Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=40354:g-r-no-127849-august-9,-2000-people-of-the-phil-v-vivencio-labuguen&amp;catid=1396&amp;Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 08:44:01+00:00

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PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. VIVENCIO LABUGUEN @ DENCIO, Accused-Appellant.
"WHEREFORE, finding the accused VIVENCIO LABUGUEN @ DENCIO GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of ROBBERY WITH HOMICIDE as alleged in the information and considering the presence of the aggravating circumstances of fraud and craft without any mitigating circumstance, the Court, considering the provision of Article 294, paragraph 1 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act 7659, hereby sentences said accused VIVENCIO LABUGUEN the penalty of DEATH. The accused Vivencio Labuguen is hereby ordered to pay the heirs of Bonifacio Angeles P40,000.00 for the money taken, P55,100.00 for the expenses incurred during the wake and- burial of the deceased Bonifacio Angeles and P50,000.00 indemnification. Cost against the accused.
"That on or about the 27th day of October, 1994, in the municipality of Angadanan, province of Isabela, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the said accused, by means of force violence and intimidation against person and with intent to gain, did then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, take, steal and carry away cash money in the amount of P40,000.00 and belonging to Bonifacio Angeles @ Asiong, against his will and consent, to the damage and prejudice of the said Bonifacio Angeles @ Asiong, in the aforesaid amount of P40,000.00; that on the occasion and by reason of said robbery, and for the purpose of enabling him to take, steal and bring away the said money, the accused, did then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, with intent to kill and without any just motive, assault, attack and shoot for several times with a firearm and stab for several times with a pointed/bladed instrument the said Bonifacio Angeles @ Asiong, inflicting upon him multiple gunshot wounds and multiple stab wounds on the different parts of his body, which directly caused his death.
The defense called on Victoriano Dy, Romeo Estacio, Precila Labuguen, Lt. David Palaganas, Tranquilino Cagurangan, Jessie Cabbab and Orlando Ramos and the appellant himself to testify.
". . . Bonifacio Angeles, 56, (Bonifacio) was engaged in the business of buying cows which he sold at the public market. Although he was married to Damasa Gante with whom he had nine (9) children, he lived with another woman, Marilou Dabo, 28, at Coloma Village, San Fermin, Cauayan, Isabela. They begot two (2) children during their ten (10) years of coverture.
Early in the morning of October 27, 1994, Tomas Pagbigayan (sic) (Tomas) went to the house of Bonifacio at San Fermin. Tomas offered two cows to sell to Bonifacio. Bonifacio said that when he has time, he will go and see the cows. After their talk Bonifacio gave Tomas a lift on his Honda Sports XL100 motorcycle and accompanied him to the crossing where he could take a ride home. Tomas sat on the backseat of the motorcycle.
The accused stayed on the porch of the house. Marilou Dabo served him coffee. The accused told Bonifacio that he knows of three big cows for sale and that the place where they are is near. Bonifacio said that he will go and see the cows, after breakfast.
Marilou Dabo declared in her testimony that the accused had a handkerchief tied around his forehead as a headband. He was wearing dark sunglasses, dark jacket and a faded maong pants. He wore rubber slippers. Marilou Dabo recognized him as the accused Vivencio Labuguen because before October 27, 1994, the accused had already come to their house and offered to sell a lot to Bonifacio. After Bonifacio finished his breakfast, he went to the porch and talked to the accused for about fifteen (15) minutes. Marilou Dabo was in the kitchen three meters away from them.
Bonifacio entered their room and took P40,000.00 from the cabinet. Bonifacio got P40,000.00 because the accused told him the cows are big. He counted the money and placed it inside his pocket. Marilou Dabo was beside him. She saw Bonifacio count the P40,000.00 in P1,000.00, P500.00 and P100.00 bills.
Then Bonifacio and the accused rode on the motorcycle. Bonifacio drove the motorcycle. The accused was seated behind Bonifacio. This was past 8:00 o’clock in the morning of October 27, 1994.
At about 10:00 o’clock that morning of October 27, 1994, Pantaleon Tagora, 55, farmer and a resident of Ramona, Angadanan, was on his way home. He had just come from his cornfield. He was walking on top of the irrigation canal near the service drop when he met two (2) male persons. One was younger than the other. The young one wore a jacket which was quite yellow. His face was quite round. He was not wearing sunglasses or headband. In Court, Tagora identified the younger person as Vivencio Labuguen. (TSN p. 10, Tagora, July 5, 1995). The older one wore a faded maong pants. His face was quite elongated. They were seated four (4) meters apart. Tagora first met the older male person. This place where Tagora met them was one and a half kilometers from his house.
Tagora passed by the two persons without talking to them. After walking 200 meters away from them, he saw a motorcycle parked on the way.
The top of the irrigation canal was used as an exit road to the National Highway between Alicia on the South and Cauayan on the North. (TSN-Dr 2 Agpaoa, p. 13, October 31, 1995).
Between 11:00 to 12:00 o’clock noon on October 27, 1994, Geronimo Rivera, 45, was driving a Challenger, a passenger mini-bus (sic), at Barangay Nappaccu Grande (Nappaccu), Reina Mercedes, Isabela. His conductor was Eduardo Valle, 20. They came from Santiago, Isabela, bound for Tuguegarao, Cagayan. There were passengers in the bus.
At Nappaccu, Geromino Rivera (Rivera) saw at a distance of 200 meters, a person behind some talahibs near the National Highway. When the mini-bus (sic) came near to a distance of 50 meters from the person, Rivera noticed that he was wiping something on his right hand and right face. When the mini-bus (sic) was near, the person flagged it down. The bus stopped. Rivera saw a Honda XL100 motorcycle three (3) meters from the person near the edge of the highway.
Conductor Eduardo Valle, went down the mini-bus (sic) to allow the person to get inside the bus. He observed that his clothes, particularly the right side of his jacket and the right side of his pants, was soaked with blood. He was wearing a cream jacket, maong pants, sunglasses and a handkerchief tied around his forehead. Eduardo Valle thought he met an accident but when he looked at the Honda XL100 motorcycle parked behind the person, it was not damaged and that he had no injuries.
In Court, Geronimo Rivera and Eduardo Valle positively identified the person who rode on the mini-bus (sic) with blood-soaked clothes and plenty of money on the breast pocket of his jacket as the accused Vivencio Labuguen. They also positively identified the Honda XL100 (Exhibit ‘G’) as the same motorcycle behind the accused which was left when he boarded the mini-bus (sic) at Nappaccu.
When some passengers alighted at the junction of the road in Naguillan going to San Mariano, Isabela, the accused suddenly stoop up and alighted from the mini-bus (sic). He did not even get his change.
Going back to Pantaleon Tagora at Ramona, Angadanan. Between 1:00 to 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon of October 27, 1994 while he was in his house at Ramona, he heard that a dead person was found near the irrigation canal. He and his neighbors went to see the dead person. He was surprised to see that the dead person was the same older person who was the companion of the younger one he met that morning. He identified the younger person as the accused. The body of the deceased was on the middle of a ricefield (sic), 50 meters from the service drop of the irrigation canal.
1.	Gunshot wound, entrance left, inferior margin of left clavicle, slightly outside the left midclavicular line, directed slightly downward, backward and medially.
2.	Gunshot wound, entrance, right side of the thoracic cage, along slight anterior axillary line, between 6th & 5th costal interspace, directed medially.
3.	Stab wound, left temporal area, above the left ear.
4.	Stab wound, supra sternal notch (deep) penetrating chest cavity.
5.	Stab wound, supra clavicular area, downwards, penetrating chest cavity.
6.	Multiple superficial stab wound over anterior chest wall and abdominal wall.
7.	Stab wound on both thighs, anterior surface.
c)	The combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.
1.	In the early morning of October 27, 1994, appellant went to the house of the victim to convince him to purchase the cows offered for sale.
2.	The victim agreed to see the cows, bringing along with him P40,000.00. Thus, at around 8:00 in the morning of the same day, the victim and the appellant rode on the motorcycle of the victim with the latter as the driver.
3.	At past 8:00 in the morning of October 27, 1994, prosecution witness Romeo Bariza saw the victim and appellant riding on a motorcycle.
4.	At about 10:00 of the same day, the victim and the appellant were seen sitting on top of an irrigation canal at Barangay Ramona, Angadanan, Isabela.
6.	Between 11:00 to 12:00 noon of October 27, 1994, appellant rode a minibus leaving the motorcycle of the victim on the shoulder of the road.
7.	The bus conductor noticed that the right side of appellant’s jacket and pants were soaked with blood, and there were two inches thick of one hundred peso bills tucked in the breast pocket of appellant’s jacket.
8.	Between 1:00 to 2:00 in the afternoon of the same day, the dead body of the victim with gunshot and stab wounds was found by the residents of Barangay Ramona, 150 meters from the irrigation canal.
9.	Around 5 00 o’clock in the afternoon also of the same day, the municipal health officer, the chief of police, the mayor, and some peace officers of Angadanan, Isabela, proceeded to the place where the body of the unidentified victim was found (Exhibit "J", O.R., p. 156; and TSN, p. 4, October 31, 1995, direct exam. of Dr. Agpaoa).
10.	Federico Angeles identified the deceased as his brother Bonifacio Angeles (Exhibit "K", O.R., p. 157.).
After a careful study, the Court is of the ineluctable finding and conclusion that the aforementioned circumstantial evidence has established the guilt of appellant beyond reasonable doubt. The time element of the circumstances thus proven link each chain of circumstances to another pointing to a reasonable conclusion and no other but the guilt of appellant. From the early morning of October 27, 1994 to 10:00 o’clock in the morning of the same day, the prosecution has sufficiently shown that the appellant was the last person seen with the victim before the latter was killed. About thirty minutes later, appellant was seen speeding away from Barangay Ramona where he and the victim were previously spotted by one of the prosecution witnesses. And, escaping from the consequences of his felonious act, appellant, boarded a minibus, leaving the motorcycle of the victim on the side of the road. All the foregoing circumstances, coupled with the fact that appellant had two inches-thick of one hundred peso bills in his possession when he rode on the minibus with his jacket and pants splattered with blood, suffice to prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of appellant of the crime of robo con homicido perpetrated in the morning of October 27, 1994.
Appellant’s intention to rob the victim can be gleaned unerringly from the attendant circumstances. Obviously, robbery was the motive that impelled appellant to convince the victim to go with him. Under the pretext of selling cows to him, appellant cajoled the victim to bring a large sum of money and thereafter, lured him to a route where appellant could divest him of his money with the least danger of being caught. As aptly surmised by the trial court, the two inches thick of one hundred peso bills in appellant’s pocket and the blood smeared on his clothes are two vital chains of circumstances that undoubtedly bespeak of the robbery with homicide appellant committed.
Disowning liability for the commission of the crime complained of, appellant theorized that he was in Maconacon, Isabela, from October 17, 1994 up to December 201 1994. The Court, however, finds no credibility in the alibi theorized upon by appellant. It bears stressing that for alibi to prosper, appellant must prove that he was somewhere else when the crime was committed and it was physically impossible for him to have been at the scene of the crime 13 In the present case of appellant, he failed to establish the requisite physical impossibility of his presence at the locus criminis at the approximate time of its commission. Granting arguendo that the appellant really went to Maconacon, Isabela on October 17, 1994, it was easy for him to go back by plane or by boat to Cauayan, Isabela, on or before October 27, 1994.
Under Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code, the penalty for Robbery with Homicide is reclusion perpetua to death Applying Article 63 of the same Code, the imposable penalty under the premises is death in view of the presence of the aggravating circumstances of craft and fraud and the absence of any mitigating circumstance.
Four members of the Court are steadfast in their adherence to the separate opinion expressed in People v. Echegaray that Republic Act No. 7659 is unconstitutional insofar as it prescribes the death penalty. However, they bow to the majority opinion that the aforesaid law is constitutional and therefore, the penalty prescribe thereunder has to be imposed.
WHEREFORE, the Decision dated October 7, 1996 of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 20, Cauayan, Isabela, in Criminal Case No. 20-738, finding appellant VIVENCIO LABUGUEN @ DENCIO guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of robbery with homicide, and imposing upon him the penalty of DEATH, is AFFIRMED.
Davide, Jr., C.J., Melo, Puno, Vitug, Kapunan, Mendoza, Panganiban, Quisumbing, Purisima, Pardo, Buena, Gonzaga-Reyes, Ynares-Santiago and De Leon, Jr., JJ., concur.
Bellosillo, J., abroad, on official business.
1.	Penned by Judge Henedino P. Eduane.
3.	Original Records (O.R.) p. 50.
4.	O.R. pp. 69 and 73.
5.	Decision, Rollo, pp. 235-239.
8.	People v. Andal, 279 SCRA 475, 486 citing: People v. Ramos, 240 SCRA 191 and People v. Lorenzo, 240 SCRA 624.
9.	286 SCRA 64, 71.
11.	People v. Pija, 245 SCRA 80, 84-85 citing: People v. Rostata, Jr. 218 SCRA 657.
12.	People v. Laurente, 255 SCRA 543, 563 citing People v. Enciso, 223 SCRA 675; and People v. Lagrosa, Jr., 230 SCRA 298.
13.	People v. Taneo, 284 SCRA 251, 271 citing: People v. Barte, 230 SCRA 401, and People v. Aninon, 158 SCRA 701.
14.	People v. Taneo, supra, citing: People v. Fernandez, 239 SCRA 174, People v. Abapo, 239 SCRA 469; People v. Repollo, 237 SCRA 476; People v. Saballe, 236 SCRA 365; People v. Jimenez, 235 SCRA 322; and People v. Apa-ap, Jr, 235 SCRA 468.
15.	People v. Ang, 139 SCRA 115, 121 citing: People v. Martinez y Godinez, 106 Phil 597; People v. Butler, 120 SCRA 281; and People v. Roquinio, 17 SCRA 914.
16.	People v. Manuzon, 277 SCRA 550, 562.

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