G.R. No. 147315 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. TOMAS VISPERAS JR. ALIAS “BOY SAKSAK”; JACINTO CRUZ ALIAS “BOY LAGARE” (ACQUITTED); AND AVELINO CABLAYAN ALIAS “WILLY” (ACQUITTED), ACCUSED, TOMAS VISPERAS JR. ALIAS “BOY SAKSAK,”.DECISION - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, accused AVELINO CABLAYAN alias Willy and JACINTO CRUZ alias Boy Lagare are hereby acquitted of the offense charged. Accused TOMAS VISPERAS, JR. alias Boy Saksak, on the other hand, is hereby found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the offense charged, which is MURDER as defined by Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code and penalized by RA No. 7659, otherwise known as the Heinous Crime Law, and there being no aggravating and mitigating circumstance to be considered, he is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of RECLUSION PERPETUA. In addition, he is to indemnify the death of Tito de Guzman in the amount P50,000.00, and to pay the heirs of the said victim P130,000.00 as actual and compensatory damages, P20,000.00 as temperate damages, P50,000.00 as moral damages, and costs. [2] In the Information dated September 2, 1999, appellant, together with Jacinto Cruz and Avelino Cablayan, was charged in these words: That on or about June 23, 1999 at around 10:45 oclock in the evening at [B]arangay Embarcadero, [M]unicipality of Mangaldan, [P]rovince of Pangasinan, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, armed with an unlicensed gun, with intent to kill, with treachery and evident premeditation and taking advantage of nighttime, conspiring, confederating and mutually helping each other, did then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously attack and shot TITO DE GUZMAN y PIDLAOAN causing his death shortly thereafter due to CARDIORESPIRATORY ARREST SECONDARY TO MASSIVE BRAIN INJURY DUE TO GUNSHOT WOUND, as per Certificate of Death issued by Dra. Ophelia Rivera, Rural Health Officer I, RHU, Mangaldan, Pangasinan, to the damage and prejudice of the legal heirs of said deceased TITO DE GUZMAN y PIDLAOAN and other consequential damages relative thereto. [3] Upon his arraignment on September 27, 1999, [4] appellant, assisted by his counsel de oficio , [5] pleaded not guilty. After trial in due course, the court a quo rendered the assailed Decision. The Facts Version of the Prosecution In its Brief, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) presents the prosecutions version of the facts as follows: On June 23, 1999, around 10:45 oclock in the evening, Elmadona de Guzman was in the kitchen of their house in [B]arangay Emba[r]cadero, Mangaldan, Pangasinan, waiting for her husband to enter their abode. As she was thirsty, she went to a table in the kitchen on which a pitcher of glass water was. She was drinking water when she heard gunbursts. Shocked, she was temporarily immobilized, but after a few seconds, she moved towards the eastern window of the kitchen and peeped outside to where the sound of the gunbursts came from. With the outside illumined by the light from her mothers house which was near their house, she saw accused Jacinto Cruz alias Boy Lagare holding a long gun, with its nozzle still smoking, pointed at the bloodied and falling body of her husband