GR 246419; (September, 2020) (Digest)
G.R. No. 246419. September 16, 2020.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. EDUARDO UKAY Y MONTON, TEODULO UKAY Y MONTON, GUILLERMO DIANON, AND OCA UKAY Y MONTON, ACCUSED.
FACTS
In two separate Informations, accused-appellants were charged with Frustrated Murder and Murder. The prosecution alleged that on June 9, 2007, in Davao City, an altercation occurred at a store. After an initial scuffle, while victims Jessie Gerolaga and Warren Gerolaga were walking away, accused Oca Ukay and Eduardo Ukay attacked them with knives, wounding Jessie. Jessie then witnessed Eduardo and Oca stab Anthony Aloba while Teodulo Ukay and Guillermo Dianon hit Anthony with a stone, causing his death. The defense presented a different version, claiming Anthony and his companions were the initial aggressors, and the accused acted in self-defense or merely tried to pacify the situation.
ISSUE
The core issue was whether the prosecution proved the guilt of accused-appellants for Murder and Frustrated Murder beyond reasonable doubt, particularly concerning the qualifying circumstances of treachery and abuse of superior strength.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ modification, convicting Eduardo of Frustrated Homicide and all three accused-appellants of Homicide for Anthony’s death. The Court found the prosecution successfully established conspiracy through the accused’s collective and simultaneous actions in attacking Anthony. However, it ruled that the qualifying circumstances of treachery and abuse of superior strength were not proven with moral certainty. Treachery requires that the means of execution be deliberately adopted without risk to the assailant from any defense the victim might make. The evidence showed the attack on Anthony occurred during a tumultuous melee that arose from a prior altercation; it was not shown that the accused consciously employed a method to ensure the execution without risk to themselves. The circumstance of abuse of superior strength was also not distinctly established as the aggression was not shown to have originated from an irresistible force obviously greater than the victim’s. Absent these qualifiers, the crimes were properly downgraded. The Court upheld the factual findings of the lower courts crediting the positive identification by eyewitness Jessie Gerolaga over the denials of the defense.