603 Phil. 521
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
Jaime Lopez, Rogelio Regalado and Romeo Aragon (appellants) were charged of Murder by an Information filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Surigao del Sur, the accusatory portion of which reads:
That on or about 3:30 o'clock in the afternoon of April 25, 1996 at Bandola Street, Pob. Municipality of Hinatuan, Province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused conspiring, confederating and mutually helping one another for a common purpose, with treachery and evident premeditation and with deliberate intent to kill, and armed with sharp bladed instruments (knives and "Tare"), did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault, box and stab to death EDENCITO CHU Y VILLAHERMOSA, thereby inflicting upon the latter fatal multiple stab wounds as certified to by a doctor, which caused his instantaneous death, to the damage and prejudice of the heirs of the said CHU.From the evidence for the prosecution, the following version of events is culled:[2]
CONTRARY TO LAW: (In violation of Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, with the aggravating circumstances of superior strength).[1]
STAB WOUND LEFT DELTOID 4CM MUSCLE DEEPAutopsy of Chu's body yielded results which coincided with those of the post-mortem examination, thus:
PENETRATING STAB WOUND LEFT POSTERIOR AXILLARY LINE AT THE LEVEL OF T10, 3CM
PENETRATING STAB WOUND RIGHT POSTERIOR AXILLARY LINE AT THE LEVEL OF T8, 1.5 CM
PENETRATING STAB WOUND RIGHT ANTERIOR TRUNK AT THE LEVEL OF T10, 1 CM
PENETRATING STAB WOUND LEFT ANTERIOR AXILLARY LINE 1 CM
STAB WOUND LEFT NIPPLE 1 CM SUBCUTANEOUS DEEP
2 LACERATED WOUNDS LEFT ELBOWS SKIN DEEP 0.5 CM EACH[4]
Body, embalmed, well-preserved.Dr. Ricardo M. Rodaje, who conducted the autopsy, explained that wounds 1 and 5 were caused by a curve-shaped weapon.[6]
Embalming incisions, sutured: neck, antero-lateral aspect, right, 3.5 cm.; supra-umbilibical region, right, 1.0 cm.
Contused-abrasions, patellar region, bilateral right, 5.0 x 11. 5cm; left, 11.0 x 12.0cm.
Incised wounds, modified by suturing and embalming: chest, infra-mammary region, right, 1.5 cm.; inguinal region, right, 1.5 cm.; forearm, proximal third, postero-lateral aspect, left, 1.6 cm.
Stab wounds, modified by suturing and embalming:Hemopericardium, residual clotted blood - 250cc.
- Roughly curved-shaped, 4.5cm., edges are clean-cut, oriented vertically, superior extremity is blunt, inferior extremity is sharp. Located at the left arm, proximal third, antero-lateral aspect, 23.0cm. above the left elbow, directed backward, downward, and laterally, involving the soft tissue, cutting the major blood vessels with an approximate depth of 7.5cm.
- Roughly spindle-shaped, 2.3cm., edges are clean-cut, oriented vertically, superior extremity is sharp, inferior extremity is blunt. Located at infra-mammary region, between sixth (6th) and seventh (7th) intercostal space, lateral aspect, left, 16.0cm. from anterior median line, directed, backward, downward, and medially, involving the soft tissues, into the thoracic cavity, into the pericardial sac, penetrating the left ventricle of the heart with an approximate depth of 10.0cm.
- Roughly spindle-shaped, 1.8cm., edges are clean-cut oriented vertically, superior extremity is sharp, inferior extremity is blunt. Located at supra-mammary region; left, 1.0cm. from anterior median line, directed backward, sideward, and medially involving the soft tissues, cutting the sternum superficially, with an approximate depth of 5.0cm.
- Roughly spindle-shaped, 2.0cm., edges are clean-cut, oriented vertically, superior extremity is blunt, inferior extremity is sharp. Located at the infra-scapular region, right, 20.0cm. from posterior median line, directed forward, downward, and laterally, involving the soft tissues only, with an approximate depth of 5.0cm.
- Roughly curved-shaped, 3.5 edges are clean-cut, oriented horizontally, lateral extremity is blunt, medial extremity is sharp. Located at the infra-scapular region, 11.0cm. from posterior medial line, directed forward, downward and medially, involving the soft tissues only with an approximate depth of 5.2cm.
Brain & other visceral organs, pale, embalmed.
Stomach - small amount of grayish food particles.[5]
WHEREFORE, finding the accused JAIME LOPEZ alias "DODONG", ROGELIO REGALADO alias "ROGER", and ROMEO ARAGON, all co-principals by direct participation, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of MURDER defined and penalized under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 7659, this Court hereby sentences them to suffer the penalty of Reclusion Perpetua with all the accessory penalties provided by law.The appeal is bereft of merit.
To pay the heirs of the victim the sum of one hundred nine thousand six hundred seventy five pesos and forty (P109,675.40) centavos as interment and burial expenses, fifty thousand (P50,000.00) pesos as life indemnity twenty-three thousand (P23,000.00) pesos as attorney's fees, and ten thousand (P10,000) pesos as exemplary damages.
To pay the cost.
SO ORDERED.[11]
On appeal, appellants faulted the trial court forI
x x x FINDING THAT CONSPIRACY ATTENDED THE KILLING OF THE VICTIM.II
x x x NOT CONSIDERING THE DEFENSES INTERPOSED BY THE ACCUSED-APPELLANTS.[12]III
x x x CONVICTING THE ACCUSED APPELLANTS OF MURDER.[13]
The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision,[14] hence, the present appeal.[15]
x x x From the ocular inspection of the wharf conducted in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur on February 26, 2000,[16] it was established that the wharf was located at the dead-end portion of Villaluz Street. Aragon was at the wharf at about the same date and time of the stabbing incident, allegedly to buy fish. He was seated at the last step of the wharf. He stayed there for thirty (30) minutes to wait for a pump boat bringing in fish but there was none. At about the time of the incident, the water level was supposed to be low tide[17] so that no pump boat, if there was any, can dock on the wharf. Applying common sense, nobody in his right mind would wait for about thirty (30) minutes just to buy fish where no pump boat is in sight. x x x Aragon was positively identified by prosecution witnesses, hence his defense of being at the wharf does not hold water. For alibi to prosper, accused must prove not only (1) that he was somewhere else when the crime was committed; but (2) it must likewise be demonstrated that he was so far away that he could not have been physically present at the place of the crime or its immediate vicinity at the time of its commission. In this case, the wharf was only a few meters from the scene of the incident. Ergo, Aragon could have been physically present at the place or its immediate vicinity at the time of the commission of the crime. (Citations omitted)[18]Neither does Lopez's "defense of relative." As the Court of Appeals held:
Under [Paragaraph 2 of Article 11 of the Revised Penal Code], the elements of the justifying circumstance of defense of relatives are as follows:Finally, appellants' denial of the existence of treachery in this wise does not convince:Even if We adopt accused-appellants' version of the incident, We still find the foregoing elements absent in the case at bar.
- Unlawful aggression;
- Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it;
- In case provocation was given by the person attacked, that the one making the defense had no part therein.
As alleged by Lopez, he merely heard someone shouting "police, police, police!" and when he looked out he allegedly saw his father-in-law being chased by Chu. He then went to Regalado's house to get a knife and when he caught up with Chu, he no longer saw accused-appellant Regalado and it was only Chu who was there. He allegedly stabbed Chu because of the latter's threatening words, "Are you going to defend your father-in-law?"
We cannot, by any stretch of imagination, consider said remarks threatening as to consider it unlawful aggression. It bears stressing that unlawful aggression, as defined under the Revised Penal Code, contemplates assault or at least threatened assault of an immediate and imminent kind. There is unlawful aggression when the peril to one's life, limb or right is either actual or imminent. To constitute unlawful aggression, it is necessary that an attack or material aggression, an offensive act positively determining the intent of the aggressor to cause injury shall have been made. A mere threatening or intimidating attitude is not sufficient...there must be a real danger to life and personal safety.
Even assuming ex gratia argumenti, that there was unlawful aggression on Chu's part when he chased Regalado, Lopez was not justified in stabbing Chu since as admitted by him, he did not see accused-appellant Regalado anymore when he was able to catch up with Chu. The unlawful aggression of Chu, had it indeed been present, had already ceased when upon reaching Chu, as Regalado, whom Lopez allegedly wanted to protect, was no longer there. When an unlawful aggression that has begun no longer exists, the one who resorts to self-defense has no right to kill or even to wound the former aggressor.
We further do not find any reasonable necessity in the means employed by Lopez to repel Chu's alleged aggression.
Nowhere in the records is it shown that when Chu allegedly chased Regalado, the former was wielding a weapon. Thus, the intention of Lopez to get a knife for his protection and that of his father-in-law was unwarranted.
The fact that Chu allegedly boxed and taunted him prompting him to stab the victim several times in retaliation negates the reasonableness of the means employed to repel Chu's aggression assuming that indeed, Chu started the aggression. x x x
x x x x
The wounds sustained by Chu xxx indicate that the assailant who inflicted the same was more in a killing rage than one who was merely acting in defense of a relative.[19] (Underscoring supplied)
x x x Based on the prosecution witnesses' testimony, the victim was allegedly asking forgiveness from accused-appellant Rogelio Regalado and placed his hands on his shoulder when the latter stabbed the former. Based from the foregoing, it is apparent that the victim committed a wrongful act against herein accused-appellant, which was so grave that there was a need for him to ask for forgiveness. Thus, x x x the victim was expecting a retaliation from herein accused-appellant.[20] (Underscoring supplied)The essence of treachery is a deliberate and sudden attack that renders the victim unable and unprepared to defend himself by reason of the suddenness and severity of the attack.[21]