Title
People vs. Alvarez y Villalva
Case
G.R. No. 117689
Decision Date
Jan 30, 1997
Appellants Eliseo and Vilma Alvarez convicted of murder for sudden, fatal attack on Benito Paez; self-defense claim rejected due to inconsistencies and excessive injuries.
murder
attempted homicide
treachery
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 117689)

Charges and Case Theory as Pleaded

In Criminal Case No. 98-93, the information alleged that Eliseo Alvarez, Vilma Alvarez, and Alberto Alvarez acted conspiring, confederating and mutually helping one another, and armed with boloes and ax, attacked Benito Paez with deliberate intent to kill and with treachery, causing the listed injuries that allegedly resulted in Benito’s death. In Criminal Case No. 21-94, the information charged Vilma with an offense described as frustrated homicide for attacking and stabbing Rosalinda Paez, performing acts which would have produced homicide but failing to consummate the offense due to the timely medical assistance allegedly rendered to Rosalianda.

Prosecution’s Factual Narrative at Trial

The prosecution’s evidence established that in barangay Masaguisi, Sta. Cruz, Marinduque, around 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon of October 12, 1993, Rosalinda Paez and her husband Benito Paez were threshing palay in their hut. The prosecution narrated that Eliseo Alvarez, coming from his farm with his wife Vilma, approached Benito and immediately hacked him on the shoulder. The prosecution attributed Eliseo’s initial aggression to irritation over the barking of their dog blocking Eliseo’s path, and it stated that Eliseo then drew his bolo, demanded that the Paez spouses pacify the dog, and attacked Benito whose back was turned. It further alleged that Benito tried to stand, while Vilma stabbed him on the left breast obliquely to the center and above the nipple, causing Benito to fall. Rosalinda attempted to carry Benito, but she was struck by Vilma and parried the blow using her right palm, which disabled her four fingers, and Vilma also hit her on the right side of the eye. Rosalinda then fled and hid about twenty-five (25) meters from the crime scene, from where she later saw Alberto hit Benito on the head, followed by stabbing blows and a kick delivered by Eliseo. After approximately five (5) minutes, Rosalinda sought treatment at the house of Ka Juaning, and later returned when she remembered her three-year-old daughter left behind in their hut.

Another prosecution witness, Jimmy Ornos, corroborated key portions of Rosalinda’s account. Jimmy testified that he passed the Paez hut at around 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon of October 12, 1993, while the couple were seated side by side threshing palay with their daughter and helper Lauro inside the hut. He claimed that Eliseo came from behind and hacked Benito at the back with a long bolo. He further testified that Vilma stabbed Benito on the chest with her own bolo, while Alberto ran to their house, returned with an axe, and used it to hit Benito on the left shoulder, right forearm, and left part of the face. Jimmy stated that he approached Alberto, took away the axe, and threw it away to prevent further assault, and then he rescued the approaching child by grabbing the child and running away.

Defense Accounts Raised by Eliseo and Vilma

Eliseo anchored his defense on self-defense. He claimed that while he and his son Alberto were returning home from their ricefield and while the Paez dog blocked their path, he asked the Paez spouses to pacify the dog, but Benito allegedly challenged him by saying “Ngayon tayo magkaintindihan.” Eliseo allegedly denied having any anger and stated that Benito struck him on the head with a branch of a tangal tree that broke into three pieces. Eliseo claimed that when Benito was about to hit him again, Eliseo hacked Benito on the back with a bolo. He stated that after Benito fell, he followed up by hitting Benito twice on the throat with the blunt side of the bolo, causing death. Eliseo also claimed that Vilma was beaten up by Jimmy Ornos and Lauro Red upon Rosalinda’s prodding, and that Rosalinda delivered a hacking blow to Vilma while Eliseo was hit twice on the head with madre cacao wood; he claimed he retaliated by hacking Rosalinda on her right hand after which Rosalinda ran away.

Vilma, for her part, testified that at the time of the incident she was weeding at the garden of their house. She claimed that Eliseo approached the garden carrying two pails of water, and that Rosalinda, in the presence of Jimmy Ornos and Lauro Red, allegedly hit Eliseo on the head. Vilma asserted that she later saw Benito lying down, but she said she did not know why. She claimed that when she approached Eliseo to pacify his assailants, Rosalinda ordered Jimmy and Lauro to pounce on her, and that Rosalinda then hacked her, wounding her right sole and knee. Vilma stated she was brought to the hospital for treatment and that she did not file any complaint against Rosalinda. The defense theories thus contested both participation and the circumstances surrounding the attack.

Trial Court’s Rulings in the Murder and Attempted Homicide Cases

The trial court rendered judgment convicting Eliseo and Vilma of murder in Criminal Case No. 98-93, finding the presence of the qualifying circumstance of treachery and concluding that they acted with confederating and simultaneous action. It imposed reclusion perpetua with the accessory penalty and ordered both accused to indemnify Benito’s heirs represented by Rosalinda Paez with P50,000.00 as death indemnity.

The trial court also addressed Criminal Case No. 21-94 against Vilma for the assault on Rosalinda. It appreciated a medical certificate showing that the injury did not reveal fatality and held that the act was not frustrated homicide but only an attempt. The trial court found that although Vilma had started the commission of homicide, she was not able to perform all the acts necessary for its consummation. Consequently, it found Vilma guilty beyond reasonable doubt of attempted homicide defined and punished under Art. 249 in relation to Art. 51 of the Revised Penal Code, and it imposed an indeterminate sentence under the Indeterminate Sentence Law, without pronouncing civil liability because the prosecutor allegedly failed to show proof of the damages.

Appellants’ Assigned Errors and Principal Issues on Appeal

Appellants assigned as errors that the trial court erred in giving full credence to the prosecution’s evidence and disregarding self-defense; they also challenged the trial court’s appreciation of treachery even assuming proof beyond reasonable doubt of guilt.

The appeal therefore centered on whether appellants’ admitted killing of Benito (as reflected in the Court’s treatment of the defense) was justified by self-defense, and whether the factual circumstances supported the trial court’s finding of treachery as a qualifying circumstance for murder.

Legal Standards on Self-Defense and the Burden of Proof

The Court held that when an accused admitted authorship of the victim’s death and anchored the defense on self-defense, the accused bore the burden of proving that justification to the satisfaction of the court. The Court explained that the justification required clear and convincing evidence, and that the onus probandi shifted to the accused. It further stated that the accused had to rely on the strength of his or her own evidence, because even if the prosecution’s evidence were weak, the defense could not be sustained if the accused’s own admission and evidence did not establish self-defense.

Assessment of Credibility and Findings Against the Defense

Applying these principles, the Court sustained the conviction and ruled that appellants failed to discharge the burden. It identified material discrepancies in appellants’ testimonies that rendered the defense narrative incredible. The Court emphasized that Eliseo testified that his assault on Benito was preceded by an incident involving the Paez dog and Benito’s alleged challenge, but in his Sinumpaang Salaysay Eliseo did not mention those antecedents and instead stated that Benito, Jimmy Ornos, and Lauro Red suddenly attacked him and his son Alberto. The Court also observed contradictions in Vilma’s testimony regarding whether she saw Benito and whether she saw the dog incident, and it noted that Vilma gave changing accounts when questioned regarding whose acts hit Eliseo. The Court further found Eliseo’s version about Benito’s tangal-branch strike and subsequent positioning unreliable, noting that if the tangal branch had struck Eliseo’s head, the first hacking blow could not have landed at Benito’s back. The Court additionally found implausible the claim that death occurred by self-defense while the victim suffered numerous wounds on different parts of the body, consistent with a “determined effort to kill.”

The Cou

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