G.R. No. L-17214 June 21, 1965
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CIRIACO ALIPIS, ET AL., defendants, CIRIACO ALIPIS, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

Captain Apolonio Pagsuberon, Commanding Officer of the Headquarters and Headquarters Service Company, 2nd Battalion Combat Team in Atimonan, Quezon, was found dead at the bottom of a cliff on the morning of October 15, 1957. Sergeant Ciriaco Alipis had reported him missing earlier that morning and was part of the search party that discovered the body. An autopsy revealed the cause of death was a cerebral shock and hemorrhage from a .45 caliber gunshot wound fired in direct contact with the scalp, along with antemortem contusions and abrasions. An empty .45 caliber shell was found near the scene. Ballistic tests showed the questionable shell matched the pistol of co-accused Sergeant Enrique Lloren, whose paraffin test was positive. Alipis’s paraffin test was negative, but his pants were stained with human blood. Alipis gave three written statements during investigations. An information for murder was filed against Alipis, Lloren, and four unidentified persons. After a joint trial, the Court of First Instance of Quezon found Alipis guilty of murder with the aggravating circumstances of abuse of confidence, nighttime, and in band, sentencing him to death. Lloren was acquitted.

ISSUE

Whether the circumstantial evidence presented is sufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt that appellant Ciriaco Alipis is guilty of the murder of Captain Apolonio Pagsuberon.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of conviction and acquitted appellant Ciriaco Alipis. The Court held that the circumstantial evidence did not form an unbroken chain leading to the fair and reasonable conclusion that Alipis, to the exclusion of all others, was guilty. The evidence relied upon by the trial court was found to be insufficient and, in part, erroneous. Specifically: (1) The blood stains on Alipis’s pants were not conclusively shown to be human blood, and even if they were, did not prove he killed the victim as he was part of the group that handled the body. (2) The trial court erroneously concluded that the slide assembly from Alipis’s pistol was attached to Lloren’s gun; the evidence showed the slide assembly in question came from a different sergeant’s pistol, and Alipis’s own pistol was a Colt, not a Remington Rand. (3) No motive for Alipis to kill the Captain was established. The combination of circumstances did not produce moral certainty and left room for reasonable doubt, which is defined as “doubt engendered by an investigation of the whole proof and an inability after such investigation to let the mind rest easy upon the certainty of guilt.”