GR 139150; (July, 2001) (Digest)
G.R. No. 139150 , July 20, 2001
PABLO DELA CRUZ, petitioner, vs. COURT OF APPEALS and PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner SPO4 Pablo dela Cruz was charged with homicide, later amended to murder, for the killing of Lt. Col. Vicente Garabato, Jr. on June 16, 1993, in Quezon City. The prosecution’s evidence, based on eyewitness accounts of construction workers Abundo Tad-y and Mario Mascardo, established that a confrontation arose when petitioner’s driveway was blocked by the victim’s parked Ford Fiera. Petitioner shouted invectives, grabbed the victim’s collar, and after the victim moved his vehicle, petitioner, while driving his jeep, shot the victim. Petitioner then alighted, reloaded his gun, and shot the victim again before fleeing. The victim sustained six gunshot wounds, four of which were fatal. Petitioner surrendered three days later. At trial, petitioner interposed the defense of denial and alibi, claiming he was at the Gagalangin Health Center in Tondo, Manila, at the time of the incident, which was corroborated by his wife and a health center employee. The Regional Trial Court convicted petitioner of homicide, not murder, sentencing him to an indeterminate penalty. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction.
ISSUE
Whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming petitioner’s conviction for homicide based on the evidence presented.
RULING
The Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the conviction with a modification to the penalty. The Court held that the prosecution proved petitioner’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The positive identification by two eyewitnesses, who had no ill motive to testify falsely, prevailed over petitioner’s defense of denial and alibi. The Court found the alibi weak and physically impossible, as the health center in Tondo was not so far from the crime scene in Quezon City as to preclude petitioner’s presence at the locus criminis. The trial court correctly appreciated the absence of treachery, qualifying the crime to murder, as the initial attack was frontal and the victim was aware of the aggression. The crime was thus homicide. The penalty was modified to an indeterminate sentence of six (6) years and one (1) day of prision mayor, as minimum, to fourteen (14) years, eight (8) months and one (1) day of reclusion temporal, as maximum.