377 Phil. 795
PURISIMA, J.:
“WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, the Court, finding NESTOR JUACHON guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of ‘Rape with Murder’ as charged in the ‘Information’ hereby sentences him to suffer the death penalty[2] to be executed in the manner prescribed by law.Filed on May 29, 1979 by Asst. Provincial Fiscal Ponciano V. Garcia, the Information indicting appellant, alleges:
Nestor Juachon is further ordered to indemnify the heirs of Helen Mactal the sum of P30,000 as damages and to pay the costs.
SO ORDERED.”[3]
“That on or about the 21st day of August, 1978, in the Municipality of Gapan, Province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, with lewd design, by means of force and violence, did then and there, willfully unlawfully and feloniosly (sic) have sexual intercourse with one Helen de Guzamn (sic) Mactal against her will and without her consent and that on the occasion of such rape, the above-named accused, with intent to kill immersed or submersed the said Helen de Guzman Mactal in muddy water in such manner as to cause the death of the said victim due to aspyxia (sic) by submersion in muddy water to the damage and prejudice of the heirs of said victim.With the appellant pleading not guilty upon arraignment thereunder, trial ensued.
CONTRARY TO LAW.”[4]
“x x xTeofila Mactal, mother of the deceased Helen Mactal, testified that on August 16, 1978, during the barrio fiesta, appellant, a suitor of Helen, kept on peeping in their house;[6] and on one occasion, Helen informed her that the appellant told her “Masarap kang halikan”.[7]
Helen Mactal, a 21 years (sic) old lass from Pambuan, Gapan, Nueva Ecija, was enrolled in the first semester of 1978 at the Divina Pastora College in Gapan, taking up the (sic) secretarial course. Evelyn Cabungcal, a 20 years (sic) old lass, was a classmate of Helen Mactal. Their classes started at 5:00 o’clock in the afternoon and ended at 8:00 o’clock in the evening.
On August 21, 1978, after their dismissal from classes at 8:00 o'clock in the evening, Evelyn Cabungcal and her other classmates were conversing in front of the Nilo’s Tailoring, which is located across the street from the new Municipal Building of Gapan. In the course of their conversation, Evelyn Cabungcal noticed that Nestor Juachon, a tricycle driver, was waiting for passengers near their place of conversation and had parked his tricycle along the side-walk (sic). Another person, tall, slender and still young, sat on the motorcycle. Not long thereafter, Evelyn Cabungcal noticed that her classmate, Helen Mactal, boarded the tricycle of Nestor Juachon.
Jose Cabungcal, an employee of the NEECO assigned at the electric plant in Guinandosan, reported to his place of work at about 9:00 o’clock in the evening of August 21, 1978. In going to Guinandosan, he had to pass thru the road along which in the morning of August 22, 1978 the lifeless body of Helen Mactal was found. When he passed that road at around 9:00 o'clock in the evening of August 21, 1978, he saw a tricycle with a white side-car (sic) parked by the side of the road.
Amparo Jacinto, a 27 years (sic) old matron of Pambuan, Gapan, Nueva Ecija, was waiting for her husband in the evening of August 21, 1978 by the window of their house. At about 10:00 o’clock that evening, while still waiting for her husband, she noticed the arrival of Nestor juachon (sic) in his tricycle in front of their (Amparo Jacinto) house. She noticed that the motorcycle is painted red with white decorations while the side-car as well as its canvass covering are white. Nestor Juachon, also a resident of Pambuan, is the compadre of her husband.
At 7:00 o’clock in the morning of August 22, 1978, Rogelio Santiago, a teenager, reported to police corporal Efren Angeles, a resident of Mangino, Gapan (a barangay which adjoins Pambuan), that he saw the body of a dead female in the ricefield along the road leading to the electric plant in Guinandosan x x xx x x x x x xxx
x x x x x x xxx
On August 20, 1978, Nestor Juachon helped Efren de Guzman of Guinandosan pull out palay seedlings in the latter’s farm. It took them the whole day. Efren de Guzman noticed the slippers worn by Nestor Juachon that day which have a brown leaf covering the entire front portion of the feet. He identified the slippers found at the place where the cadaver of Helen Mactal was found as the same slippers worn by Nestor Juachon on August 20, 1978. Nestor Juachon helped him pull out the palay seedlings because they are relatives.
During the custodial investigation of Nestor Juachon at the police station, Pat. Carlos in the presence of the Station Commander, fitted the slippers on the feet of Nestor Juachon. The slippers fitted perfectly on the feet of Nestor Juachon.
On August 24, 1978, Nestor Juachon talked with Rogelio Santiago, a teenager and his cousin. He asked Rogelio Santiago to tell the persons at the waterfall at Guinandosan to tell that he (Nestor Juachon) was at the site of the waterfalls on the night of the incident. By 'persons at the waterfall', Rogelio Santiago understood that Nestor Juachon was referring to Danny Rivera and Mrs. Leni Peña.
On August 26, 1978, the funeral of Helen Mactal took place. Efren de Guzman attended the same where he saw Nestor Juachon. Nestor told Efren: 'Pakisabi mo kay Ben Nicolas at Danny Rivera na nandoon ako noong gabing yon.' Danny Rivera works at the electric plant of the NEECO I in Guinandosan where there is a waterfall while Ben Nicolas works at the NAI and is also assigned in Guinandosan.x x x xxx xxx
Dr. Felicidad B. Atacador, the Rural Health Physician of Gapan, performed the medico-legal examination on the cadaver of Helen Mactal at the morgue of the St. Paul Funeral Homes in Gapan. She issued a medico-legal certificate containing her findings, to wit:
‘II. EXTERNAL EXAMINATION:
Cadaver is wet and soak with mud all over, complete dressing, minus panty.
External findings:
1- Hematoma, swelling of the supra and infra orbital portion of the right eye;
2- Lacerated lower portion of sclera, right eye;
3- Lacerated wound 1 cm. at inner upper lip and 1 inch lacerated wound at inner lower lip left side (sic)
4- Cervical fracture just below medulla superior portion of the neck;
5- Whole of anterior portion and lateral portion of the neck right side, and half of posterior portion left side of the neck, visibly marked by reddish brownish black, suggestive of possible strangulation;
6- Reddish brownish black discoloration of anterio (sic) portion of the arm left side;
7- Reddish brownish black discoloration of the epiglastic right down to the hypogastric, envolving (sic) up to mid-portion of the abdomen right side;
8- Reddish brownish balck (sic) discoloration of both right and left anterior portion of the thigh superiorly down inferiorly to the knee.
'III. INTERNAL EXAMINATION
1- Perineal lacerated wound ½ an inch at 4 o’ clock and 6 o’clock.
Note:
Family requested not to open cadaver.
'IV. CAUSE OF DEATH
1. Asphyxia strangulation and suffocation.
2. Cervical fracture just below medulla superior portion of the neck.x x x xxx xxx" [5]
1. That the accused, Nestor Juachon, used to drive a tricycle with a white side car and white canvass roofing;Appellant contends, that:
2. That Helen Mactal rode on the tricycle driven by Nestor Juachon at past 8:00 o'clock in the evening of August 21, 1978;
3. That Jose Cabungcal, an employee of Nueva Ecija Electric Cooperative (NEECO I), assigned to the electric plant at Guinandosan, Gapan, Nueva Ecija, while on his way to his place of work, at about 9:00 in the evening, of August 21, 1978, saw a tricycle with a white side-car along the road to Guinandosan;
4. That at about 10:00 o’clock in the evening of August 21, 1978, Amparo Jacinto, a neighbor of appellant, while waiting by the window for the arrival of her husband, saw appellant arrive and stop his tricycle in front of their house in Pambuan, Gapan, Nueva Ecija;
5. That in the early morning of August 22, 1978, the lifeless body of Helen Mactal was discovered in the ricefield along the road going to Guinandosan;
6. That near the place where the cadaver was found was a pair of slippers which was positively identified by Efren de Guzman (relative of appellant) as those worn by Nestor Juachon on August 20, 1978, when the latter helped him pull out the palay seedlings in his farm;
7. That after the incident involved in this case, Nestor Juachon told his relatives, Rogelio Santiago and Efren de Guzman, on two different occasions to tell the persons at the waterfall, that he was there on the night of August 21, 1978;
8. That previous to August 21, 1978, Helen Mactal informed her mother that on one occasion, accused told her “masarap kang halikan.[10]
In the present case, although the offense charged against appellant was designated as “Rape with Murder” in the Information, the facts therein recited constitute the crime of rape with homicide under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code. The elements of said crime are clearly spelled out in the Information, particularly the sexual intercourse against the will of the victim, perpetrated with violence and force, and the killing of the same victim on occasion of the rape, by immersing her in muddy water.I.
THE TRIAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN NOT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE FACT THAT EVEN AT THE FIRST INSTANCE, IT HAD NO JURISDICTION OVER THE OFFENSE CHARGED BECAUSE THE INFORMATION FILED IN THE CASE WAS ITSELF VOID AB INITIO, IN THAT IT CHARGED THE ACCUSED WITH “RAPE WITH MURDER” WHICH IS A LEGALLY NON-EXISTENT CRIME IN THE STATUTE BOOKS.II.
THE TRIAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN FURTHER DISREGARDING THE FACT THAT THE MOTION TO QUASH FILED BY THE ACCUSED, DURING THE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION, WAS WRONGLY DENIED BY THE TRIAL COURT DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE INFORMATION WAS ALSO CLEARLY DEFECTIVE IN FORM IN THAT IT CHARGED MORE THAT ONE OFFENSE WHICH THUS DENIED THE ACCUSED' (sic) HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BE INFORMED OF THE NATURE OF THE ACCUSATION AGAINST HIM.III.
THE TRIAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN FINDING GUILT ON THE PART OF THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT ON MERE CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE WHICH DID NOT AT ALL WARRANT HIS CONVICTION OF THE CRIME CHARGED BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.IV.
THE TRIAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN NOT GIVING CREDENCE TO THE DEFENSE OF DENIAL AND ALIBI RAISED BY THE ACCUSED NESTOR JUACHON.[11]<
The issues posed for resolution: 1) Whether or not the alleged defect in the designation of the offense in the Information violated the constitutional right of appellant to be informed of the nature of the charges against him; and 2) Whether or not appellant’s guilt was established beyond reasonable doubt by the aforesaid circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution.
Settled is the rule that the real nature of the crime charged is determined not from the caption or preamble of the Information nor from the specification of the provision of law alleged to have been violated, such being conclusions of law, but by the actual recitation of facts alleged in the Complaint or Information.[12] Elucidating further, the late former Chief Justice Manuel Moran, in the case of People vs. Labado, ratiocinated:'It has been held, however, that if the above requirement [Rule 110, Sec. 7, Rules of Court] is not complied with and no name has been given to the offense alleged to have been committed, the defect is merely of form which does not prejudice the substantial rights of the defendant. This is especially so where the facts pleaded are clearly constitutive of a specific offense. In such cases, the real nature of the crime charged is determined not by the title of the complaint, nor by the specification of the provision of law alleged to have been violated, but by the facts recited in the complaint or information. This is so because 'from the legal point of view, and in the very real sense, it is of no concern to the accused what is the technical name of the crime of which he stands charged. It in no way aids him in his defense on the merits x x x. The real question is not did he commit a crime given in the law some technical and specific name, but did he perform the acts alleged in the body of the information in the manner therein set forth. If he did, it is of no consequence to him, either as a matter of procedure or substantive right, how the law denominates the crime which those acts constitute x x x'[13]
“Sec. 4. Circumstantial evidence, when sufficient.- Circumstantial evidence is sufficient for conviction if:Like a tapestry made up of strands which create a pattern when interwoven,[14] the circumstances proved should constitute an unbroken chain which leads to one fair and reasonable conclusion, that the appellant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. In other words, the circumstances or a combination thereof, should point to overt acts of the appellant that would logically usher in the conclusion and no other, that he is guilty of the crime charged.[15]a) There is more than one circumstance;
b) The facts from which the inferences are derived are proven; and
c) The combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt."
“x x x The Court was greatly impressed with the testimony of this witness, having testified in a candid and straight-forward (sic) manner. In the personal observation of the Court, she is a witness who is not capable of indulging in fabrication. Despite the fact that she was no longer staying and studying in Gapan at the time she gave testimony, still she took pains to come to court and testified accordingly. The Court does not see any reason to disregard her testimony. The Court has nothing but commendation of her civic-spiritedness.”[17]So also, the court a quo erred not in giving credence to the testimony of Efren de Guzman, a relative of appellant, who identified the pair of slippers found near the cadaver of the victim to be those worn by appellant on August 21, 1978, when the latter helped him pull out the palay seedlings from his farm. Indeed, the distinct appearance of said slippers: “with a brown leaf covering the entire front portion of the feet”[18] could have easily caught the attention of Efren de Guzman, considering that it took them the whole day to work in the said farm.