FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 234816. September 9, 2019.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs.DENNIS ESCAÑO y DELOS SANTOS, accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution datedSeptember 9, 2019which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 234816 (PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. DENNIS ESCAÑO y DELOS SANTOS, Accused-Appellant.) — After a judicious review of the records herein, We dismiss this appeal from the decision 1 of the Court of Appeals (CA) promulgated on April 21, 2017 in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 07015, whereby the CA affirmed the decision 2 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 43, Dagupan City, finding the accused-appellant guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Murder.
The accused-appellant argues that the trial court erred in convicting him in spite of the conflicting testimonies of the prosecution witnesses. However, this matter is a factual question which is best left to the sound judgment of the trial court and that, absent any misapprehension of facts or grave abuse of discretion, the findings of the trial court shall not be disturbed. 3
Furthermore, there can be conviction through circumstantial evidence as what the Court explained in Baleros, Jr. v. People. 4 Here, the prosecution established: (1) that the accused-appellant was the last person seen with the victim; (2) that he exited from the pathway leading to the vacant lot where the victim was killed; (3) that his clothes were soiled with mud and bloodstains which became consistent with the finding that there was a struggle between him and the victim in the vacant lot; (4) that he acted strangely that day; (5) that he hurriedly left the vicinity after the commission of the crime; (6) that he had a fresh lacerated wound on his right-hand pinky finger; (7) that he gave a different address under the pretext that his "nipa" hut house was not registered; and (8) that the forensic examination on the victim's handkerchief showed the presence of the accused-appellant's blood. The combination of these circumstances constituted an unbroken chain which convinced the Court that the accused indeed perpetrated the crime.
Finally, the defense of denial and alibi should also be rejected since these constitute self-serving negative evidence, which cannot be accorded greater evidentiary weight than the declaration of credible witnesses who testified on affirmative matters. 5 CAIHTE
WHEREFORE, We DISMISS the appeal for being unmeritorious, and AFFIRM the April 21, 2017 decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 07015.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 2-32; penned by Associate Justice Maria Elisa Sempio Diy, concurred in by Associate Justice Mariflor P. Punzalan Castillo and Associate Justice Florito S. Macalino.
2. CA rollo, pp. 14-71; penned by Judge Caridad V. Galvez.
3.People v. Dadao, G.R. 201860, January 22, 2014, 714 SCRA 524, 535.
4. G.R. No. 138033, January 30, 2007, 513 SCRA 321.
5.People v. Umapas, G.R. No. 215742, March 22, 2017, 821 SCRA 421, 438.