x x x Culled from the record, the defense' contention may be capsulized as follows: Accused Jonas Bustamante denied the charge against him. He claims that he has no participation and has no motive to kill the deceased whom he doesn't know. At the time Sergio was shot in the yard of his residence at Causwagan, Catigbian, Bohol, accused was at home with his family in Sitio Pandulian, Capalong, Davao del Norte. Although born in Causwagan, Catigbian, Bohol, accused and his parents migrated to Capalong, Davao del Norte in 1983 when the accused was 12 years old, and finished Fourth Grade at Causwagan Elem. School. Even before his marriage in 1992, accused was already working with Stanphilco the banana plantation of Dole Phil. Inc. His employment is recorded in the company's pay Roll and was required to submit Daily Time Record (DTR). However, after giving his latest DTR to SPO1 Ibarra, the latter did not return it to him anymore. Since his migration to Davao del Norte, accused came back to Bohol only twice. First in 1989, to secure his Birth Certificate, and Second on October 4, 1998 when he came to Cau