G.R. No. L-32995 April 30, 1984
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. PEDRO DEL CASTILLO, SR. and PEDRO DEL CASTILLO JR., defendants-appellants.

FACTS

On the evening of November 25, 1962, a group including Sedesias del Castillo and Fernando Castromayor sought shelter from rain at a house where they encountered Pedro del Castillo, Sr. A heated argument and fistfight ensued between Castromayor and Pedro Sr., with Castromayor gaining the upper hand but having his shirt torn. Sedesias offered his own T-shirt to Castromayor, who accepted it. Later, as the group walked home single-file along a road, a jeep driven by Pedro del Castillo, Jr. approached from behind. Upon reaching them, the jeep suddenly swerved and struck Sedesias. Pedro Sr. then jumped from the jeep and struck Sedesias on the head with a blunt instrument before stabbing him twice in the neck. The victim, Sedesias, later died from his injuries.
The defense presented denial and alibi. Pedro Sr. claimed he and his son were at a dance with the mayor at the time of the incident and only later learned of Sedesias’s death, allegedly from a quarrel between Castromayor and Sedesias. They argued it was improbable for Pedro Sr. to have mistaken and killed his own cousin.

ISSUE

The primary issue is whether the guilt of the appellants for the crime of murder was proven beyond reasonable doubt.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, finding the appeal devoid of merit. The identity of Pedro del Castillo, Sr. as the assailant was conclusively established by eyewitness Virgilio Palencia, who testified to seeing him jump from the jeep, strike, and stab the victim. The court found conspiracy between father and son, as Pedro Jr.’s act of swerving the jeep to hit the victim was immediately followed by Pedro Sr.’s attack, demonstrating a concerted design to commit the crime. The killing was qualified by treachery because the assailants employed means—using the jeep to first incapacitate the victim—which directly ensured the execution of the crime without risk to themselves. This circumstance of treachery is considered regardless of the fact that the actual victim, Sedesias, was mistaken for Castromayor, the intended target, due to the borrowed T-shirt. The use of the motor vehicle (jeep) was correctly appreciated as a generic aggravating circumstance under Article 14(20) of the Revised Penal Code, as it facilitated the crime. However, the trial court erred in separately considering nighttime as an aggravating circumstance, as it was absorbed by treachery. While the presence of the aggravating circumstance of use of a motor vehicle would ordinarily warrant the death penalty, for lack of necessary votes, the penalty was reduced to reclusion perpetua. The indemnity to the heirs was increased to P30,000.00.