Title
Espineli vs. People
Case
G.R. No. 179535
Decision Date
Jun 9, 2014
Alberto Berbon was shot in 1996; circumstantial evidence linked Jose Espineli to the crime. Convicted of homicide, not murder, due to insufficient proof of qualifying circumstances.
homicide
killing
radio station coordinator
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 179535)

Factual Background

On December 15, 1996, ALBERTO BERBON y DOWNIE was shot in the head and other parts of his body in front of his house in Imus, Cavite, and died of multiple gunshot wounds; the assailants immediately fled in a red car. The authorities arrested ROMEO REYES for illegal possession of a deadly weapon; on February 10, 1997 NBI Agent Dave Segunial took a sworn statement from Reyes in which Reyes declared that he had seen petitioner and SOTERO PAREDES board a red car on the morning of December 15, 1996, that petitioner carried a .45 caliber pistol, that Paredes carried an armalite, and that petitioner said, “ayaw ko nang abutin pa ng bukas yang si Berbon.” Reyes posted bail on February 14, 1997 and thereafter jumped bail and did not return. Rodolfo Dayao testified that he had sold a red 1971 Ford Escort to three persons on September 1, 1996 and later identified that car from photographs. Dr. Ludivino J. Lagat performed the autopsy and found multiple gunshot wounds consistent with high-powered firearms.

Trial Court Proceedings

An Information for murder was filed against petitioner on June 24, 1997 in the RTC of Imus, Cavite, later docketed as Criminal Case No. 4898-97. Petitioner was arraigned on July 7, 1997 and pleaded not guilty. The trial court received testimony from NBI personnel, the victim’s widow SABINA BERBON, Rodolfo Dayao, and Dr. Lagat. Petitioner did not present evidence and filed a Demurrer to Evidence without leave of court; no action was taken thereon and petitioner moved that the case be deemed submitted. On August 31, 1999 the RTC, presided by Executive Judge Dolores L. Espanol, convicted petitioner of murder, sentenced him to reclusion perpetua, and awarded civil indemnity and other damages to the heirs of the victim.

Court of Appeals Proceedings

Petitioner appealed to the Court of Appeals. The CA, in a decision promulgated July 6, 2007, affirmed with modification the trial court’s findings and reduced the conviction to homicide, reasoning that the prosecution failed to prove the alleged aggravating circumstances of abuse of superior strength and nighttime. The CA imposed an indeterminate term of ten years of prision mayor as minimum to seventeen years and four months of reclusion temporal as maximum, credited petitioner with preventive imprisonment, and denied the motion for reconsideration in its Resolution dated September 14, 2007. The CA record and opinion on which the appeal was taken were transmitted to the Supreme Court pursuant to the Court’s directive in People v. Mateo.

Issues Presented to the Supreme Court

Petitioner principally asserted that the CA and RTC erred in admitting and giving probative value to Exhibit A, the Sinumpaang Salaysay of ROMEO REYES, because Reyes did not appear to confirm or authenticate its contents, thereby denying petitioner his constitutional right to confront and cross-examine his accuser. Petitioner further maintained that his conviction rested on inadmissible hearsay and on insufficient circumstantial evidence that failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The Office of the Solicitor General, representing the respondent, filed a manifestation recommending acquittal.

Parties’ Contentions

Petitioner argued that Reyes’s sworn statement was hearsay and inadmissible in the absence of Reyes’s testimony to confirm its contents; that all circumstances derived from that statement should be disregarded; and that there was no direct evidence linking petitioner to the killing. The prosecution relied on the testimonies of the NBI agent, the victim’s widow, Rodolfo Dayao, and the medico-legal officer, and on documentary exhibits including the notarized sworn statement of Reyes and receipts supporting damages. The OSG ultimately concurred with petitioner that the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt and recommended acquittal.

The Supreme Court’s Standards on Circumstantial Evidence

The Court reiterated that conviction may rest on circumstantial evidence when the conditions of Section 4, Rule 133 of the Rules of Court are met: more than one circumstance, factual basis for the inferences, and a combination of all circumstances sufficient to produce conviction beyond reasonable doubt. The Court applied established precedents that require the proven circumstances to be consistent with one another and with the hypothesis of the accused’s guilt and inconsistent with any reasonable hypothesis of innocence, forming an unbroken chain leading to the accused as the sole culprit.

Circumstances Found by the Courts Below

The Court identified the concordant circumstances found by the CA and RTC: testimony that petitioner was overheard making the incriminating statement to SOTERO PAREDES on the morning of December 15, 1996 and that both were armed before boarding a red car; Rodolfo Dayao’s identification of the red Ford Escort as the car he had sold to Paredes; the later killing of ALBERTO BERBON on the same day and the immediate flight of the gunmen in a red car; and the autopsy findings that multiple, high-powered gunshot wounds caused the victim’s death. The Court found these circumstances, taken together, to satisfy the requirements of Section 4, Rule 133.

Hearsay Rule and Independently Relevant Statements

Addressing the hearsay objection, the Court explained that NBI Agent Segunial’s testimony recounting Reyes’s statement was not offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted but to establish that Reyes had made the statement; under Sec. 36, Rule 130, Rules of Court, such testimony is admissible as an independently relevant statement when the fact that the statement was made is itself consequential. The Court noted that Agent Segunial candidly admitted he could not vouch for the truth of Reyes’s assertions, which further demonstrated that the testimony aimed to show the making of the statement rather than its truth.

Notarized Statement and Presumption of Due Execution

The Court further observed that Reyes’s written statement was notarized before Atty. Cesar A. Bacani and therefore enjoyed a prima facie presumption of authenticity and due execution under Section 30, Rule 132, Rules of Court. Citing precedent, the Court held that such notarized instruments are prima facie evidence of due execution and that petitioner presented no clear and convincing evidence to rebut that presumption. Consequently, the CA did not err in assigning probative value to Reyes’s sworn statement as testified to by the NBI agent.

Corroborative Forensic and Identification Evidence

The Court emphasised the corroborative value of Rodolfo Dayao’s photographic identification of the red Ford Escort as the very car he sold to Paredes and the temporal linkage that the red car was used by fleeing gunmen on the day of the homicide. It also recognized Dr. Lagat’s autopsy findings that the victim suffered multiple high-powered gunshot wounds as material corroboration of the weapons described in Reyes’s statement and as contributing to the cumulative proof required for conviction.

Other Circumstances and Credibility Findings

The Court accepted petitioner's escape from detention on August 26, 1998 as an additional circumstance relevant to his presumed consciousness of guilt. The Court accorded re

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