Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=33835:g-r-no-104611-november-10,-1993-people-of-the-phil-v-felimon-m-java&amp;catid=1308&amp;Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 04:37:19+00:00

Document:
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. FELIMON JAVA Y MERCADO, Accused-Appellant.
Aida D. Dizon for Accused-Appellant.
". . . IN HOLDING THAT SALVADOR CAMBAYA POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED ACCUSED-APPELLANT AS A PRINCIPAL ACTOR IN THE COMMISSION OF THE CRIME AT BAR.
". . . IN HOLDING THAT ACCUSED-APPELLANT COMMITTED ROBBERY AGAINST THE PERSONS OF MICHAEL VALDEZ AND VIRGINIA VALDEZ.
". . . IN GIVING CREDENCE TO THE TESTIMONY OF PASTOR VALDEZ IN SPITE THE FACT THAT HIS TESTIMONY WAS NOT FORMALLY OFFERED BY THE PROSECUTION.
". . . IN HOLDING THAT VIRGINIA VALDEZ POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED ACCUSED-APPELLANT AS A PRINCIPAL ACTOR IN THE COMMISSION OF THE CRIME AT BAR.
". . . IN FINDING ACCUSED-APPELLANT GUILTY OF THE CRIME OF ROBBERY WITH HOMICIDE.
". . . IN FINDING ACCUSED-APPELLANT GUILTY OF THE CRIME OF ROBBERY WITH HOMICIDE BASED ON EVIDENCE NOT ON RECORD.
". . . IN NOT GIVING CREDENCE TO THE TESTIMONY OF COL. RODOLFO GARCIA AND OTHER DEFENSE WITNESSES.
Meanwhile, Virginia Cabate Valdez, the mother of Michael Valdez, was at the beauty parlor in front of their establishment. She was informed by the owner of the parlor that a commotion was going on at their place. She rushed out and was informed by her son Michael, that they had just been robbed of P50,000.00. Since Michael decided to run after the holduppers and he could not be stopped from doing so, she boarded the car of Michael, a Toyota, and went with him. They drove along 20th Avenue and turned left at Boni Serrano where Michael saw and pointed to the get-away vehicle of the holduppers, which was a maroon-colored passenger jeepney. Michael bumped the jeepney several times and turned left at Katipunan Road. However, the holduppers followed them and bumped their car several times at the rear and sides. Somewhere further along the Katipunan Road, one of the holduppers fired a gun hitting the rear glass of Michael’s car. While the jeepney was side by side with their car, he fired more shots at them hitting Michael on the torso and on the left side of his body. As a result, Michael died. The holduppers sped away towards Quirino Labor Hospital.
"That on or about the 19th day of March, 1988, in Quezon City, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the said accused, conspiring together, confederating with and mutually helping one another, with intent of gain, with violence and/or intimidation of person, did, then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously (sic) VIRGINIA VALDEZ y CABOTE and MICHAEL VALDEZ y CABOTE, mother and son respectively, by then and there, pointing their respective firearms at them and thereafter take, rob and divested the victims’ collection for the day amounting to P50,000.00, Philippine Currency, to the damage and prejudice of the said owner thereof in the total sum; that on the occasion of the said robbery, the said accused, conspiring together, confederating with and mutually helping one another, with intent to kill attack, assault and employ personal violence against Michael Valdez y Cabote, by then and there shooting him with a .38 cal. revolver marked Smith and Wesson, hitting him on his left breast, thereby inflicting him serious and mortal wounds which were the direct and immediate cause of his death, to the damage and prejudice of the heirs of the said Michael Valdez in such amount as may be awarded under the provisions of the Civil Code.
At the trial of the case, Salvador Cambaya and Mrs. Valdez recounted the aforesaid facts. Mrs. Valdez testified further that her family spent P13,833.20 for the Manila Memorial Park lot, P55,000.00 for the funeral services and P20,000.00 for the wake or a total of P48,833.20.
Pastor Valdez, Michael’s father testified that his establishment lost P50,000.00 to the robbers. He explained that Michael had collected P40,000.00 from a customer in Taguig, Rizal and the P10,000.00 came from the proceeds of the sale of construction materials that day. He handed the P10,000.00 to Michael to be placed together with the P40,000.00 in the cabinet.
The defense evidence consisted, among others, of the testimony of accused Felimon Java and his witnesses, namely: Col. Rodolfo Garcia, Patrolman Jose Malasa and Pfc. Mario Almariego. All their testimonies evinced the theory that accused could not have committed the crime charged as he was at the office of Colonel Rodolfo Garcia, who was then the Station Commander of the Quezon City Police Force at the precise time and date as that of the commission of the offense.
Please help bearer, Pat. Felimon Java in this reinstatement.
He brought the letter of recommendation to Col. Domondon but was informed by one Sgt. Rodriguez that the latter was out of town and that anyway, he already had a recommendation from Colonel Jaro, an aide of then Gen. Fidel Ramos. He didn’t know about that Jaro recommendation but remembered that he had previously sought Col. Jaro to accompany him to see Col. Domondon when he was with the People’s Patrol.
Pfc. Mario Almariego and Patrolman Jose Malasa corroborated his claim that he was at the office of Col. Garcia between 2:00 to 4:00 o’clock p.m. of March 19, 1988 for the purpose of securing a recommendation and that he lingered for some more time after getting the same.
Col. Rodolfo M. Garcia likewise confirmed the visit of the accused but also admitted that his office is swarmed with visitors everyday and he cannot memorize the names of people who see him.
He also said that the accused visited him again after he gave that note of recommendation asking for assistance to get employed. He remembered recommending him to a certain Sonny Pumarada who works at the Quezon City Hall.
"ACCORDINGLY, judgment is hereby rendered finding FELIMON JAVA Y MERCADO GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt as principal for the crime of Robbery with Homicide. Said Felimon Java is hereby sentenced to suffer a jail term of RECLUSION PERPETUA.
On the civil aspect said accused Felimon Java is hereby ordered to pay the spouses Pastor and Virginia Valdez the sum of P50,000.00 in relation to the robbery at bar, the sum of P50,000.00 as actual damages for the death of their son Michael Valdez, the sum of P100,000.00 as moral damages and another P100,000.00 as exemplary damages. No costs.
Going through the eight assignments of errors allegedly committed by the trial court we note that the thrust of the defense particularly in the first assignment of error, is centered on the want of positive identification of the perpetrator of the crime. The accused-appellant harped on the disparity in the cartographs of the supposed suspects, Exhibits "E" and "C," based on the descriptions given by the prosecution witnesses Salvador Cambaya and Virginia Valdez, respectively.
While conceding that the cartographs do not portray the same person, a comparison, however, of the descriptions given by said prosecution witnesses in their respective sworn statements previously quoted herein shows that except for the age range of the accused-appellant, all the details agree and point to one and the same person. Both descriptions speak of a person with a circular face, stocky physique and curly hair. Thus, it is not the witnesses’ fault if the cartographs came up with slightly different drawings of the Accused-Appellant. The cartographer could have perceived their declarations along different lines. Nevertheless, the important factor is that both witnesses identified the accused-appellant in court when they came face to face with him and pinpointed to him respectively as one of the robbers and the gunman.
The witnesses in this case, particularly Mrs. Valdez, had a clear recollection of the identity of the assailant of her son. She categorically declared that she had a good look at him and could not forget his face, particularly his eyes. She was not the kind of person that would perjure herself just to get a man into trouble. She had no motive for filing the case against the accused-appellant other than to seek redress not so much for the loss of the earnings of their establishment but more so for the death of her son. In the face of her clear and positive testimony regarding the accused-appellant’s role as the gunman of her son, as well as Cambaya’s positive identification of the same person as the man who accosted him, there is no mistaking that accused-appellant is one of the perpetrators of the crime.
Accused-appellant next claims in his second and third assignments of errors, that the prosecution failed to establish the fact of robbery because only two witnesses testified to the same, namely: Cambaya, who declared that accused-appellant got his P20.00, and Pastor Valdez, whose testimony was not offered by the prosecution at the time he testified in court in November 14, 1989 and hence cannot be considered pursuant to Sections 34 and 35 of Rule 132 of the Revised Rules of Court.
Under the new procedure as spelled out in Section 35 of the said rule which became effective on July 1, 1989, the offer of the testimony of a witness must be made at the time the witness is called to testify. The previous practice was to offer the testimonial evidence at the end of the trial after all the witnesses has testified. With the innovation, the court is put on notice whether the witness to be presented is a material witness and should be heard, or a witness who would be testifying on irrelevant matter or on facts already testified to by other witnesses and should therefore, be stopped from testifying further.
Besides, even if the testimony of Pastor Valdez were not admitted, the robbery was established by the testimony of Cambaya who not only stated that his P20.00 was taken at the point of a gun but that accused-appellant’s companion ransacked their office, found and fled away with some money. He was not sure only of the exact amount taken. At any rate, the amount stolen came to be known, when Mrs. Valdez who rushed to their office, after being informed of a commotion therein, testified to being informed by her son, Michael, that they have been robbed of P50,000.00. This statement is admissible as part of the res gestae, having been made immediately after a startling occurrence and before the declarant had time to concoct matters so that his utterance at that time was merely a reflex product of his immediate sensual impression. Said statement is admissible in evidence as one of the exceptions to the hearsay rule on the ground of trustworthiness and necessity.
Zeroing in on Mrs. Valdez’ identification of her son’s assailant, subject of the fourth assignment of error, Accused-appellant pointed out that at the time of the car chase, Mrs. Valdez was so tense, nervous and excited, continually hugging her son until the time that he was shot, so that her attention must have been focused on her son and not on the assailant. On top of that, Mrs. Valdez who was wearing eyeglasses admitted that she was crying at that time, so much so that the accused-appellant surmised that her glasses must have misted and blocked her vision.
Accused-appellant’s conjectures have no basis in fact and collide with Mrs. Valdez’ testimony that she had a good look at the assailant in the passenger jeep. Indeed some circumstances do not always produce the same effects as accused-appellant would want us to believe. Considering the relative positions of the passenger jeepney where the accused-appellant was riding in and the Toyota car driven by the victim with his mother as passenger, which were running side by side at high speed when the shooting occurred, we find it impossible for the assailant not to be seen and identified by Mrs. Valdez. A witness usually strive to remember the uncovered face of the assailant. 10 This, Mrs. Valdez must have done.
Accused-appellant’s fifth and sixth assigned errors center on the alleged failure of the prosecution to prove that those who committed the robbery and those who killed the victim are one and the same persons as to establish the crime of robbery with homicide.
Not only are these arguments fallacious but have no leg to stand on. Prosecution witness Salvador Cambaya positively identified the accused-appellant as one of those who held him up as well as the establishment where he works. While Mrs. Valdez identified the same accused-appellant as the jeep passenger who shot and killed his son. Hence, the connection between the robbery and the homicide was sufficiently established.
"1.	The centerpiece of the defense theory is the note of recommendation of Col. Rodolfo Garcia for Felimon Java dated March 19, 1988. On the date the accused by his own testimony, was still a tricycle driver as he joined the Quezon City People’s Patrol only on July 1988 upon the recommendation of Col. Garcia.
Thus, notwithstanding the stature of accused-appellant’s witnesses, their testimonies may be disregarded in the light of the other defense evidence at hand. Testimony to be believed must not only proceed from a credible witness but must be credible in itself and be able to stand the test of scrutiny along with the other testimonies. Thus, the accused-appellant’s invocation of alibi is unavailing not only by reason of its inherent weakness but also because of the circumstances pointing to its contrived nature and his positive identification by the prosecution witnesses as one of the persons who participated in the robbery and shot the victim.
In recapitulation, not even one of the eight arguments of accused-appellant in support of his appeal proved its worth as an error. Not a tinge of doubt was created on the guilt of the Accused-Appellant. On the other hand, the prosecution evidence showed that the positive identification made of him by no less than two prosecution witnesses was direct, clear and positive.
WHEREFORE, the decision appealed from is hereby AFFIRMED in toto being in accordance with law and the established facts of the case.
7.	People v. Alvarez, G.R. No. 70446, 169 SCRA 730 (1989) citing People v. Bernat, G.R., No. 55176, 120 SCRA 918 (1983) and People v. Zapanta, 45 O.G. 1312).
8.	People v. Pecardal, G.R. No. 71381 (1986).
9.	Asombra v. Dorado, 36 Phil. 883.
10.	People v. Cruz, G.R. No. L-37173, 133 SCRA 426 (1984) and People v. Alvarez, supra.
11.	People v. Gardon, 104 Phil. 371; People v. Salamuddin No. 1, 52 Phil. 670.
12.	People v. Moises, 104 Phil. 1054.
13.	People v. Estabillo, 11 Phil. 150.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.