G.R. No. 129926 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. NOLE ZATE Y MATANOG, ACCUSED-. D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, (the) court hereby finds accused Nole Zate y Matanog guilty beyond reasonable doubt, as principal, with (sic) the crime of Murder, qualified by treachery, defined and penalized under Art. 248 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by section 6 (1) of R.A. 7659, as charged in the information and there being present voluntary surrender, without any aggravating circumstance to offset the same, hereby sentences said accused to suffer an imprisonment of reclusion perpetua with all the accessories of the law, to indemnify the surviving spouse Leonora Vda. de Ababao the sum of P27,000.00 as actual damages, representing death and burial expenses, P50,000.00 as moral damages and P50,000.00 as standard indemnity in cases of Homicide and/or Murder (as established by existing jurisprudence) and to pay costs of suit. [3] His conviction stemmed mainly from the testimonies of prosecution witnesses Leonora Vda. de Ababao, Leo Gaid, PO3 Manuel Cabanilla, Dr. Jaime Roa, and Mark Anester Matanog. These witnesses established the following facts of the case according to the prosecution's version. At around 7:00 o'clock P.M., May 6, 1995, witness Leo Gaid, with Oscar Gaid, Emer Ratunil, Mark Anester Matanog, and appellant Nole Zate were in a waiting shed in Purok I, Mapulog, Naawan, Misamis Oriental. There were three benches inside the waiting shed. Two benches faced each other with one end towards the entrance. A third bench was between the first two directly facing the entrance. Leo, Oscar, Emer, and appellant were drinking beer when the victim, Crisanto Ababao, arrived. Without uttering a word, Crisanto went directly to the third bench and laid down on his right side towards the direction of the waiting shed's entrance. Crisanto's feet were near appellant, while his head was beside Leo. Appellant and Leo, who were two meters away, were facing each other. About two minutes after Crisanto took his position on the bench, appellant suddenly stood up. Then without warning he stabbed Crisanto twice, hitting the latter on the left breast and below the left ribcage. Immediately, appellant fled southward, weapon in hand, leaving Crisanto dead and the others stunned by the startling occurrence. The event was so sudden that Leo and his companions failed to intercede and prevent the incident from happening. Upon seeing Crisanto's body fall from the bench, Leo shouted for help. [4] Thirty minutes later, Naawan Police Station Commander Gamaliel Dampal arrived at the crime scene with his policemen, one of whom was PO3 Cabanilla. They conducted a spot investigation, which pointed to appellant Nole Zate as the author of Crisanto's untimely death. The police also found that there was no altercation between the victim and appellant before the stabbing incident. [5] Crisanto's cadaver was initially brought to the Naawan Municipal Building. However, since there were no facilities for an autopsy in Naawan, it was transferred to a funeral parlor in the Muni