Title
People vs. Bernardo
Case
G.R. No. 198789
Decision Date
Jun 3, 2013
Accused-appellant convicted of Murder with Attempted Murder for shooting a father and daughter; alibi rejected due to credible witness identification. Penalty: reclusion perpetua; damages adjusted.
conviction
credible witness
award of damages
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 198789)

Factual Background

The prosecution charged Bernardo with a conspiracy with John Does of unknown identity, to kill Efren Calumag y Antonio and to inflict injuries on Reah B. Calumag by shooting them with an illegally possessed firearm. The Information alleged that Bernardo commenced the execution of murder by overt acts but did not perform all acts that would produce the same due to a cause other than his spontaneous desistance.

Reah testified that the incident happened at about 11:45 a.m. on July 27, 2006 along the national highway in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, when she was aboard a motorcycle driven by her father, Efren. She stated that three men on a motorcycle appeared beside them and shot them several times. Efren fell and later died from his injuries. Reah survived and was treated for her wounds. Reah further testified that while she was being treated at the hospital, she described one of the assailants to the investigating policemen and told them she could recognize the person if she would see him again.

Dr. Ruth Ann Corpuz testified as to the injuries. She issued a medical certificate for Reah and a medico-legal report regarding Efren’s injuries.

After the incident, Reah went to the Sarrat Police Station on July 29, 2006, upon learning that the police had in custody a person who matched the description she previously gave. A police line-up was conducted, during which Reah pointed to Bernardo as the shooter.

Accused’s Defense and Claim of Physical Impossibility

Bernardo denied involvement and raised alibi. He claimed he was inside the District Jail of Batac, Ilocos Norte when the crime occurred. He explained that he was initially a prisoner of the district jail and was ordered released on July 21, 2006. Because he allegedly had nowhere to go, he requested and was permitted by the jail warden to stay in jail.

Bernardo stated that with the warden’s permission, he went to Cabugao, Ilocos Sur on July 22, 2006, and returned the next morning. He claimed that on the day of the incident he washed his clothes, assisted in preparing lunch, and later had three jail guards accompany him to the Pag-IBIG Office in Laoag City using the district jail service. He also said the guards dropped by Chairman Pungtilan’s residence to request a certification. Bernardo narrated that the self-imposed extension lasted until July 28, 2006, and he insisted he remained in custody or under jail-related permission at the time of the shooting.

Trial Court’s Findings

The RTC found Bernardo guilty beyond reasonable doubt. It relied on Reah’s narration of events and treated her identification as credible and reliable, while discounting Bernardo’s denial and alibi. The RTC considered the proximity of the motorcycles during the shooting and rejected the notion that Bernardo’s bull cap prevented identification. It found that Reah could still see the perpetrator’s face because only the hair was allegedly hidden.

The RTC also treated the evidence as sufficient to support a conviction for the complex crime of Murder with Attempted Murder, and it appreciated treachery in qualifying the killing. It further held that Reah’s injuries showed attempted murder, as her wounds were not fatal based on the medical evidence presented.

On sentencing and awards, the RTC ordered Bernardo to suffer reclusion perpetua and directed payment of civil indemnity to Efren’s heirs, moral damages, temperate damages, and exemplary damages, as well as indemnity to Reah.

Appellate Review by the Court of Appeals

On March 4, 2011, the CA affirmed the conviction with modification. It deleted the award of temperate damages but otherwise upheld the RTC’s finding of guilt and the sufficiency of Reah’s identification. The CA ruled that Bernardo’s alibi remained insufficient to overcome Reah’s positive identification. It also affirmed treachery and the determination that the circumstances supported conviction for Murder with Attempted Murder.

The Supreme Court’s Evaluation of Guilt and Identification

The Supreme Court sustained the conviction. It held that Bernardo’s defenses of alibi and denial could not prevail over Reah’s positive identification, which the Court found to be credible. The Court reiterated that affirmative testimony is stronger than negative testimony from the witness stand and that, absent clear and convincing evidence, alibi and denial—considered negative and self-serving—lack weight in law.

The Court also applied settled requirements for alibi. It emphasized that alibi must not merely show that the accused was somewhere else, but must prove physical impossibility for the accused to have been present at the crime scene or its immediate vicinity at the time of commission.

The Court’s Treatment of Bernardo’s Alibi

Bernardo insisted that the shooting could not have been committed by him because he was allegedly still in jail. The Court considered, however, that Bernardo was ordered released by the RTC of Batac on July 21, 2006, and therefore he was no longer a detention prisoner at the time of the crime on July 27, 2006.

The Court observed that the Batac District Jail was in the same province where the crime was committed and could supposedly be reached within thirty to forty-five minutes from Barangay San Marcos, Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. It also relied on the RTC’s finding that there was no record showing Bernardo stayed in jail on the date of the incident. Consequently, the Court found no physical impossibility for Bernardo to leave his cell and be present at the shooting.

It further held that any minor discrepancies in Reah’s testimony were negligible. It noted that Reah was able to provide a detailed account of the incident and, more importantly, she identified Bernardo as the person who shot them. The Court quoted portions of Reah’s testimony showing: the attackers were on a motorcycle beside her, the distance was about one meter, she saw the back rider holding a gun and firing, and she later identified Bernardo during the inmates’ lineup at the jail.

Treachery and Attempted Murder

The Court agreed that treachery attended the killing. It adopted the definition that treachery exists when the offender employs means or forms in the execution that tend to insure the killing and eliminate the risk from the defense the offended party might make. The Court reiterated that treachery requires both that the victim was not in a position to defend himself at the time of the attack and that the means were deliberately or consciously adopted.

The Court found that Efren and Reah were unarmed and were fired upon by another motorcycle that suddenly appeared and shot them several times. It held that this showed the victims were totally defenseless during the attack.

As to Reah, the Court held that the crime against her constituted attempted murder, consistent with the rule that when the wounds are not fatal, the offense is attempted murder or attempted homicide. The Court found this supported by Dr. Corpuz’s medical certificate.

The Proper Offense and the Complex Crime Determination

While sustaining the conviction, the Court clarified the correct classification of the offense. It concurred with the RTC that Bernardo could be convicted only of the complex crime of murder with attempted murder, and not of two separate offenses of murder and attempted murder.

The Court reasoned that Reah’s testimony that Bernardo shot her and her father several times showed he acted with more than one criminal impulse, which ordinarily would rule out the application of the concept of complex crime. Nevertheless, it noted that the evidence did not conform to the Information, which allegedly did not allege that he acted with that kind of impulse and, in substance, alleged shooting the victims without a clear allegation encompassing multiple impulses.

The Court held that, in the absence of such a clear statement in the Information, conviction should follow the charged complex crime to avoid violating the accused’s right to be informed of the nature and cause of accusation. It restated the doctrine that an accused cannot be convicted of an offense unless it is alleged or necessarily included in the complaint or information.

Penalty Under the Revised Penal Code and Republic Act No. 9346

The Court addressed the penalty. It applied Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code, under which when a single act constitutes two or more grave or less grave felonies, or when one offense is a necessary means for committing the other, the penalty for the most serious crime is imposed in its maximum period. It identified murder as the most serious crime, and recognized that Article 248 prescribed reclusion perpetua to death. It also considered Article 63, under which when the prescribed penalty is composed of two indivisible penalties and there is an aggravating circumstance, the higher penalty should be imposed.

Because treachery was properly proven and appreciated to qualify the killing to the highest penalty, the Court acknowledged the death penalty would ordinarily be implicated by the qualifying circumstance. It nonetheless held that Republic Act No. 9346 prohibited the imposition of the death penalty, and therefore the penalty had to be reduced to reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole.

Thus, it held that the RTC’s imposition of reclusion perpetua was correct, and it affirmed the CA’s ruling sustaining that penalty.

Modification of Civil Damages

The Court modified the damages awarded. First, it reinstated the award of

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