Title
People vs. Ben Paredes, et al. ~People vs. Pascual Bartolome
Case
G.R. No. L-19149-50
Decision Date
Aug 16, 1968
A 1960 robbery-homicide conspiracy involving a tobacco dealer’s murder, implicating police officials, accomplice testimonies, and upheld convictions.
robbery
homicide
criminal law

Case Summary (G.R. No. 112092)

Factual Background: The Robbery With Homicide

The events leading to the killing began with the planning of a hold-up directed at a wealthy Chinese tobacco leaf dealer, Chua Nai Su, who ran his business from the premises of Insular-Yebana Tobacco Corporation. The record showed that Ruben Concepcion and Conrado de Leon conceived the scheme to extort money through a robbery against the victim. Ruben allegedly delayed acceptance until he could secure companions. Thereafter, Ruben traveled to Naguilian, Isabela, accompanied by Manuel Mamuri and Aurelio Tattoc.

On April 25, 1960, Ruben, Mamuri, and Tattoc boarded a bus from Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, bound for Naguilian, after which they met Conrado de Leon at the Minanga-Minallo junction. Conrado brought them to his residence area, then later took them to the house of Ben Paredes, described as a small restaurant near the municipal building. During the night, Ben Paredes accommodated the group at the municipal building, after which Ben Paredes, Conrado, and Ruben conferred about the plan.

The following morning, April 26, 1960, the group went toward the corporation premises at Palattao. Before reaching the warehouse, they made a stop at a “kiosko” near the junction of the national highway and an old road. There they met Pascual Bartolome, who induced the group by promising monetary reward contingent on killing the Chinaman and on the ability to rob. As soon as the victim passed by in his pick-up heading toward the warehouse, the conspirators proceeded with further arrangements. Bartolome reiterated his promise and indicated they would meet again in the office of the Justice of the Peace.

At the municipal building, several local officials, including Chief of Police Protasio Santos and the mayor and justice of the peace, allegedly provided additional inducements and promised benefits to those who would succeed in killing the victim and robbing him. The record recounted that they assured the conspirators they would sell the lot where the warehouse stood and divide proceeds among themselves. The group was also promised immunity and assurance that nothing would happen because they were the officials who would investigate the matter.

After these arrangements, the conspirators obtained firearms. Santos allegedly gave his nickel-plated revolver to Ben Paredes, who in turn handed firearms to Conrado de Leon and to the others assigned to the robbery. The plan then proceeded with Ruben as the one who confronted and shot the victim inside the pick-up. Mamuri drove the pick-up away after the homicide, with Tattoc positioned behind him.

The attack unfolded when the victim’s pick-up moved backward and out of the gate, heading along the road toward Cauayan. Ruben ran forward, climbed onto the vehicle, poked his revolver at Chua Nai Su inside the pick-up, and fired multiple shots. The driver escaped unharmed. The victim, after attempting to run toward the gate, was shot again and fell dead near the guardhouse. Ruben ordered Mamuri to take the wheel and the conspirators fled toward Ilagan. Near a bridge in the territorial jurisdiction of Naguilian, Ruben ordered Mamuri to swerve the vehicle into a ravine with bushes, after which they ransacked the vehicle and found the victim’s portfolio containing cash. Ruben counted the money and gave shares to those he designated as participants, while leaving Santos with reluctance because Santos would later investigate whether the amount reported was correct. Santos refused to take his share at the time and directed that the accused change clothes before leaving for Ilagan, promising to handle the collection of the reward.

Immediate Police Investigation and Corroborating Physical and Witness Leads

The authorities became aware of the incident before noon on April 26, 1960. Chief of Police Santos conducted on-the-spot investigation at the corporation premises. Officers from the Philippine Constabulary arrived and conducted their own investigation. The victim’s body was autopsied at the scene by a health officer, who testified that death resulted from internal hemorrhage caused by gunshot wounds that damaged vital organs, with the slug recovered near the left back and another wound penetrating the right forearm.

The record also described investigative steps tied to a reported description of the triggerman’s checkered polo shirt. Officers sought the wearer and, upon following a lead from Hilario Tomines, captured suspicion around a man who matched that description and was alleged to have been seen with Conrado de Leon and companions at the relevant times. Later investigation focused on Conrado de Leon’s possession of clothing matching the description.

On April 26, 1960, Captain Achanzar proceeded to the house of Conrado de Leon and found Conrado returning with bags containing clothing. Achanzar seized a checkered light brown polo shirt with long sleeves after it matched the described color and coincided with a mismatch in sizes among other items in the bags. Employees identified the seized polo shirt as similar to that worn by the triggerman. The following morning, blood stains were discovered on the right sleeve, which further heightened suspicion. Conrado de Leon was arrested and questioned at the PC headquarters in Ilagan.

Conrado de Leon’s Statements and the Evolution of the Information

During interrogation, Conrado de Leon admitted participation and initially implicated multiple named persons. A written statement taken down by PC officers remained unsigned. When Conrado later attempted to swear the statement before the Justice of the Peace, he asserted that the names of certain persons he had earlier mentioned were fictitious. A health officer examined him and found no sign of violence; the Justice of the Peace wrote a notation indicating the examination was conducted before him. After further questioning, Conrado reiterated that the actual companions were Ben Paredes, Ruben Concepcion, Manuel Mamuri, and Aurelio Tattoc, while removing the earlier fictitious names.

On the strength of admissions and subsequent sworn statements, PC officers arrested Ruben Concepcion and Aurelio Tattoc in Solano. Manuel Mamuri initially eluded arrest and fled but later surrendered. Ben Paredes was arrested in Naguilian on April 29, 1960. Separate Informations against Santos and Bartolome were filed on June 9, 1960 and September 14, 1960, respectively, after initial charging of the others and after further development of the record through subsequent investigations and surrendered participation.

Appellants’ Defenses: Alibi and Allegations of Torture

The appellants offered defenses of alibi. Ben Paredes claimed he stayed at his restaurant on April 25 and April 26, 1960, from early evening to late morning and that he did not host or accompany the alleged conspirators. He also alleged that upon arrest, he was tortured by PC officers in Ilagan to force him to reveal the firearm and to confess participation. He narrated a series of physical maltreatment and deprivation of meals during custody.

Protasio Santos similarly presented alibi evidence. He claimed that on April 26, 1960, he was in his office in the municipal building and attended to other investigations, only going to the crime scene after he received news, and later had officials at the municipal building question the driver and a carpenter. He denied meeting Ben Paredes that morning and claimed he later made a spot report about his findings.

Pascual Bartolome claimed he never left his house on April 26, 1960 and spent the whole day making wood floaters for fishing nets. He denied visits by prosecution witnesses in the morning and denied seeing the other accused at his house. He also alleged procedural deprivation, asserting that he was denied the constitutional right to confront and cross-examine prosecution witnesses whose testimonies were taken before his arrest and subsequent indictment. His theory was that later use of earlier testimony violated his confrontation right.

Issue on Appeal

The central issue was whether Ben Paredes, Protasio Santos, and Pascual Bartolome had any hand in committing the robbery with homicide, despite their alibi defenses and their attacks on the credibility of evidence used against them.

The Parties’ Contentions on Credibility and Confrontation

The appellants attacked the trial court’s reliance on evidence given by state witness Aurelio Tottoc and by accused Ruben Concepcion, who had pleaded guilty. They argued that these witnesses were “polluted sources” because they had taken part in the crime. They contended that their testimony should have been received with grave suspicion.

Bartolome added a constitutional argument on the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, asserting that some prosecution witnesses testified before his arrest and indictment and that he therefore could not cross-examine them.

Legal Reasoning: Weight of Accomplice Testimony and Corroboration

The Court rejected the “polluted sources” argument. It acknowledged settled doctrine that testimony of an accomplice should be accepted with extreme caution. However, it held that when a participant in the crime’s testimony is corroborated by other prosecution witnesses, it should be given weight and credibility. The Court found exactly that corroboration in the case: the narrative supplied by Tottoc and Ruben Concepcion was materially supported by multiple other testimonies.

Hilario Tomines corroborated that he was on the same bus ridden by Ruben, Mamuri, and Tottoc, and that upon arriving at Naguilian they alighted at the Minanga-Minallo junction and conversed with Conrado de Leon. He further corroborated that Ruben asked whether they could obtain guns, gesturing the act. Other witnesses, including a detention prisoner in the municipal building, Loreto Remigio, corroborated that Ben Paredes and the accused met and conferred in the municipal building at the relevant evening, and that they left with the mat used the

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