G.R. No. 223103 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. FLORENTINO LABUGUEN Y FRANCISCO ALIAS "TINONG," AND ROMEO ZUÑIGA[1] Y PILARTA, ACCUSED-.

Ruling

accordingly pleaded not guilty. Accused Rodrigo Macalinao (Macalinao) remains at large. After the termination of the pre-trial conference, trial on the merits ensued. The Facts: The facts as summarized by the CA are as follows: On 3 January 2002 at about 7:30 in the evening, while spouses Manuel Padre and Nenita Padre and their two daughters, Rhoda and Rachel, were having dinner at their home at Villaruz, Delfin Albano, Isabela, five (5) men suddenly barged in, one holding a firearm and one with a bonnet with [a] hole showing the eyes only. Labuguen, [sic] entered first and pulled Rachel into the comfort room (CR), together with her mother Nenita and sister Rhoda, who in turn were pulled by Macalinao and by an unidentified man respectively. Manuel, on the other hand, was brought to the store by an unidentified man. Nenita was then brought to [the] Padre's store while Rhoda and Rachel were left in the comfort room. A few minutes later, Labuguen brought Rachel out of the comfort room and she saw Zuniga, standing by the door of the store and Macalinao, standing guard at the CR door and holding a gun. Upon reaching the dining area, Labuguen stabbed Rachel with a small knife on the left breast and then Macalinao hit her on the forehead with the butt of a gun, causing her to fall down. Then Labuguen strangled her and as she could not remove his hands off her neck, she played dead. As soon as Labuguen stood up and left, together with the other perpetrators, she immediately ran for help to their neighbor Patricio Respicio (Respicio), who[,] together with Alex Rodriguez, brought her to the hospital. At the hospital, she learned from her relatives that her parents and sister died on the night of 3 January 2002. Dr. Gambalan treated her serious injury on the left chest and less serious wounds on the head and abrasions on the neck. Meanwhile, after Manuel closed the store and returned to the house, Zuniga, upon the instruction of Joel Albano (Albano), hit [Manuel hard] on the forehead, causing the latter to fall. Eric Madday, one of the five men and who also used to work for Manuel Padre, boxed Nenita on the abdomen and when Zuniga saw the chopping knife, he stabbed her at the back. On the other hand, Rudy Macalinao shot Rhoda when she tried to run away. On the belief that all members of the Padre family were dead. the group proceeded to Albano's house, where Zuniga learned that they got the money from the Padre family. He saw Albano [give] a bundle of money to Rudy Macalinao. He left Delfin Albano, [sic] in Isabela and went into hiding in Gerona, Tarlac on 7 January 2002. Upon learning of the incident from Kagawad Alex Rodriguez, the police investigators went to the hospital on 4 January 2002 and interviewed Rachel, who identified two of the perpetrators - Labuguen, who happen[ed] to be Padre family's longtime neighbor and who used to work for them, and Macalinao, also one of the victims' helpers. At that time, she purposely withheld the name of Romeo Zunig