Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52964:gr-161902-2009&catid=1522&Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 12:24:37+00:00

Document:
EDGAR MERCADO, Petitioner, v. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent.
This resolves the Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, praying that the Decision1 of the Court of Appeals (CA) dated December 23, 2003, be reversed and set aside.
Petitioner was charged under the following Amended Informations in Criminal Case No. 97-18386 with Frustrated Homicide and Criminal Case No. 97-18387 with Homicide.
thus performing all the acts of execution which could have produced the crime of homicide, as a consequence directly by overt acts, but nevertheless, did not produce it by reason of cause independent of the will of the perpetrators, that is, due to the timely and able medical assistance which saved the life of the victim.
- Wound, stab, .02 cm. in diameter, 7 inches deep at the 5th intercost space directed medially downward hitting the right lung and liver.
- Wound, stab, 0.3 cm. in diameter, 7 inches deep at the left lower hypochoriac region directed medially forward rupturing the abdominal aorta.
- Wound, stab, 0.2 cm in diameter, 7 inches at the upper left buttock directed forward medially involving the intestines.
- Wound, stab, 0.3 cm. in diameter, 7 inches deep at the lower left buttock involving the intestines.
Cause of Death: Cardio-respiratory arrest, hypovolemic shock ruptured abdominal aorta due to multiple stab wounds.
Petitioner pleaded not guilty to the Amended Informations and the cases were tried jointly.
Around 9 o'clock in the evening of December 23, 1996, brothers Nelson and Agaton Docto, together with John Gonzales, were drinking beer in front of the sari-sari store owned by Sheila Realista located at St. Francis Subdivision, Taculing, Bacolod City. Also drinking beer at the store was another group comprised of Morito Piansay, Jose Ramos, and a certain Jesse and Monding. After a while, an altercation broke out between Nelson Docto and Morito Piansay when the former belittled the latter's "magic" card tricks. Irked, Piansay left in a huff saying, "You just wait for me here, I cannot fight back because I am old." Piansay's companions also left with him. Nelson and Agaton Docto, as well as John Gonzales, remained at the store and continued drinking.
Around 12 o'clock midnight of December 24, 1996, Nelson Docto sang "Bayang Magiliw." Soon thereafter, Romulo Cabiles alias "Small" arrived at the store to buy beer. Sheila Realista initially refused to sell beer to Cabiles but relented upon the insistence of Nelson Docto. After getting his beer, Cabiles stood near the barbecue stand about one-and-a-half arms length away from Agaton Docto. Agaton Docto [should be Nelson Docto] and John Gonzales continued their conversation while Nelson Docto [should be Agaton Docto], who was by then heavily drunk, was almost dozing.
At this point, petitioner Edgar Mercado alias "Taming" arrived and also bought a bottle of beer. Petitioner sat on the stool near John Gonzales. Engaging petitioner in a conversation, Gonzales asked the former where he was from. Petitioner replied that he was from Barangay 29. Petitioner then asked for his bill and paid it. After receiving his change, petitioner suddenly broke the beer bottle he was holding in front of Realista, who cried out "Linti!" in surprise. Almost simultaneously, Cabiles struck Agaton Docto with a wooden stool. At the time, Agaton Docto was almost asleep and sitting with his head bowed. He slumped down on the table, unconscious, after being hit.
Cabiles then turned his attention to John Gonzales and repeatedly stabbed him with a stainless knife. Gonzales tried to defend himself but was nevertheless hit on his forehead, hands and left armpit. When Cabiles stabbed Gonzales in the armpit, Cabiles was sitting on top of Gonzales who was lying supine on the ground. Witnessing the attack, Realista threw a stone at Cabiles in an effort to stop him. The stone hit Cabiles on the neck, momentarily stunning him and affording Gonzales a chance to escape. Cabiles, however, soon recovered and pursued the fleeing Gonzales.
While Gonzales was being attacked by Cabiles, petitioner, after breaking the beer bottle, pulled out a weapon called "tres cantos" and repeatedly stabbed Nelson Docto. Petitioner then joined Cabiles in pursuing the fleeing Gonzales. Realista followed, but was unable to catch up with the group.
Incised wound, 5 cm., maxilla, left.
Nelson Docto died as a result of the injuries he sustained. His Certificate of Death states the cause of his death as "Cardiopulmonary Arrest, Hypovolemic Shock due to multiple stab wounds on the abdomen and chest."
On the other hand, petitioner maintains that he could not have been the malefactor because he resides in Iloilo and only arrived in Bacolod between 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning of December 24, 1996. Petitioner presented his testimony and those of his aunt Milagros Vasquez, his sister-in-law Catherine Mercado and his friend Rey Diorama. They all testified that petitioner, who resides in Iloilo, only arrived in Bacolod City on the morning of December 24, 1996. Petitioner said he, together with his wife and child, and a secretary of his wife, left Iloilo at 5:30 in the morning of December 24, 1996 and they arrived at Banago wharf at around 7 o'clock in the morning of the same day. It was already 8 o'clock in the morning of that day when they arrived in Bacolod. Catherine Mercado stated that petitioner's party arrived at their house in Bacolod between 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning of December 24, 1996; and that the ferry trip from Iloilo to Bacolod only takes one hour. Rey Diorama testified that he only saw petitioner in Bacolod around 9 o'clock in the morning of that day. Milagros Vasquez also said that at around 8:30 to 9 o'clock in the morning of December 24, 1996, petitioner called her on the phone, informing her that they had just arrived in Bacolod and they were bringing salad to the family reunion. Witness for the accused SPO4 Ismail Tan only stated that he accompanied SPO3 Amador Versos to the Bacolod Sanitarium and Hospital. It was the latter who interviewed the victim John Gonzales and the available witnesses, so he could not say with certainty whether Versos asked questions about the identity of the assailants. He, however, identified the Police Blotter Report where it was stated that the attackers were "2 unidentified persons."
2. In Criminal Case No. 97-18386 for Frustrated Homicide, each accused is hereby sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of two (2) years and six (6) months of prison correctional, as minimum, to eight (8) years and six (6) months of prison mayor, as maximum, and also to pay for the cost of suit.
The two accused are entitled to the full credit of their preventive detention.
On appeal with the CA, said conviction was affirmed in toto.
Only petitioner Edgar Mercado availed of the remedy of the present Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, hence, as to Romulo Cabiles, the CA Decision has become final and executory.
The meat of petitioner's argument is that the identification of petitioner made by prosecution witnesses John Gonzales and Sheila Realista is fraught with defects, thus, unreliable and insufficient to warrant a finding of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. He further points out that there are inconsistencies between the witnesses' statements in their affidavits and their testimony.
The Court, in a long line of cases,8 has reiterated the totality of circumstance test set forth in People v. Teehankee, Jr.,9 which dictates that the following factors be considered in determining the reliability of the out-of-court identification made by a witness, i.e., (1) the witness' opportunity to view the criminal at the time of the crime; (2) the witness' degree of attention at the time of the crime; (3) the accuracy of any prior description given by the witness; (4) the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at the identification; (5) the length of time between the crime and the identification; and (6) the suggestiveness of the identification procedure.
Verily, with nearly a hundred photographs from which Gonzales may pick out and identify who his assailant is, it is highly improbable for the witness to have been given impermissible suggestions. Thus, Gonzales' identification of petitioner as one of the assailants is highly reliable and should be accorded great credence.
Gonzales' identification of petitioner is already sufficient to prove that petitioner is the author of the crime, justifying his conviction. Sheila Realista's identification of the malefactors is merely corroborating. Therefore, although the process through which Realista identified petitioner and the other accused do not exactly comply with the aforementioned guidelines, i.e., only their pictures were shown to Realista and the widow of Nelson Docto pointed out to her the two accused before she testified in court, these defects are not enough to negatively affect in any way the identification made by Gonzales.
x x x [T]his Court had consistently ruled that the alleged inconsistencies between the testimony of a witness in open court and his sworn statement before the investigators are not fatal defects to justify a reversal of judgment. Such discrepancies do not necessarily discredit the witness since ex parte affidavits are almost always incomplete. A sworn statement or an affidavit does not purport to contain a complete compendium of the details of the event narrated by the affiant. Sworn statements taken ex parte are generally considered to be inferior to the testimony given in open court.
Here, Gonzales' statement in his affidavit that "two unidentified men arrived" cannot be taken to mean that he cannot identify the assailants from mug shots or if he comes face to face with said persons again. His candid, though, imprecise language in his affidavit merely bolsters his credibility.
In the face of the credible and reliable positive identification made by Gonzales, petitioner's defense of alibi is absolutely unavailing. As held in People v. Tormis,21 "the defense of alibi, being inherently weak, cannot prevail over the clear and positive identification of the accused as the perpetrator of the crime." Indeed, petitioner's bare allegation that he arrived in Bacolod only on the morning of December 24, 1996 cannot be given much credence since it is unsupported by evidence of the time of his travel or the time he left Iloilo, such as a ticket from the ferry he boarded. There is no evidence presented showing that petitioner was actually in Iloilo as of the time of the commission of the crime. The witnesses petitioner presented only proved that they saw him only on the morning of December 24, 1996, but this does not prove that petitioner could not have been in Bacolod at an earlier time before they saw him.
In sum, petitioner failed to show any reason for the Court to overturn the findings of the RTC and the CA.
IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, the petition is DENIED. The Decision of the Court of Appeals dated December 23, 2003 is hereby AFFIRMED.
1 Penned by Associate Justice Amelita G. Tolentino, with Associate Justices Eloy R. Bello, Jr. and Noel G. Tijam, concurring; rollo, pp. 27-45.
2 Records (Crim. Case No. 97-18386), p. 40.
3 Records (Crim. Case No. 97-18387), p. 23.
8 People of the Philippines v. Samuel Algarme y Bond and Rizaldy Gelle y Biscocho, G.R. No. 175978, February 12, 2009; People v. Rodrigo, G.R. No. 176159, September 11, 2008; People v. Rivera, 458 Phil. 856 (2003).
9 G.R. NOS. 111206-08, October 6, 1995, 249 SCRA 54, 96.
10 People v. Rodrigo, supra note 8, citing People v. Pineda, 429 SCRA 478, 497-498 (2004); and People v. Villena, G.R. No.140066, October 14, 2002, 390 SCRA 637, 650.
11 Supra note 9, at 95.
12 TSN, September 29, 1998, pp. 12-24.
13 People v. Teehankee, Jr., supra note 9.
15 TSN, September 29, 1998, pp. 35-48.
18 TSN, September 29, 1998, pp. 37-44.
19 G.R. No. 172184, July 10, 2007, 527 SCRA 267.
21 G.R. No. 183456, December 18, 2008, 574 SCRA 903, 916.

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