GR 175589; (July, 2008) (Digest)
G.R. No. 175589; July 28, 2008
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Appellee, vs. CERILLO TAMBIS, Appellant.
FACTS
The appellant, Cerillo Tambis, was charged with Murder for stabbing Gaudioso Moral, Jr. to death on June 12, 1998, in Quezon City. The prosecution, through the testimony of the victim’s widow, Luzviminda Moral, established that at around 10:00 p.m., the appellant arrived at a neighbor’s house where the victim was drinking. Without provocation, the appellant suddenly stabbed the victim in the left abdomen. The victim retreated inside the house and later died from the wound. The appellant admitted the stabbing but claimed self-defense, alleging the victim had first attacked him with a knife.
The Regional Trial Court convicted the appellant of Murder, appreciating the qualifying circumstance of treachery. It found the attack was sudden, with the victim unarmed and in no position to defend himself. The court sentenced him to reclusion perpetua and ordered him to pay damages. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction. The appellant appealed to the Supreme Court, contesting the finding of treachery.
ISSUE
Whether the qualifying circumstance of treachery (alevosia) was correctly appreciated to qualify the killing as Murder.
RULING
Yes, the Supreme Court affirmed the finding of treachery. The legal logic is that treachery requires: (1) the employment of means, method, or manner of execution that ensures the offender’s safety from any defense or retaliation by the victim, and (2) that such means were deliberately or consciously adopted. The Court held that the appellant’s sudden attack, while the victim was unarmed and drinking, satisfied these conditions. The appellant’s utterance of “Walang kikilos!” immediately before the attack did not constitute an adequate warning that could negate treachery. A warning, to be effective, must afford the victim a genuine opportunity to defend himself or escape. Here, the statement was made contemporaneously with the swift attack, leaving the victim no chance to react or parry the blow. The essence of treachery is the execution of an attack in a deliberate, unexpected manner that renders the victim defenseless. The Court modified only the awarded damages, increasing actual damages and reducing compensatory damages for loss of earning capacity based on jurisprudential formula, but otherwise upheld the conviction for Murder.