G.R. No. 152176 ; October 1, 2003
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, appellee, vs. ROGER DELA CRUZ y DOE, appellant.

FACTS

On the evening of August 29, 1998, in Barangay Cabanbanan, Camarines Sur, Mark Lester Suarez was walking with friends Joseph Sanchez and Edgar delos Santos. Sanchez stopped at a store, and he suddenly heard Mark shout that he had been stabbed. Sanchez looked and saw appellant Roger Dela Cruz running away. The wounded Mark identified Dela Cruz as his assailant before being taken to the hospital, where he died. Chief Tanod Felix delos Santos also testified that upon arriving at the scene, he asked the victim who stabbed him, and Mark answered, “Roger.”
The defense presented an alibi. Appellant claimed he was in Cavite and Tagaytay working as a construction worker from August 23, 1998, and only returned to Camarines Sur upon learning a case was filed against him. His mother and a friend corroborated his testimony. The Regional Trial Court convicted appellant of Murder qualified by treachery and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua.

ISSUE

Whether the trial court erred in convicting appellant of Murder, specifically in appreciating the qualifying circumstance of treachery.

RULING

The Supreme Court modified the conviction from Murder to Homicide. The Court affirmed the trial court’s finding on the credibility of the prosecution witnesses and the admissibility of the victim’s identification of appellant. The victim’s statements to Sanchez and Delos Santos were correctly admitted as part of the res gestae, as they were made spontaneously after the startling stabbing incident, without opportunity for contrivance.
However, the Court found that treachery was not sufficiently proven. For treachery to qualify a killing to murder, the prosecution must prove that the means of execution were deliberately adopted to ensure the attack without risk to the assailant. The records only showed that the victim was stabbed, but did not establish how the attack commenced or that appellant employed a method which deliberately ensured the victim had no opportunity for self-defense. Absent clear evidence of the manner of attack, treachery cannot be presumed. Consequently, the crime is Homicide, not Murder. Appellant was sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 8 years and 1 day of prision mayor as minimum, to 14 years, 8 months and 1 day of reclusion temporal as maximum. The award of damages was modified to include P25,000.00 as temperate damages in lieu of the proven but lower actual funeral expenses.