PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. ZALDY BERNARDO Y ESPIRITU, MONROY FLORES Y CORPUZ, JESUS TIME Y CABESA, GILBERT PACPACO Y DIRECTO, GILBERT RAMIREZ Y DUNEGO, DANNY CORTEZ Y DONIETO, ROGELIO ANTONIO Y ABUJUELA, TOMMY CABESA Y VILLEGAS, AND MILA ANDRES GALAMAY, ACCUSED

Ruling

accordingly, sentenced each of them to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole [26] and to jointly and severally indemnify the heirs of Dr. Andres, Sr. the amounts of P75,000.00 as civil indemnity, P100,000.00 as exemplary damages, P100,000.00 for each member of the family as moral damages, and P117,455.00 as actual damages. Similarly, the RTC found all the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Murder in Criminal Case No. 115555-H , and accordingly, sentenced them to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua and to jointly and severally indemnify the heirs of Major Arcega the amounts of P75,000.00 as civil indemnity and P100,000.00 as exemplary damages. [27] The RTC found the confluence of all the elements [28] of the crime of Kidnapping for Ransom with Homicide, noting that the prosecution had established the participation of all the accused in the crime. On the other hand, the defenses of bare denial and alibi were not given weight in light of Dr. Andres, Jr.'s positive identification of the perpetrators of the crime, which were bolstered by the documentary evidence, as well as Antonio's voluntary extrajudicial confession. Likewise, the RTC held that the prosecution had sufficiently proved the elements [29] of the crime of Murder in light of Antonio's narration that Major Arcega was hit at the back of his head with a shovel, which eventually caused his death. [30] All the accused appealed [31] their conviction to the CA. However, Antonio and Ramirez subsequently withdrew [32] their appeal, leaving only Bernardo, Flores , Time, Pacpaco, Cortez, Cabesa, and Galamay to pursue theirs. [33] The CA Ruling In a Dec'ision [34] dated July 31, 2017, the CA affirmed the conviction of Bernardo, Flores, Time, Pacpaco, Cortez, Cabesa, and Galamay but modified the amounts of damages awarded, as follows: ( a ) in Criminal Case No. 115554-H for Kidnapping for Ransom with Homicide, to jointly and severally pay the heirs of Dr. Andres, Sr. the amounts of P100,000.00 as civil indemnity, P100,000.00 as moral damages, P100,000.00 as exemplary damages, and P117,455.00 as actual damages, and; ( b ) in Criminal Case No. 115555-H for Murder, to pay the heirs of Major Arcega the amounts of P100,000.00 as civil indemnity, P100,000.00 as moral damages, P100,000.00 as exemplary damages, and P50,000.00 as temperate damages. [35] Echoing the RTC's findings, the CA found the presence of all the elements of the crimes charged, further noting the lack of ill motive on the part of the prosecution witnesses to falsely implicate the accused. Moreover, it ruled that Antonio's extrajudicial confession was voluntarily made with the assistance of an independent counsel, which was supported by the withdrawal of his appeal. The CA added that the identification of Galamay by Dr. Andres, Jr. had been duly established, having known her personally through several real estate dealings. On the other hand, the bare denials of the accused cannot prevail over th