G.R. No. 177134 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. RACHEL ANGELES Y NAVAL ALIAS RUSSEL ANGELES Y CABAL. - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the accused, Rachel Angeles, is hereby convicted of the crime of murder under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code and sentenced to suffer reclusion perpetua with all the accessory penalties provided by law and to pay the costs. The accused is further ordered to pay the legal heirs of the victim moral and nominal damages in the respective sums of P200,000.00 and P70,000.00, plus compensation for the loss of the life of the victim in the sum of P50,000.00 with interest thereon at the legal rate of 6% per annum from this date until fully paid. [6] (Underscoring supplied) This Court, following People v. Mateo, [7] referred the case, by Resolution of September 15, 2004, [8] to the Court of Appeals where it was docketed as CA-G.R. CR-H.C. No. 01612. In his Brief, [9] appellant faults the trial court in: I. ... CONVICTING [APPELLANT] OF MURDER WHEN THE LATTER'S GUILT WAS NOT PROVEN BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT. II ...CONVICTING [APPELLANT] OF MURDER IN THE ABSENCE OF THE QUALIFYING CIRCUMSTANCE OF TREACHERY . III ... NOT TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCE OF VOLUNTARY SURRENDER IN IMPOSING THE PENALT Y. [10] (Underscoring supplied) The appellate court affirmed with modification the trial court's decision, disposing as follows: WHEREFORE, the Decision appealed from is MODIFIED by DELETING the award of nominal damages in the amount of P70,000.00 and ORDERING accused-appellant Rachel Angeles y Naval to pay the heirs of Michael Coligado the amount of P25,000.00 as temperate damages , REDUCING the award of moral damages from P200,000.00 to P50,000.00 and AFFI RMING the same in all other respects. (Emphasis and capitalization in the original; underscoring supplied) In deleting the trial court's award of nominal damages, the appellate court held that nominal damages are awarded only when no actual damages resulted or none were shown. In the present case, however, the appellate court noted that the family of the victim made a downpayment of P10,000 to the Davao Funeral Home as part of the funeral expenses, and while an Agreement [11] between the mother of the victim and the funeral home for funeral expenses and interment in the amount of P38,000 was presented, it was not established that the total amount of P38,000 was actually paid. [12] Hence, the appellate court's award of temperate damages instead of nominal damages. Hence, the present appeal. For alibi to prosper, it is not enough for an accused to prove that he was somewhere else when the crime was committed. He must prove that he could not have been physically present at the locus criminis or in its immediate vicinity, and the same must be supported by credible corroboration, preferably from disinterested witnesses who would swear that they saw or were with the accused somewhere else when the crime was being committed. [13] Appellant's mother's corroboration of his alibi does not impress. For while she declared that when she went up the second floor of their house to sleep at a