GR 107715; (April, 1996) (Digest)
G.R. No. 107715 . April 25, 1996.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. ISIDRO ALBA y MANAPAT, accused-appellant.
FACTS
Accused-appellant Isidro Alba, the victim Constancio Marata, and eyewitness Gregorio Lelis were construction workers. On the evening of December 18, 1991, Alba and Marata were drinking with others. Later, Lelis, from his nearby bunkhouse, heard a commotion and then saw Alba standing over Marata, who was on the ground, stabbing him repeatedly with a knife under sufficient illumination. Lelis reported the crime the next morning. Police found Marata dead and arrested Alba, who led them to the discarded knife. The autopsy revealed multiple fatal stab and hacking wounds.
At trial, Alba claimed self-defense. He testified that after their companions left, an intoxicated Marata, angered by Alba’s refusal to lend money, attacked him first with a piece of wood and a knife. Alba alleged he wrestled the knife away and used it against Marata to defend himself. The trial court rejected this defense, convicted him of murder qualified by treachery, and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court correctly convicted accused-appellant of murder qualified by treachery.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court modified the conviction from murder to homicide. The Court accepted that Alba killed Marata but found the qualifying circumstance of treachery not proven beyond reasonable doubt. For treachery to exist, the prosecution must prove that the means of execution were deliberately adopted to ensure the killing without risk to the assailant from any defense the victim might make. The evidence did not indubitably establish this.
The lone eyewitness, Lelis, did not see the commencement of the attack. He only saw Alba already standing over the fallen victim, delivering successive blows. This sequence is consistent with a sudden attack but also with a struggle that had already commenced, which the defense claimed began with Marata’s aggression. Without clear evidence of how the confrontation started, treachery cannot be deduced from presumption or speculation. The killing was thus homicide. The Court, however, appreciated the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender, as Alba was arrested while ostensibly on his way to surrender at dawn. Consequently, the penalty was reduced to an indeterminate sentence of 6 years and 1 day of prision mayor, as minimum, to 12 years and 1 day of reclusion temporal, as maximum.