G.R. No. L-37401. January 9, 1979.
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. DANILO LLANTO, BENJAMIN PAULINO and COSME ERISPE, accused; COSME ERISPE, accused-appellant.

FACTS

On the night of September 22, 1972, at Pier 4, North Harbor, Tondo, Manila, Felix Ortega was surrounded and fatally stabbed by a group of five men, including accused-appellant Cosme Erispe, his co-accused Benjamin Paulino and Danilo Llanto, and two others. The location was well-lit. The assault was witnessed at close range by Vicky Agaton Derima, a vendor and member of the local citizens’ police, who was personally acquainted with the victim and three of the assailants. Another witness, Aniano Austria, also saw the incident from across the street. Ortega died shortly after arriving at the hospital, sustaining four fatal stab wounds indicating multiple attackers.
The prosecution relied primarily on the eyewitness accounts of Derima and Austria, who positively identified Erispe as one of the assailants. Erispe, along with Paulino, interposed an alibi, claiming they were working in Mariveles, Bataan, at the time, supported by the testimony of their alleged foreman and a notebook of petty loans. The trial court found this alibi unconvincing due to the notebook’s irregularities and the lack of testimony from its actual keeper. Only Erispe appealed his conviction for murder and sentence of reclusion perpetua.

ISSUE

The core issue is whether the trial court erred in convicting appellant Cosme Erispe of murder based on the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, despite alleged inconsistencies, and in rejecting his defense of alibi.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The legal logic centers on the strength of positive identification over a weak alibi and the insignificance of minor inconsistencies in eyewitness testimony. The Court held that the testimonies of Derima and Austria were credible and consistent on the material point: they were present at the crime scene and saw Erispe participate in the concerted attack on Ortega. The alleged contradictions pertained only to minor details, which do not undermine the witnesses’ overall credibility but may even indicate truthfulness, as rehearsed testimony is often perfectly consistent.
The Court emphasized that no ill motive was proven for the witnesses to falsely accuse Erispe of a grave crime. In contrast, Erispe’s alibi was inherently weak; for an alibi to prevail, it must be physically impossible for the accused to have been at the crime scene. The claimed distance between Mariveles, Bataan, and Manila did not render his presence impossible, especially absent clear and convincing proof. The trial court correctly found the supporting evidence for the alibi unreliable. The killing was properly classified as murder, qualified by abuse of superiority due to the five-on-one attack. The penalty of reclusion perpetua was thus affirmed.