G.R. No. L-33572 - People vs. Sudoy

Case Summary (G.R. No. L-33572)

Factual Background: The Night of January 30, 1970

The prosecution evidence showed that at about six-thirty in the evening of January 30, 1970, more than ten armed men, reputed to be Huks, entered Barrio San Vicente. They met Juan Guintu, a fifty-two-year-old farmer, and asked whether there were “army people” in the places he passed. After Guintu replied that there were none, the armed men ordered him to accompany them to the house of Saturnino Quiambao. At Quiambao’s yard, some of the men peeped through the wall. A member of the group directed Guintu to call Quiambao. When Quiambao came out, one of the men said: “Cong Atong, don’t be afraid. I am Fidel.” Quiambao returned to the bedroom while his wife, Nieves Garcia, went to the sala. Fidel told her not to be afraid and that they were with her, then asked her to open the door. When the door was opened, three armed men rushed into the sala and called out for Quiambao.

The three men identified themselves as Commanders Berting, Fidel, and Eddie (Edison Sudoy). Their identities were heard by Marina Quiambao, a seventeen-year-old daughter of Saturnino Quiambao, who was in the sala at the time. Quiambao stood near the cupboard lighting a cigarette. One of the men tapped him on the shoulder. After some conversation, punctuated with laughter, one of the men asked Quiambao to help them search for Policarpio Gonzales, the barrio captain. The group then left the house with Quiambao and Guintu, and Sudoy’s arm was reportedly around Quiambao’s shoulder.

Encounter with Emiterio Gonzales and the March Toward the Kill Site

Outside, the group met Emiterio Gonzales, a forty-four-year-old resident of the barrio, returning a piece of rope (guyod) to the home of the barrio captain, who was Emiterio’s uncle. One of the armed men collared Emiterio and ordered him to lead them to the barrio captain’s house and go with them to the mountains. Emiterio was frightened and knew the men were killers. At the barrio captain’s house, the men deployed near the kitchen and in front of the house. Emiterio called his uncle, but the barrio captain was not at home. The son of the barrio captain opened the door, and the light from the house illuminated Edison Sudoy’s face, who was standing on Emiterio’s right beside the man holding Emiterio by the shirt collar. Emiterio testified that Sudoy’s features were stamped in his memory.

The armed men directed Emiterio to lead them to the house of Eulogio Gonzales, about forty meters away. Eulogio was not at home. The armed men, together with Guintu, Emiterio, and Quiambao, then proceeded to the school. In front of the school, Sudoy and the others shot Quiambao when he was only about five meters away from Emiterio Gonzales. About thirty shots were fired. The prosecution narrated the event as sudden and overwhelming, followed by immediate arson of the soldiers’ barracks being constructed as quarters in the barrio. The group left Emiterio in a shed where his carabao was tethered, and warned him that if he squealed, he would be killed. They then went toward the brook and headed for the mountains.

Autopsy Findings and Nature of the Wounds

Doctor Rosauro Alejandrino, the municipal health officer, conducted an autopsy. He found that Saturnino Quiambao, thirty-nine years old, sustained twenty-two wounds. He noted blood accumulation of eight hundred and three hundred cubic centimeters in the victim’s chest and abdominal cavities, respectively. The doctor concluded that death was attributable to “shock, internal hemorrhage, secondary to” the twenty-two wounds. He also found three bullets in the body. The wounds included about twenty entrance wounds and fifteen wounds of exit.

Arrest, Complaint, and Procedural History

On March 30, 1970, while Edison Sudoy was on board an El Transit bus, he was arrested by Magalang policemen and BSDU members. Perto Valenzuela, the bus driver and a former workmate of Sudoy as a conductor, was a passenger who reportedly informed a policeman that Sudoy was the brother of a Hukbo.

On April 1, 1970, the Magalang chief of police filed a complaint for murder against Sudoy, Commander Berting, “HMB Fidel,” and unknown persons designated as Does, based on the sworn statements of Marina G. Quiambao and Emiterio Gonzales. Sudoy waived the second stage of preliminary investigation, and the case was remanded to the Court of First Instance. A district state prosecutor then filed an information for murder in the Circuit Criminal Court at San Fernando, Pampanga.

After trial, the lower court found Sudoy guilty of murder and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua. It also ordered payment to the heirs of Saturnino Quiambao of twelve thousand pesos and an additional amount of twenty thousand pesos as moral and exemplary damages (Criminal Case No. CCC-V-113 (70)).

Accused’s Theory on Appeal: Alibi and Attacks on Witness Credibility

On appeal, Edison Sudoy argued that the trial court erred: first, in not crediting his alibi; second, in believing the testimonies of Marina Quiambao and Emiterio Gonzales; and third, in finding him guilty of murder.

Sudoy testified that he was a twenty-two-year-old unmarried laborer from Barrio San Antonio, Arayat, Pampanga. He claimed he worked as a helper in the Dycayo Grocery at Angeles City from September 12, 1969 to March 30, 1970, and alleged that he became sick on March 30, 1970, the same date of his arrest. He further testified that prior to the grocery job, from February 1968 to September 1969, he had worked as a conductor of El Transit covering Angeles City, Magalang, Arayat, and other places in Pampanga. He maintained that on January 30, 1970, when Quiambao was liquidated, he was in the grocery from six o’clock in the morning to nine o’clock in the evening, slept there, and was therefore not at the scene.

To corroborate his alibi, Sudoy presented Florencio Dycayo (grocery owner), Carlito Bautista, and Icasiano Garcia as coworkers. Florencio Dycayo admitted that he did not keep any record of employees, had no payroll, and did not make Social Security contributions. Bautista’s testimony was also inconsistent as to the period of Sudoy’s employment. Bautista testified that Sudoy started working on September 12, 1969, yet he could not state the exact date of his own employment and could not remember precisely when Sudoy was arrested. Bautista further stated that he did not tell the police that Sudoy was in Angeles City on January 30, 1970 when he talked with him in jail after the arrest. Dycayo testified that the grocery had an employee named Rudy on January 30, 1970 and admitted he did not know the full name of employees. Garcia stated that Sudoy was known in the grocery as Eddie.

Sudoy also claimed maltreatment after his arrest. He testified that he was boxed by policemen and BSDU members on the second floor of the municipal building of Magalang, and that he was maltreated on five occasions. He alleged that they kept asking him about the whereabouts of his brother Cornelio. He further stated that during confrontation in Barrio Paitan (San Vicente), Marina allegedly said “he was not the one,” and that Emiterio told Marina to point to Sudoy as the killer. Sudoy claimed that Marina again said Sudoy “was not the one.” Finally, he alleged that on the return trip to the poblacion, guards told him to jump from the jeep, which he refused, asserting that if he jumped he would be killed. He also admitted that he did not know why Marina and Emiterio implicated him.

Prosecution’s Identification Evidence

The appellate court agreed with the trial court that Sudoy’s alibi could not be sustained. The prosecution presented direct identification testimony. Marina Quiambao positively identified Sudoy as the Huk commander who was sitting near the kerosene lamp in her parents’ house before her father left and was later killed near the school. She remembered Sudoy’s face because he sat near the kerosene lamp. Emiterio Gonzales likewise identified Sudoy. He testified that when the son of Policarpio Gonzales opened the door of his father’s house and the light from the kerosene lamp revealed Sudoy’s physiognomy to Emiterio, Sudoy’s features were impressed upon his memory. Emiterio then testified that Sudoy was among the armed men who fired at Quiambao at the school area.

Sudoy’s counsel assailed Emiterio’s credibility because Emiterio did not identify Sudoy’s companions. The evidence was that Emiterio could not see the faces of the other armed men due to the darkness and because some faces were covered, while Marina’s memory centered on Sudoy’s face under the kerosene lamp lighting in her parents’ house.

Trial Court’s Murder Classification: Evident Premeditation and Treachery

The charge was murder qualified b

Case Syllabus (G.R. No. L-33572)

The case involved the murder of Saturnino Quiambao allegedly committed by a Huk liquidation squad.
The accused-appellant was Edison Sudoy, alias Eddie, alias Eliaser.
The Court reviewed a conviction for murder with the imposition of reclusion perpetua and the award of damages to the heirs of the victim.

Parties and Procedural Posture

The People of the Philippines prosecuted the accused for murder.
The accused was charged along with other persons, including Commander Berting, “HMB Fidel”, and some unknown persons designated as Does.
The accused waived the second stage of the preliminary investigation, after which the case proceeded through the ordinary criminal process.
The case was remanded to the Court of First Instance, and a prosecutor filed an information for murder in the Circuit Criminal Court at San Fernando, Pampanga.
After trial, the lower court found the accused guilty of murder, imposed reclusion perpetua, and ordered payment of twelve thousand pesos plus twenty thousand pesos as moral and exemplary damages.
The accused appealed, contending errors relating to alibi, the credibility of identification witnesses, and the finding of guilt.

Key Factual Allegations

The prosecution alleged that at about six-thirty in the evening of January 30, 1970, more than ten armed men, reputedly Huks, entered Barrio San Vicente (Paitan) in Magalang, Pampanga.
The group questioned Juan Guintu, a fifty-two-year old farmer, about whether “army people” were in the places he had passed.
The group ordered Guintu to accompany them to the house of Saturnino Quiambao.
Upon arriving at Quiambao’s yard, some men peeped through a hole in the wall, and one of them directed Guintu to call Quiambao.
When Quiambao came out, a man identified himself as “Fidel”, told him not to be afraid, and Quiambao returned to the bedroom.
Nieves Garcia, Quiambao’s wife, went to the sala, where Fidel reassured her and asked her to open the door.
Three armed men rushed into the sala, called Quiambao, and identified themselves as Commanders Berting, Fidel, and Eddie (Edison Sudoy).
Marina Quiambao, the victim’s seventeen-year-old daughter, witnessed and heard the men as they told her mother their identities.
The men later requested Quiambao’s help in looking for Policarpio Gonzales, the barrio captain.
The three commanders departed with Quiambao and Guintu, and on the street they encountered Emiterio Gonzales, who was returning a piece of rope to the barrio captain’s house.
The armed men collared Emiterio, ordered him to lead them to the barrio captain’s house, and threatened that he would be killed if he squealed after they left him tied and guarded.
At the barrio captain’s house, the armed men deployed near the kitchen and in front of the house, and the confrontation was illuminated by the house light that displayed Edison Sudoy’s face to Emiterio.
The men went about forty meters away to the house of Eulogio Gonzales, then proceeded to the school.
In front of the school and about five meters from Emiterio Gonzales, Sudoy and his companions shot Quiambao with a fusillade amounting to about thirty shots.
After the shooting, the group set fire to the barracks being constructed as quarters for soldiers to be stationed in the barrio.
The group took Emiterio to a shed where he watched his carabao, threatened him, and then headed for the mountains.
The prosecution attributed the killing to Quiambao’s membership in the Barrio Self-Defense Unit (BSDU), an anti-Huk organization.

Medical Findings and Corpus Delicti

Doctor Rosauro Alejandrino, the municipal health officer, conducted an autopsy on Quiambao’s body.
The autopsy showed that the victim sustained twenty-two wounds.
The doctor found accumulated blood in both the chest and abdominal cavities amounting to eight hundred cubic centimeters and three hundred cubic centimeters, respectively.
Death was attributed to “shock, internal hemorrhage, secondary to” the twenty-two wounds.
The autopsy revealed the presence of three bullets in the victim’s body.
The doctor noted about twenty entrance wounds and fifteen wounds of exit.

Accused’s Defense and Evidence

The accused testified that he was twenty-two years old, unmarried, and a resident of Barrio San Antonio, Arayat, Pampanga.
He claimed alibi, stating that he worked as a helper in Dycayo Grocery at Angeles City from September 12, 1969 until his sickness and arrest on March 30, 1970.
He further asserted that from February, 1968 to September, 1969, he worked as a conductor for El Transit on a route covering Angeles City, Magalang, Arayat, and other places in Pampanga.
He claimed that on January 30, 1970, when Quiambao was liquidated, he was inside the grocery from about six o’clock in the morning to nine o’clock in the evening, and he slept in the grocery.
He presented corroboration through Florencio Dycayo (the grocery owner) and coworkers Carlito Bautista and Icasia