G.R. No. 118504 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. JOEL SOL, ACCUSED-.

Ruling

WHEREFORE, finding the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the criminal offense of Murder as charged in the Information, with one mitigating circumstance attendant in the commission of the offense, that of voluntary surrender, and the penalty imposable consisting of one divisible penalty of reclusion temporal and two indivisible penalties, that of reclusion perpetua to death, the accused is hereby sentenced to suffer a determinate penalty of reclusion perpetua; to indemnify the heirs of the victim Romeo Paladar, the sum of P50,000.00 as actual damages; P30,000.00 as moral damages; and P10,000.00 as exemplary damages; forfeiture of the weapon used in the commission of the offense in favor of the State; to suffer the accessory penalties imposed by law and to pay the costs. Hence, this appeal. The Facts Version of the Prosecution The trial court summarized the facts in this wise: [6] It was a Sunday, May 24, 1992, the victim Romeo Paladar and his daughter Rafaela Dorothy Paladar, 8 years old then at the time, were on their way home. As this child of the victim declared, they were walking together following a human foot trail, with her ahead, followed by her father and then the accused. All of a sudden there was a loud enough outcry of her father saying: Aray! and when she turned her back she saw the accused Joel Sol stabbed (sic) her father at the back. She was not afraid though of the incident but she had to cry. The weapon used by the accused was a stainless knife. A series of stabbings ensued while the victim fell with his back on the ground. All that she could do was simply to run away, crying. Then only to know later that her father died because of this incident. (TSN, January 4, 1993, pp. 3-11, and May 20, 1993-morning hearing, pp. 15-21). x x x (T)wo weeks before this x x x incident x x x, the accused and the victim complained to the barangay captain having been mauled, but she did not know the result. (TSN, January 4, 1993, pp. 13-14) The barangay captain, Isabelito Lucero of Barangay Bonawon, Siaton, Negros Oriental, corroborated the testimony of this daughter of the victim by telling the Court that two weeks before the incident the victim complained to him that the accused mauled him and wanted the accused summoned before him x x x which he did. The accused was summoned in the morning of May 24, 1992 for a conference, at 10:00 oclock. Both protagonist (sic) appeared. The victim however, only requested for a reimbursement of the amount spent by him in treating his injuries which was a little over P200.00. But the accused refused. In the evening of the same day the stabbing incident occurred wherein the accused was allegedly the perpetrator of the offense. (TSN, May 20, 1993-afternoon hearing, pp. 2-11) x x x x x x x x x The wounds of the victim were examined by the attending physician of the Siaton District Hospital, x x x Dr. Mitylene B. Tan, per her postmortem examination indicating the following wounds: 1st: Lacerated wound, a