GR 122935; (May, 2000) (Digest)
G.R. No. 122935 . May 31, 2000.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. RODOLFO SANTOS y ALVAREZ and FERNANDO TAMAYO y BERNARDO, accused-appellants.
FACTS
The accused-appellants, Rodolfo Santos and Fernando Tamayo, were convicted of Murder by the Regional Trial Court and sentenced to reclusion perpetua. The prosecution established that on June 15, 1993, the victim, Melvin Adriano, was at his girlfriend Carmela’s hut in Hagonoy, Bulacan. In the evening, appellants, who were CAFGU members, arrived with Melvin. Both appellants were drunk. They later insisted on leaving and asked Melvin to accompany them to Barangay Pugad. This was the last time Melvin was seen alive. His body was discovered the next morning near a fishpond dike, having died from asphyxia by drowning. The prosecution presented no eyewitness to the actual killing. The defense relied on alibi, each claiming they were at their respective homes that night.
ISSUE
Whether the accused-appellants may be convicted based solely on circumstantial evidence.
RULING
Yes, but the crime is Homicide, not Murder. The Supreme Court affirmed that conviction can rest on circumstantial evidence if: (1) there is more than one circumstance; (2) the facts from which inferences are derived are proven; and (3) the combination of all circumstances produces a conviction beyond reasonable doubt. The Court found the totality of circumstances sufficient: appellants were the last persons seen with the victim; appellant Tamayo was a spurned suitor of the victim’s girlfriend; appellants, who were not friends with Melvin, accompanied him for the first time that night and then requested his company to the location where his body was later found. However, the Court ruled that the qualifying circumstances of treachery and evident premeditation were not proven. The medical findings of drowning did not conclusively show a deliberate and sudden attack, and the prosecution failed to establish how the assault commenced. Thus, the crime is properly Homicide under Article 249 of the Revised Penal Code. The penalty was modified to an indeterminate sentence of eight (8) years of prision mayor, as minimum, to seventeen (17) years and four (4) months of reclusion temporal, as maximum.