G.R. No. L-34807. February 27, 1989.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. FABIO TACHADO and CARPIO SANCHEZ, defendants-appellants.

FACTS

The case involves the murder of Barrio Captain Eddie Motus. Appellants Fabio Tachado and Carpio Sanchez, along with the deceased Lucio Tachado, were tenants on land adjoining Motus’s property. A boundary dispute arose, culminating in the fatal incident on July 9, 1972. On that morning, Motus and his half-brother, Jesus Latumbo, met with a surveyor and the appellants to relocate boundaries. While walking to a monument, Lucio Tachado suddenly shot Motus in the back. When Latumbo attempted to intervene, appellant Fabio Tachado fired at him, and appellant Carpio Sanchez attacked him with a bolo. Patrolman Nicolas Gaviola, responding to gunfire, witnessed the appellants standing over the fallen Motus. The victim, in a dying declaration to Gaviola, identified all three as his assailants before succumbing to his wounds.
The defense claimed Motus was killed with his own gun after a struggle with Lucio Tachado, absolving the appellants. They presented an alibi for Fabio Tachado and argued Sanchez only inflicted non-fatal wounds. The trial court convicted both appellants of murder qualified by treachery and evident premeditation, sentencing them to reclusion perpetua. They appealed, challenging the credibility of prosecution witnesses and the existence of conspiracy.

ISSUE

The core issue is whether the appellants are guilty of murder as co-conspirators, given the defense’s challenge to the eyewitness accounts and the alleged lack of conspiracy.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The legal logic rests on the conclusive establishment of conspiracy and the weakness of the defense. Conspiracy was proven through the appellants’ coordinated actions before, during, and after the killing. Their presence together at the crime scene following the prior land dispute, the simultaneous attack where Fabio shot at Latumbo and Sanchez wielded his bolo to prevent intervention, and their collective flight upon Gaviola’s arrival demonstrate a united purpose to kill Motus. The Court emphasized that conspiracy is deduced from conduct, and the appellants’ acts were indicative of a common criminal design.
The positive and credible testimonies of eyewitness Jesus Latumbo and impartial witness Patrolman Nicolas Gaviola, corroborated by the victim’s dying declaration, firmly established the appellants’ direct participation. The defense’s alibi and alternative narrative were properly rejected. An alibi cannot prevail over positive identification, and Fabio Tachado failed to prove the physical impossibility of his presence. Sanchez’s uncorroborated story was deemed improbable against the consistent prosecution evidence. The Court found treachery present as the attack was sudden, ensuring the victim had no chance to defend himself. The penalty of reclusion perpetua was upheld, with the civil indemnity increased to Thirty Thousand Pesos (P30,000.00) in line with prevailing jurisprudence.