372 Phil. 21
MENDOZA, J.:
That on or about the 4th day of February, 1990, in the nighttime, in the City of Lucena, Province of Quezon, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the said accused, being then a member of the Lucena Integrated National Police, with intent to kill, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously assault one Ike Lingan inside the Lucena police headquarters, where authorities are supposed to be engaged in the discharge of their duties, by boxing the said Ike Lingan in the head with the butt of a gun and thereafter when the said victim fell, by banging his head against the concrete pavement, as a consequence of which said Ike Lingan suffered cerebral concussion and shock which directly caused his death.The evidence shows that, at around 8:40 in the evening of February 4, 1990, Stanley Jalbuena and Enrique "Ike" Lingan, who were reporters of the radio station DWTI in Lucena City, together with one Mario Ilagan, went to the Entertainment City following reports that it was showing nude dancers. After the three had seated themselves at a table and ordered beer, a scantily clad dancer appeared on stage and began to perform a strip act. As she removed her brassieres, Jalbuena brought out his camera and took a picture.[2]
Petitioner Felipe Navarro claims that it was the deceased who tried to hit him twice, but he (petitioner) was able to duck both times, and that Lingan was so drunk he fell on the floor twice, each time hitting his head on the concrete.[26]
Lingan: Pare, you are abusing yourself. Navarro: Who is that abusing? Lingan: I'm here to mediate. Do not include me in the problem. I'm out of the problem. . . . . Navarro: Wala sa akin yan. Ang kaso lang . . . . Lingan: Kalaban mo ang media, pare. Ako at si Stanley, dalawa kami. Okay. Do not fight with me. I just came here to ayusin things. Do not say bad things against me. I'm the number one loko sa media. I'm the best media man. . . .Navarro: Huwag tayong mag-lokohan sa ganyan! Huwag na tayong mag-takotan! Huwag mong sabihing loko ka! Lingan: I'm brave also. Navarro: Ay lalo na ako. Tahimik lang naman ako. Wala ka namang masasabi sa akin dahil nag-tatrabaho lang ako ng ayon sa serbisyo ko. Lingan: You are challenging me and him. . . . Navarro: Ay walastik ka naman Ike! Pag may problema ka dito sinasabihan kita na may balita tayong maganda. Pambihira ka Ike. Huwag mong sabihin na . . . Parang minomonopoly mo eh.Lingan: Pati ako kalaban ninyo. Navarro: Talagang kalaban namin ang press. Lahat, hindi lang ikaw! Lingan: You are wrong. Bakit kalaban nyo ang press? Navarro: Pulis ito! Aba! Lingan: Alisin mo ang baril mo! Alisin mo ang baril mo! Suntukan tayo, sige. Navarro: Mayabang ka ah! (Sounds of a scuffle) Navarro: Hinamon ako nyan! Pare hinamon ako nyan! Pare hinamon ako nyan, testigo kayo. Alisin ko daw ang baril ko. Hinamon ako nyan. Pare, ilagay mo diyan, hinamon ako sa harap ni Stanley. Testigo kayo, hinamon ako. Pulis tayo eh. Puta, buti nga, suntok lang ang inabot nyan. Sa harap ni Alex, ni Joe, ni Stanley, hinamon ako. Pare, hinamon ako, kinig nyo ha. Hinamon ako nyan. Sige, dalhin nyo sa hospital yan.
After a thorough and in-depth evaluation of the evidence adduced by the prosecution and the defense, this court finds that the evidence for the prosecution is the more credible, concrete and sufficient to create that moral certainty in the mind of the court that accused herein is criminally responsible.The Court of Appeals affirmed:
The defense's evidence which consists of outright denial could not under the circumstance overturn the strength of the prosecution's evidence.
This court finds that the prosecution witnesses, more particularly Stanley Jalbuena, lacked any motive to make false accusation, distort the truth, testify falsehood or cause accusation of one who had neither brought him harm or injury.
Going over the evidence on record, the postmortem report issued by Dra. Eva Yamamoto confirms the detailed account given by Stanley Jalbuena on how Lingan sustained head injuries.
Said post-mortem report together with the testimony of Jalbuena sufficiently belie the claim of the defense that the head injuries of deceased Lingan were caused by the latter's falling down on the concrete pavement head first.
We are far from being convinced by appellant's aforesaid disquisition. We have carefully evaluated the conflicting versions of the incident as presented by both parties, and we find the trial court's factual conclusions to have better and stronger evidentiary support.Hence, this appeal. Petitioner Navarro contends:
In the first place, the mere fact that Jalbuena was himself a victim of appellant's aggression does not impair the probative worth of his positive and logical account of the incident in question. In fact, far from proving his innocence, appellant's unwarranted assault upon Jalbuena, which the defense has virtually admitted, clearly betrays his violent character or disposition and his capacity to harm others. Apparently, the same motivation that led him into assailing Jalbuena must have provoked him into also attacking Lingan who had interceded for Jalbuena and humiliated him and further challenged him to a fist fight.
. . . .
On the other hand, appellant's explanation as to how Lingan was injured is too tenuous and illogical to be accepted. It is in fact contradicted by the number, nature and location of Lingan's injuries as shown in the post-mortem report (Exh. D). According to the defense, Lingan fell two times when he was outbalanced in the course of boxing the appellant. And yet, Lingan suffered lacerated wounds in his left forehead, left eyebrow, between his left and right eyebrows, and contusion in the right temporal region of the head (Exh. E). Certainly, these injuries could not have resulted from Lingan's accidental fall.
THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS HAS DECIDED THE CASE NOT IN ACCORD WITH LAW AND WITH THE APPLICABLE DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT. ITS CONCLUSION IS A FINDING BASED ON SPECULATION, SURMISE OR CONJECTURE; THE INFERENCE IT MADE IS MANIFESTLY MISTAKEN, ABSURD OR IMPOSSIBLE; IT COMMITTED GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION; ITS JUDGMENT IS BASED ON A MISAPPREHENSION OF FACTS; ITS FINDING IS CONTRADICTED BY EVIDENCE ON RECORD; AND ITS FINDING IS DEVOID OF SUPPORT IN THE RECORD.The appeal is without merit.
SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, not being authorized by all the parties to any private communication or spoken word, to tap any wire or cable, or by using any other device or arrangement, to secretly overhear, intercept, or record such communication or spoken word by using a device commonly known as a dictaphone or dictagraph or detectaphone or walkie-talkie or tape-recorder, or however otherwise described:Thus, the law prohibits the overhearing, intercepting, or recording of private communications.[29] Since the exchange between petitioner Navarro and Lingan was not private, its tape recording is not prohibited.
It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in the act or acts penalized in the next preceding sentence, to knowingly possess any tape record, wire record, disc record, or any other such record, or copies thereof, of any communication or spoken word secured either before or after the effective date of this Act in the manner prohibited by this law; or to replay the same for any other person or persons; or to communicate the contents thereof, either verbally or in writing, or to furnish transcriptions thereof, whether complete or partial, to any other person: Provided, That the use of such record or any copies thereof as evidence in any civil, criminal investigation or trial of offenses mentioned in section 3 hereof, shall not be covered by this prohibition.
. . . .
SEC. 4. Any communication or spoken word, or the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of the same or any part thereof, or any information therein contained obtained or secured by any person in violation of the preceding sections of this Act shall not be admissible in evidence in any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative or administrative hearing or investigation.
The above testimony clearly supports the claim of Jalbuena that petitioner Navarro hit Lingan with the handle of his pistol above the left eyebrow and struck him on the forehead with his fist.
Post Mortem Findings: = Dried blood, forehead & face = No blood oozed from the ears, nose & mouth = Swelling, 3 cm x 2 cm, temporal region, head, right = Lacerated wound, 2 cm in length, 1-2 in depth, lateral, eyebrow, Left = Lacerated wound, 0.5 cm in length, superficial, between the left & right eyebrow = Lacerated wound, 2 cm in length, 1 cm in depth, forehead, Left = Cyanosis of the tips of fingers & toes CAUSE OF DEATH: = CEREBRAL CONCUSSION & SHOCK = BLOW ON THE HEAD Dr. Yamamoto testified: Q Give your opinion as to what was the possible cause of this findings number one, which is oozing of blood from the forehead? A It may be due to a blow on the forehead or it bumped to a hard object, sir. Q Could a metal like a butt of a gun have caused this wound No. 1? A It is possible, sir. Q And in the alternative, could have it been caused by bumping on a concrete floor? A Possible, sir. FISCAL: What could have been the cause of the contusion and swelling under your findings No. 2 doctor? WITNESS: It may be caused by bumping to a hard object, sir.
Q Could a butt of a gun have caused it doctor? A The swelling is big so it could have not been caused by a butt of a gun because the butt of a gun is small, sir. Q How about this findings No. 4? A By a bump or contact of the body to a hard object, sir. Q And findings No. 5 what could have caused it? A Same cause, sir. Q This findings No. 6 what could have caused this wound? A Same thing, sir. Q How about this last finding, cyanosis of tips of fingers and toes, what could have caused it doctor? WITNESS: It indicates there was cardiac failure, sir. FISCAL: In this same post mortem report and under the heading cause of death it states: Cause of Death: Cerebral concussion and Shock, will you explain it? A Cerebral concussion means in Tagalog "naalog ang utak" or jarring of the brain, sir. Q What could have been the cause of jarring of the brain? A It could have been caused by a blow of a hard object, sir. Q What about the shock, what could have caused it? A It was due to peripheral circulatory failure, sir. Q Could any one of both caused the death of the victim?
A Yes, sir. Q Could cerebral concussion alone have caused the death of the deceased? A May be, sir. Q How about shock? A Yes, sir.
FISCAL: Which of these two more likely to cause death? WITNESS: Shock, sir. Q Please explain further the meaning of the medical term shock?
A It is caused by peripheral circulatory failure as I have said earlier, sir.
. . . . FISCAL: Could a bumping or pushing of one's head against a concrete floor have caused shock?
WITNESS: Possible, sir.
How about striking with a butt of a gun, could it cause shock? A Possible, sir.[35]