Case Summary (G.R. No. L-19382)
Trial Proceedings
The Regional Trial Court, Branch 156, Pasig, conducted a full trial without bail. The prosecution presented ten witnesses, including the two principal eyewitnesses and the medico-legal examiner. The defense offered alibi testimony and military–police duty rosters to establish that the accused were on official assignment in Tanay during the evening of February 9. Both accused testified, denying involvement and alleging a prior grudge by the boys. SPO4 Teofilo Bias corroborated their alibi.
Prosecution Evidence
• Positive eyewitness identifications by Villareal and Ona—both saw Mercado and Acebron at every stage of the kidnapping, detention, and admission of killing.
• Detailed accounts of physical abuse, use of rope and bolo, and injured condition of Richard at embarkation.
• Admissions by the accused (“pinatahimik ko na”/“pinagpahinga ko na”).
• Bolo bearing fresh bloodstains and bragging by the accused about their respective tallies of past killings.
• Medico-legal report establishing multiple blunt-force injuries, tied limbs, gagging, and cause of death as intracranial hemorrhage from skull fracture.
Defense Evidence and Alibi
• Alibi based on police logbooks and duty rosters indicating both officers were at PNP Tanay station for morning and evening formations.
• Testimony by the accused recounting their career histories and claiming they attended a full‐day conference at Hilltop, Taytay, and only returned home thereafter.
• SPO4 Bias’s testimony that Mercado and Acebron left Tanay only after official duties ended, but conceded travel time to Pasig could be under one hour.
Issues on Appeal
- Witness credibility and alleged inconsistencies in the testimonies of Villareal and Ona.
- Validity of alibi defense based on logbooks and duty records.
- Existence of conspiracy between Mercado and Acebron.
- Constitutionality of RA 7659’s death penalty provisions.
- Alleged haste in the trial court’s promulgation of judgment.
Constitutional Challenge to the Death Penalty
Applying the 1987 Constitution, the Court reaffirmed its rulings in People v. Echegaray and Echegaray v. Sec. of Justice that:
• Death penalty is neither cruel nor inhuman per se.
• RA 7659 establishes compelling reasons for heinous crimes and provides adequate safeguards.
• International obligations permit capital punishment for “most serious crimes.”
• Equal protection is upheld regardless of socioeconomic status.
Credibility of Witnesses
The Court accorded deference to the trial judge’s firsthand assessment. Alleged discrepancies in minor details (exact times, location of statements, etc.) do not impair the core consistency of the eyewitness accounts. Affidavits’ divergences are attributable to routine inaccuracies and do not supersede live testimony. Motive to fabricate such a serious accusation was implausible given the danger to the juvenile witnesses.
Sufficiency of Circumstantial Evidence
Even absent an eyewitness to the actual killing, the unbroken chain of circumstances—forced transport, binding, admissions of killing, physical evidence on the bolo and victim’s body—satisfied the quantum of proof beyond reasonable doubt for kidnapping with murder under RA 7659’s “special complex crime” provision.
Conspiracy
Conspiracy was inferred from coordinated actions: joint planning (calling Acebron upstairs), shared physical abuse, ordered retrieval of the bolo, collaborative loading of the victim, joint departures and returns, and admissions of mutual involvement.
Alibi Defense and its Rejection
Alibi is inherently weak and demands proof of physical impossibility of presence at the crime scene. Travel time from Tanay to Pasig was feasible within the evening hours. The logbook’s reliability was undermined by admitted practices of cursory entries and absence of notation for deviations. Positive identifications outweighed th
Case Syllabus (G.R. No. L-19382)
Facts
- On February 9, 1994, SPO2 Elpidio Mercado and SPO1 Aurelio Acebron, both PNP officers, allegedly abducted 17-year-old Richard Buama near Mercado’s store in Sto. Tomas, Pasig.
- Witnesses Florencio Villareal (12) and Eric Ona (21) testified that Mercado, with a gun, forced Richard and Florencio into a red car (License plate CGZ 835) and drove them to an apartment in Tanay, Rizal.
- In the apartment, accused-appellants and an aide “Jeff” physically assaulted Richard—slapping, boxing, stabbing, and hacking—and bound him with rattan rope, blindfolded and gagged him.
- Richard was loaded into the car’s luggage compartment; two hours later, Mercado and Acebron returned without him, admitting “Wala na … pinatahimik ko na” (“He is gone. I have silenced him”).
- Richard’s body was found on February 12, 1994 in Morong, Rizal, showing tied limbs, abrasions, lacerations, blunt-force injuries, and intracranial hemorrhage leading to death.
Procedural History
- Information filed for kidnapping with murder in RTC, Branch 156, Pasig; no bail recommended due to the offense’s gravity.
- Arraignment on March 8, 1994: accused-appellants pleaded not guilty; trial ensued with prosecution presenting ten witnesses and medical, forensic, and documentary exhibits.
- On July 22, 1994, RTC convicted both appellants, sentencing each to death, ordering P50,000 civil indemnity, P52,680 burial expenses, P100,000 moral/exemplary damages, and costs; records forwarded for automatic Supreme Court review under RA 7659.
Issues on Appeal
- Whether Republic Act Nos. 7659 and 8177 (death penalty statutes) violate constitutional or international law.
- Credibility of prosecution witnesses amid alleged minor inconsistencies between their testimony a