G.R. No. 115946 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. ALVIN

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the Court finds the accused ALVIN NIALDA Y LUGO GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt as principal of the crime of Murder, as this felony is defined and penalized by the provisions of Article 248, par. (1) of the Revised Penal Code and there being no modifying circumstances proven to either aggravate or mitigate his liability, hereby sentences said accused to suffer a penalty of RECLUSION PERPETUA (Life imprisonment); to pay to the heirs of the deceased Bayani Digma the following sums of money: P55,000.00 as actual damages, P50,000.00, by way of indemnity for the latters death; P25,000.00, as moral damages, and P25,000.00 as exemplary damages; and to pay the costs. The background of this case is as follows: In an information, [2] dated May 7, 1993, the Assistant Provincial Prosecutor alleged: That on or about the 7th day of September 1992, at Barangay Kabulusan, Municipality of Gen. E. Aguinaldo, province of Cavite, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, with intent to kill, being then armed with a bolo, with treachery and evident premeditation and taking advantage of his superior strength, did, then and there, wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously, attack, assault and hack the person of Bayani R. Digma inflicting upon him mortal wound which caused his subsequent death, to the damage and prejudice of his legal heirs. CONTRARY TO LAW. Accused-appellant pleaded not guilty, whereupon trial commenced. First to testify as witness for the prosecution was SPO2 Mario Rolle, of the General Aguinaldo Police in Cavite. He testified [3] that in the evening of September 7, 1992 following report of a stabbing incident in Barangay Castaños Cerca (actually at Barangay Kabulusan), he and SPO1 Evangelista and SPO Renato Castillo went to the place to investigate. They arrived at the scene at around 9:00 p.m. and found the victim, Bayani Digma, seriously wounded. They took him aboard a mobile car to the Alfonso Doctors Hospital. SPO2 Rolle said he noticed that Bayani Digma could speak a little, but he (Rolle) was nonetheless able to ask Digma, Sino ang tumaga sa iyo at ano ang pangalan ? (What is the name of the person who stabbed you?) According to SPO2 Rolle, Digma answered, Alvin Visaya. (Alvin Visaya is the description of accused-appellant.) Rolle put in writing [4] Digmas answers to his questions. Digma then signed the statement by affixing his right thumbmark with the use of his blood. The statement was introduced in evidence as Exh. A and his thumbmark as Exh. A-1. Barangay Captain Aligio Malimban and SPO Renato Castillo acted as witnesses to the execution of the statement. Bayani Digma was later transferred to the De La Salle University Medical Center (UMC) in Dasmariñas, Cavite because of inadequate facilities at the Alfonso Doctors Hospital. Digma was treated at the UMC by Dr. Renato C. Ocampo, who found Digma to have suffered seven hacking wounds on the chest, in the neck, and in the right a