Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82820:56662&catid=1581&Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 10:53:08+00:00

Document:
G.R. No. 196960, March 12, 2014 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Appellee, v. ERWIN TAMAYO Y BAUTISTA, Appellant.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Appellee, v. ERWIN TAMAYO Y BAUTISTA, Appellant.
But the Court has always been inclined, with few exceptions, to defer to the findings of fact of the trial court since it had the opportunity to observe how each witness expressed himself and whether his eyes agreed with his lips. The Court finds nothing from the transcripts that would indicate that the trial court and the CA misapprehended the facts.
The Court also finds no error in the RTC and the CA’s rejection of his alibi. The site of the murder was not far from where he lived. Besides, he presented no corroborating testimony that he was then at his house. As to his lament that the RTC and the CA should not have given credit to Norman’s testimony for he had a grudge against him, Erwin presented no proof apart from his word that this was so. At any rate, the accounts of the remaining eyewitnesses were just as positive, straightforward, consistent, and clear. They all testified that Erwin stabbed Joey with a knife.
Since about 15 men, including accused Erwin, pounced on their one helpless victim, relentlessly bludgeoned him on the head, and stabbed him on the stomach until he was dead, there is no question that the accused took advantage of their superior strength.
WHEREFORE, the Court AFFIRMS in toto the Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-H.C. 03851 dated November 19, 2010 which affirmed with modification as to damages the Decision of the Regional Trial Court in Criminal Cases 04-225922-23 dated November 21, 2008.
3 TSN, August 30, 2005, pp. 5-6; TSN, May 8, 2006, p. 5.
4 Id. at 7; TSN, October 4, 2005, p. 3; TSN, November 29, 2005, pp. 2-3.
6 TSN, November 25, 2005, p. 4.
7 TSN, May 8, 2006, pp. 4, 8-9.
8 TSN, August 30, 2005, pp. 13-16.
11 TSN, October 8, 2007, pp. 3-4; TSN, February 26, 2008, pp. 5-6.
13 CA rollo, p. 71.
14 Id. at 34; penned by Judge Socorro B. Inting.
17 Rollo, pp. 2-12; penned by Associate Justice Apolinario D. Bruselas, Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justices Japar B. Dimaampao and Rodil V. Zalameda.
19 CA rollo, p. 64.
22People v. Villarico, Sr., G.R. No. 158362, April 4, 2011, 647 SCRA 43, 59, citing People v. Ronquillo, 430 Phil. 32, 50 (2002).
24 See: Chapter 2, Title XVII, Book IV of the Civil Code of the Philippines.
26 An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines.
27 As amended by Republic Act 9346.
28 See: Republic Act 9346; Sec. 3. Person convicted of offenses punished with reclusion perpetua, or whose sentences will be reduced to reclusion perpetua, by reason of this Act, shall not be eligible for parole under Act 4180, otherwise known as the Indeterminate Sentence Law, as amended.
29People v. Gutierrez, supra note 25, at 645.

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