G.R. Nos. 100453-54 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. VIRGILIO BATULAN AND RODULFO BATULAN, ACCUSED. VIRGILIO BATULAN, ACCUSED-.

Ruling

WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, the Court finds the accused Virgilio Batulan GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crimes of double murder and frustrated murder and he is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalties of imprisonment of cadena perpetua for the killings of Conrado Gonzales and Adolfo Gonzales and to pay the heirs of both victims, through their respective widows, the sum of P50,000.00 each as indemnity for the death and another sum of P20,000.00 each as moral damages and, in the case of frustrated murder, to suffer the indeterminate penalty of imprisonment of, after applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, EIGHT (8) YEARS and TWENTY-ONE (21) DAYS of prision correccional maximum, as minimum, to TEN (10) YEARS of prision mayor, as maximum, to pay Nicolas Gonzales, Sr. the sum of P54,872.21 as actual damages and the sum of P20,000.00 as moral damages and, in both cases, to pay the sum of P 10,000.00 as attorneys fee to the private prosecutor and the costs. As the other accused Rodulfo Batulan is still at large and, in order that these cases shall not remain as pending in the records of this Court, let these cases be archived and to be revived as soon as said accused shall be arrested. Issue again alias warrant of arrest for accused Rodulfo Batulan to be returned only after said accused shall be arrested. Transmit the complete records of these cases to the Honorable Supreme Court for automatic review." [7] Appellant now comes before this Court seeking the reversal of the aforequoted judgment, contending that the court a quo erred: "1. In finding that the prosecution witnesses positively identified the accused as the perpetrators of the crime they were charged with; 2. In finding that the prosecution witnesses had amply proven that accused-appellant Virgilio Batulan had motive to kill victims Conrado Gonzales and Adolfo Gonzales and wound victim Nicolas Gonzales, Sr.; 3. In convicting the accused-appellant Virgilio Batulan under the two informations." [8] Appellant contended in his first assignment of error that it was impossible for prosecution witness Nicolas Gonzales, Sr. to see who shot them since the gunshot he suffered rendered him unconscious. Appellant further argues that said witness executed two affidavits, in the first of which he claimed that he suddenly heard a burst of gunfire, and the next thing he knew he was hit and rendered unconscious. It was supposedly only in the second affidavit that the witness alleged that it was Virgilio and Rodulfo Batulan who shot him and his sons. Appellant further theorized that the position of the three victims during the incident was such that it would be impossible for them to see the assailants, who were shooting from behind and on the left side of the victims. In determining the veracity of the aforestated contestations of appellant, it would be helpful and desirable to consider the testimony of the medico-legal examiner, Dr. Tomas Refe of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)