SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 199360. April 7, 2014.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. REX LIBO-ON y DIVINAGRACIA ALIAS "DODOY", ROY LIBO-ON y DIVINAGRACIA ALIAS "TOTO," REX LIBO-ON y DIVINAGRACIA ALIAS "TOTONG" AND JEHU * SUPIDA y MONTERO ALIAS "TABILONG;"accused;
REX LIBO-ON y DIVINAGRACIA ALIAS "DODOY," ROY LIBO-ON y DIVINAGRACIA ALIAS "TOTO" AND JEHU SUPIDA y MONTERO ALIAS "TABILONG", accused-appellants.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated07 April 2014which reads as follows:
G.R. No. 199360 (People of the Philippines v. Rex Libo-on y Divinagracia alias "Dodoy," Roy Libo-on y Divinagracia alias "Toto," Rey Libo-on y Divinagracia alias "Totong" and Jehu Sopida y Montero alias "Tabilong;" accused; Rex Libo-on y Divinagracia alias "Dodoy," Roy Libo-on y Divinagracia alias "Toto" and Jehu Supida y Montero alias "Tabilong;" accused-appellants.) — We resolve the appeal, filed by appellants Rex Libo-on, Roy Libo-on and Jehu Supida from the July 30, 2010 decision 1 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 00540. The CA decision 2 affirmed with modification the February 19, 2004 decision of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 69, Silay City, finding the appellants guilty beyond reasonable doubt of murder, and sentencing each of them to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua.
In its February 19, 2004 decision, the RTC found the appellants and Rey Libo-on guilty beyond reasonable doubt of murder for the death of Rodello Suellan y Bacli. The court relied on the testimony of Rosanna Telebrico — a ten-year old girl — that she saw: (1) Jehu punch Rodello with a brass knuckle which caused him to fall down and lost consciousness; and (2) Rex, Roy, Rey and Jehu drag Rodello to a nearby mango tree, and then took turns in stabbing him. Although Rosanna was still a child, she vividly related the events she saw; she also "stood collected and unfazed under the intense cross-examination by the defense." 3 The court found it significant that the defense failed to show ill-motive on Rosanna's part to falsely testify against the appellants; it disregarded the appellants' denial and alibi in light of Rosanna's positive identification.
The RTC also ruled that the appellants' conspired with each other in killing Rodello, and that treachery and evident premeditation attended the victim's killing. Accordingly, the trial court sentenced the appellants to suffer the death penalty, and ordered them to pay the victim's heirs, jointly and severally, the amounts of P100,000.00 as actual damages and P50,000.00 as exemplary damages. DTcASE
On intermediate appeal, the CA affirmed the RTC decision with the following modifications: (a) the death penalty is reduced to reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole; (b) the award of actual damages is deleted; (c) the amount of the awarded exemplary damages is reduced from P50,000.00 to P25,000.00; and (d) the appellants are ordered to pay the victim's heirs P50,000.00 as civil indemnity in lieu of actual damages.
The CA held that Rosanna positively identified the appellants as Rodello's assailants; it found the inconsistencies in her statements to be trivial. The CA likewise sustained the RTC's finding of treachery, evident premeditation and conspiracy.
The CA also declared void the conviction of Rey on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, since he has not yet been arrested.
Our Ruling
After due consideration, we dismiss the appeal but modify the penalty imposed and the amount of the awarded indemnities.
This Court will net interfere with the trial court's assessment of the credibility of the witnesses, absent any showing that the trial court overlooked material facts or gravely abused its discretion, especially where, as in this case, the assessment is affirmed by the CA.
In the present case, Rosanna positively identified Jehru as the person who hit Rodello on the jaw with a brass knuckle causing the latter to lose consciousness; Rey, Roy Rex, and Jehru thereafter dragged the unconscious Rodello to a nearby mango tree, and took turns in stabbing him with a knife. We see no reason to disbelieve Rosanna's testimony since she was familiar with the appellants. In addition, Rosanna was merely six to eight meters from the place where Rodello was attacked, and the place was well-lit. The appellants also did not impute any improper motive for Rosanna, a 10 year-old girl, to falsely testify against them.
We likewise find unmeritorious the appellants' defense of alibi, as the distances between their respective claimed locations were not so far as to preclude their physical presence at the crime scene.
As the trial and appellate courts did, we find that treachery attended the killing of Rodello. The presented evidence showed that the appellants entered the gate of the house of Alicia Suelan at around 7:00 p.m. on June 18, 1995, and stayed at the yard. When Rodello arrived, Jehru suddenly hit him with a brass knuckle causing him to lose consciousness. Immediately after, Jehru, Rex, Roy and Rey dragged him towards a nearby mango tree, where they took turns in stabbing him. Under these proven facts, we found it clear that the attack on Rodello was swift and sudden; they did not also give him any real chance to defend himself.
The prosecution failed to establish the circumstance of evident premeditation. Evident premeditation is present when the execution of the criminal act is preceded by cool thought and reflection with sufficient time to arrive at a calm judgment to carry out the criminal intent. 4 evident premeditation must be based on external acts and must be evident, not merely suspected, indicating deliberate planning. Otherwise stated, there must be a demonstration through outward acts of a criminal intent that is notorious and manifest. 5
In the present case, the time when the appellants determined to commit the crime had not been clearly established; the evidence likewise failed to show that the appellants meditated and reflected upon their decision to kill the victim and that the intervening time elapsed before this plan was carried out. We stress that as in any other circumstance that qualifies a killing as murder, evident premeditation must be established by clear and positive proof i.e., by proof beyond reasonable doubt. EICSTa
The circumstances leading to the stabbing of Rodello clearly and convincingly establishes that a conspiracy existed among the appellants. To show conspiracy, it is not essential that there be proof of the previous agreement to commit the crime; it is sufficient that the form and manner in carrying out the attack clearly indicate unity of action and purpose. To recall, after Jehru hit Rodello with a brass knuckle, he and the other appellants dragged the unconscious victim to a nearby mango tree, where they took turns in stabbing him. Under these facts, each of the appellants performed acts that, when pieced together, show unity of purpose and design. Thus, the appellants' liability is collective and each participant will be equally responsible for the acts of others, for the act of one is the act of all.
The crime of murder qualified by treachery is penalized under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, with reclusion perpetua to death. We sentence the appellants to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua since no aggravating or mitigating circumstance attended the commission of the crime.
The courts a quo correctly awarded the amount of P50,000.00 as moral damages, as this amount is in accord with prevailing jurisprudence on murder cases when the penalty imposed is reclusion perpetua only. 6 We, however, increase the awarded civil indemnity from P50,000.00 to P75,000.00, and the exemplary damages from P25,000.00 to P30,000.00, in accordance with prevailing jurisprudence. 7
We additionally award P25,000.00 temperate damages in lieu of actual damages, since Rodello's heirs undoubtedly incurred expenses for his burial and funeral although no receipts were shown to support these expenses. We also impose a 6% interest on all the monetary awards for damages to be reckoned from the date of finality of this decision, until these awards are fully paid.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, we AFFIRM the decision of the Court of Appeals dated July 30, 2010 in CA-G.R. CR HC No. 00540 with the following MODIFICATIONS: (a) the appellants are sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua; (b) the amount of the awarded civil indemnity is increased from P50,000.00 to P75,000.00; (c) exemplary damages is increased from P25,000.00 to P30,000.00; (d) the appellants are further ordered to pay the victim's heirs P25,000.00 as temperate damages in lieu of actual damages; and (e) the appellants are further ordered to pay the victim's heirs interest on all the damages awarded at the legal rate of six percent (6%) per annum from the date of finality of this judgment until these awards are fully paid.
SO ORDERED.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Rollo, pp. 6-23; penned by Associate Justice Socorro B. Inting, and concurred in by Associate Justices Portia A. Hormachuelos and Associate Justice Edwin D. Sorongon.
2. CA rollo, pp. 26-36.
3. Id. at 31.
4. See People v. Duavis, G.R. No. 190861, December 7, 2011, 661 SCRA 775, 784.
5. People v. Ortiz, 374 Phil. 757, 766 (1999).
6. See People of the Philippines v. Larry Torres, Sr., G.R. No. 190317, August 22, 2011.
7. See People of the Philippines v. Reggie Bernardo, G.R. No. 198789, June 3, 2013.