Case Digest: Antonio Lejano vs. People of the Philippines

 G.R. No. 176389                14 December 2010

FACTS:

On 30 June 1991, Estellita Vizconde and her daughters Carmela and Jennifer were brutally slain at their home in Paranaque City.  Four years later in 1995, the NBI announced that it had solved the crime.  It presented star-witness Jessica Alfaro, one of its informers, who claimed that she had witnessed the crime.  She pointed to Hubert Webb, Antonio Lejano, Artemio Ventura, Michael Gatchalian, Hospicio Fernandez, Peter Estrada, Miguel Rodriguez and Joy Filart as the culprits.  She also tagged police officer, Gerardo Biong, as an accessory after the fact.  Alfaro had been working as an asset to the NBI by leading the agency to criminals.  Some of the said criminals had been so high-profile, that Alfaro had become the “darling” of the NBI because of her contribution to its success.  The trial court and the Court of Appeals found that Alfaro’s direct and spontaneous narration of events unshaken by gruesome cross-examination should be given a great weight in the decision of the case.

In Alfaro’s story, she stated that after she and the accused got high of shabu, she was asked to see Carmela at their residence.  After Webb was informed that Carmela had a male companion with her, Webb became piqued and thereafter consumed more drugs and plotted the gang rape on Carmela.  Webb, on the other hand, denied all the accusations against him with the alibi that during the whole time that the crime had taken place, he was staying in the United States.  He had apparently left for the US on 09 March 1991 and only returned on 27 October 1992.  As documentary evidence, he presented photocopies of his passport with four stamps recording his entry and exit from both the Philippines and the US, Flight’s Passenger Manifest employment documents in the US during his stay there and US-INS computer generated certification authenticated by the Philippine DFA.  Aside from these documentary alibis, he also gave a thorough recount of his activities in the US

ISSUE:

Whether or not Webb’s documented alibi of his U.S. travel should be given more credence by the Court than the positive identification by Alfaro.

RULING:

For a positive identification to be acceptable, it must meet at least two criteria:

1. The positive identification of the offender must come from a credible witness; and
2. The witness’ story of what she personally saw must be believable, not inherently contrived.

The Supreme Court found that Alfaro and her testimony failed to meet the above criteria.  She did not show up at the NBI as a spontaneous witness bothered by her conscience.  She had been hanging around the agency for sometime as a stool pigeon, one paid for mixing up with criminals and squealing on them.  And although her testimony included details, Alfaro had prior access to the details that the investigators knew of the case.  She took advantage of her familiarity with these details to include in her testimony the clearly incompatible acts of Webb hurling a stone at the front door glass frames, for example, just so she can accommodate the crime scene feature.

To establish alibi, the accused must prove by positive, clear and satisfactory evidence that:

1. He was present at another place at the time of the perpetration of the crime, and
2. That it was physically impossible for him to be at the scene of the crime.

The Supreme Court gave very high credence to the compounded documentary alibi presented by Webb.  This alibi altogether impeaches Alfaro’s testimony not only with respect to him, but also with respect to the other accused.  For, if the Court accepts the proposition that Webb was in the US when the crime took place, Alfaro’s testimony will not hold altogether.  Webb’s participation is the anchor of Alfaro’s story.

Case Digest: People of the Philippines vs. Edwin Gayeta y Roblo alias “Freddie”

G.R. No. 171654                17 December 2008

Ponente: Torres, Jr., J.

FACTS:

While spouses Benjamin and Conchita were drinking tuba in their home, two armed men barged into their house and declared a hold-up who were later identified as herein appellant and one Reano.  Benjamin was kicked and boxed until the latter bled and lost consciousness, by which Conchita surrendered P2,500.  The two armed men then left and barged into another couple’s home and demanded them for money.  The wife, accompanied by the appellant, went to their store to get money.  In the store, the appellant forced the wife to have sexual intercourse with him.  After they had returned to their home, she told her husband that she had been sexually abused.  The husband had an altercation with the two perpetrators which resulted in him being hit on the shoulder with a bullet.

The two denied that they took part in the crime claiming that it was physically impossible for them to be at the scene of the crime for Gayeta was in Muntinlupa doing his rounds as a member of the Voluntary Lakas Brigade, while Reano was in another town.

ISSUE:  

Whether the accused was guilty of the crimes of robbery and robbery with rape with his presentation of the Voluntary Lakas logbook.

RULING:

The inherently weak alibi presented by the accused does not hold a stronger bearing as compared to the positive identification made by the prosecution witnesses which is given full faith by both the trial court and the Court of Appeals.  Furthermore, presented logbook was neither authenticated nor identified by the persons who supposedly issued them. 

The aggravating circumstance of dwelling was properly appreciated in both robbery and robbery with rape.  There being no evidence to show that the accused purposely sought nighttime to facilitate the commission of the offense, this circumstance was ruled out.  The original penalty of death is therefore reduced to reclusion perpetua with no eligibility for parole.