GR 83870; (November, 1989) (Digest)
G.R. No. 83870. November 14, 1989.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. REYNATO ASUNCION and LEONARDO AGUINALDO, defendants-appellants.
FACTS
The appellants, Reynato Asuncion (a policeman) and Leonardo Aguinaldo (a PC sergeant), were charged with Murder for the killing of Gregorio Vergara on November 6, 1978. Both were assigned to a PC detachment in Canili, Nueva Vizcaya, while Vergara was an officer of a private security agency. That evening, the group, including the appellants, responded to a reported fight. After locating one involved guard, they proceeded with Vergara to a secluded area. There, Aguinaldo ordered Vergara to surrender his firearm. After Vergara complied, Aguinaldo kicked him, and Asuncion fired a shot upward. Aguinaldo then shot Vergara in the leg. Despite Vergara’s pleas for mercy, the appellants kept him at gunpoint. A witness, Sarmiento, left to seek help. Upon hearing another gunshot, he returned later with Vergara’s wife, finding Vergara dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
ISSUE
The primary issue is whether the appellants are guilty of Murder, qualified by treachery and aggravated by abuse of public position, and whether conspiracy attended the commission of the crime.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The Court found conspiracy was established by the appellants’ concerted actions before, during, and after the shooting. They acted in unison to disarm Vergara, render him defenseless, and execute the killing. Their conduct—disarming the victim, shooting him, preventing assistance, and fleeing—collectively demonstrated a common criminal purpose. Their defenses of alibi were rejected as weak and unsubstantiated, failing to prove physical impossibility of their presence at the crime scene. Treachery was properly appreciated because the appellants employed means to ensure the execution of the crime without risk to themselves. Vergara was first disarmed under the appellants’ authority, then immobilized by a leg shot, leaving him utterly helpless when fatally shot. The aggravating circumstance of abuse of public position was also present, as the appellants used their official status as law enforcers to compel Vergara to surrender his weapon, facilitating the attack. The penalty of reclusion perpetua and the awarded indemnities were thus sustained.