Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila
FIRST DIVISION
G.R. No. 88044 January 23, 1991
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
MARTIN CAGADAS, JR., MACARIO BARBERO, ROMY TULIO, CORITO PIASIDAD,
RENE BALONG, ROBERTO CULTURA and TATOR SALVADOR, appellants.
The Solicitor General for plaintiff-appelle.

GRIÑO-AQUINO, J.:
This case was elevated to this Court on appeal as the penalty of reclusion perpetua was
imposed upon the appellants.
On June 6, 1973, at around 6:30 in the morning, Rex Ballena and his sister, Lucia Ballena-
Tabo, left their residences at Longganapan, San Vicente, Davao, bound for the capital
town of Tagum, to withdraw some money with which to pay their farm laborers. In order
to reach their destination, they had to pass through Sitio Rizal in Binancian, Municipality
of Asuncion, Davao, to take a jeepney ride to Tagum. While waiting inside the jeep at the
Sitio Rizal Terminal, some members of the Integrated Civil Home Defense Force
(ICHDF), including the accused, approached them and asked where they were bound for
and why. Rex Ballena naively informed them that they were on their way to Tagum to
withdraw money from the bank with which to pay his farmhands. When asked if they
would be returning to Longganapan that day, Lucia replied that only her brother, Rex,
would do so. One of the ICHDF members who approached them was identified by Lucia
Tabo as Martin Cagadas, Jr.
Rex and Lucia arrived in Tagum at nearly noon. After withdrawing P800 from his Family
Savings Bank Account No. 1517020387, Rex purchased some necessities for his family,
reserving P500 for his workers' wages. He returned to Longganapan the following day,
leaving his sister Lucia in Tagum.
Rex was able to pass Sitio Rizal unmolested. In fact, he met Santiago Vercede, his
neighbor in Longganapan, while travelling on Dalisay Road at around 3:30 that afternoon,
proceeding toward Sangab.
The following day, Lucia returned to Longganapan and discovered that her brother never
arrived home and was missing.
On June 9, 1983, at around 8:30 in the morning, Lucia informed their barangay
councilman, Jose Magunot, who was also the deacon of the Iglesia ni Kristo Church, that
she was looking for her brother Rex. Together with other farmers living near the
Bontiqui/Lapatigan Creek, they searched for Rex. On their way to Rizal, they met
members of the ICHDF namely, Miguel Daub, Martin Cagadas, Jr., Macario Barbero,
Romy Tulio, Corito Piasidad, Rene Balong, Roberto Cultura and Tator Salvador, who
inquired about their mission and dissuaded them from continuing their search for Rex.
They were advised to report the matter to the barangay officials in Binansian Asuncion,
which they did. However, no action was taken by the said barangay officials.
In the evening of June 10, 1983, due to the very strong stench emitting therefrom, the
decomposed body of Rex Ballena was found lying face down in a deep ravine below the
mouth of the Macjum River about one-half kilometer away from the Bontiqui Creek. His
body bore multiple stab wounds in the chest and stomach, with the intestines protruding,
his throat slashed, and head smashed with a hard and heavy object. His mouth was still
gagged with a red handkerchief and his hands bound with boracan vines behind his back.
His money was gone but his Savings Account passbook was found beside the decaying
corpse. Without waiting for the Municipal Health Officer's post-mortem necropsy
examination or the Municipal judge's Inquest Report, his remains were laid to rest the
next day.
On November 8, 1984, or more than a year later, an Information for murder was filed
against the armed ICHDF members, namely: Miguel Daub, the ICHDF team leader,
Martin Cagadas, Jr., Macario Barbers, Romy Tulio, Corito Piasidad, Rene Balong, Jose
"Roberto" Cultura and Saturnino "Tator" Salvador, who had been seen by eyewitnesses
leading Rex, with hands hogtied behind his back and his mouth gagged by a red
handkerchief, towards the deep gully where his decomposing body was found. The
ICHDF was a para-military group organized by local units of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines and composed of selected civilians in the locality to assist the Army in its
peace-keeping duties.
The amended information, filed on December 3, 1984, reads:
The undersigned accuses MIGUEL DAUB, MARTIN CAGADAS, JR., MACARIO
BARBERO, ROMY TULIO, CORITO PIASIDAD, RENE BALONG, JOSE CULTURA and
TATOR SALVADOR of the crime of Murder under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code,
committed as follows:
That on or about June 6, 1983, in the Municipality of San Vicente, Province of Davao,
Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-mentioned
accused, conspiring, confederating and mutually helping one another, with treachery and
evident premeditation, with intent to kill and armed with guns and bladed weapons, did
then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault, hack and stab one Rex
Ballena, thereby inflicting upon him wounds which caused his death, and further causing
actual, moral and compensatory damages to the heirs of the victim.
That in the commission of the foregoing offense all the abovenamed accused took
advantage of their public position as members of the Integrated Civil Home Defense
Force and their superior strength which circumstances aggravate their crime. (p. 3, Trial
Court's decision; p. 24, Rollo.)
The accused were arraigned on December 14, 1984. Each entered a plea of "Not Guilty"
to the charge. At the trial, the prosecution presented five witnesses and the defense,
thirteen. Two prosecution witnesses, Ramos Magunot and Jose Magunot, testified that
they saw on June 6, 1983 at around 4 p.m., from their farm huts situated along Bontiqui
Creek in Sitio Rizal, Rex Ballena, hogtied and being led by the accused toward the
Macjum River, where his corpse was later discovered. Leading the way was Martin
Cagadas, Jr.; on the left side of Rex was Romy Tulio who held the vine tied around Rex's
hands; on the right was Tator Salvador, and directly behind was Macario Barbero, who
held a gun against the victim's back, followed by Corito Piasidad, Rene Balong, "Jose"
Cultura and ICHDF team leader Miguel Daub. Jose Magunot testified that he was
summoned by the ICHDF team the same evening because their leader (Daub) caught
him (Jose) watching when they hogtied Rex. He was warned not to tell on them at the risk
of his own life. There was, however, no eyewitness to the actual killing.
All the accused put up the defense of alibi, claiming that they could not possibly have
committed the heinous crime imputed to them, for they were not in the place pointed to
by the prosecution witnesses, having either worked in another ICHDF detachment center
or in some other place.
On August 24, 1988, the Regional Trial Court of Tagum, Davao (Branch 1) rendered a
decision finding all of the accused, excluding Miguel Daub (who died during the trial)
"guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of murder as charged, sentencing them to
suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua with all the accessory penalties provided by law,
and to indemnify the widow, Aquila Ballena, and the heirs of Rex Ballena P12,000 as
compensatory damages, plus Thirty Thousand (P30,000) Pesos, as and in the concept
of moral damages, the filing fees thereof to stand as lien to the full and complete execution
for the satisfaction of the awards." (p. 50, RTC decision; p. 137, Rollo.)
The defendants appealed to this Court in view of the penalty imposed on them. They
allege that the lower court erred:
1. in convicting them of murder despite the prosecution's failure to prove their guilt beyond
reasonable doubt;
2. in giving credence to the improbable and ill-motivated testimonies of prosecution
witnesses Ramos and Jose Magunot;
3. in convicting the appellants of the crime charged based on purely circumstantial
evidence;
4. in disregarding their defense of alibi;
5. in convicting Roberto Cultura even if he was not one of the charged in the information;
and
6. in finding that the aggravating circumstances of (a) taking advantage of public position,
(b) superior strength, (c) evident premeditation, and (d) treachery were present in the
commission of the crime.
The appeal has no merit.
While it is true that no eyewitnesses to the actual killing were available or brave enough
to come forward and testify against the accused, direct evidence is not the only basis
upon which their guilt may be predicated. Their guilt may be, as it was, established
through circumstantial evidence which suffices for conviction if the following requisites
are present, namely: (1) there must be more than one circumstance, (2) the facts from
which the inferences are derived are proven; and (3) the combination of all the
circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt (Sec. 5, Rule
133, Revised Rules of Court; People vs. Alcantara, 163 SCRA 783).
The following facts or circumstances were proven:
1. that Rex was seen by the prosecution witnesses, Ramos Magunot and Jose Magunot,
hogtied and gagged with a red handkerchief in his mouth;
2. that he was being led on foot toward the Macjum river by the appellants;
3. that his body, bearing stab wounds and other injuries, was found at the Macjum river;
4. that the appellants advised Magunot not to report what he had seen; and
5. that the victim did not have his money on his person when his body was found.
The inferences to be derived from those facts are:
(1) that Rex was gagged and hogtied by the appellants;
(2) that he was killed by the appellants, and, (3) that he was robbed by the appellants.
The web of circumstantial evidence in this case constitutes an unbroken chain leading to
a reasonable conclusion that the appellants detained the victim while he was on his way
to Sangab that fateful afternoon of June 6, 1983. They hogtied and gagged him, led him
to the gully, and as the decomposed corpse later revealed, stabbed him to death with
multiple knife thrusts. Their individual participation need not be specified for they were all
co-conspirators in the commission of the crime, hence, the guilt of one or some was the
guilt of all. (People vs. Maralit, 165 SCRA 427; People vs. Newman, 163 SCRA 496;
People vs. Salvador, 163 SCRA 574.)
The trial court did not err in giving full credit to the testimonies of the prosecution
witnesses for they were disinterested witnesses, not related at all to the victim. Their
testimonies were spontaneous, unrehearsed and unchallenged even during cross-
examination. Their initial reluctance to testify does not affect their credibility (People vs.
Aliocod, 167 SCRA 665) for the killers were notorious for their lawlessness and barbarity.
The trial court properly rejected the appellants' defense of alibi which is the weakest of all
defenses especially in the absence of proof that it would have been physically impossible
for them to have been at the scene of the crime (People vs. Masangkay, 157 SCRA 320).
Moreover, the testimonies of the defense witnesses are not only replete with material
inconsistencies but are also incompatible with one another. The Certification signed by
the barangay and purok officials on September 27, 1984, attesting to the presence of the
accused in a detachment center in Davao is highly unreliable, as it was not based on
personal knowledge of the affiants but on unconfirmed reports or hearsay.
Appellants' contention that the trial court erred in convicting Roberto Cultura for he was
not one of those indicted in the information but "Jose" Cultura (his father's name), has no
merit. The erroneous designation of his name in the information will not vitiate it, as it was
clearly proven that the accused, Roberto Cultura, was part of the group that arrested,
hogtied and killed the victim. Besides, Cultura did not raise this question of his identity
during the arraignment. His acquiescence to be tried under the name "Jose" at that stage
of the case is deemed to be a waiver on his part to raise the question of his identity as
one of the accused for the first time on appeal (People vs. Maravilla, 165 SCRA 392;
People vs. Torres, 165 SCRA 702).
All the appellants are guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of murder qualified by
treachery and aggravated by the circumstance of taking advantage of their public
positions. There was treachery in the commission of the offense for the victim was gagged
and his hands were tied before he was slain, thereby rendering him completely helpless.
Furthermore, the appellants abused their office as Civil Home Defense members, who
are supposed to be peace officers tasked with maintaining law and order and of protecting
life and property in their community. They instead turned out to be murderers and
brigands.
The penalty of murder under the 1987 Constitution is reclusion temporal in its maximum
period to reclusion perpetua(People vs. Alpetche, 168 SCRA 670). Appellants cannot
avail of the Indeterminate Sentence Law, considering the penalty actually imposed.
WHEREFORE, the decision a quo, being in full accord with the evidence and the law, is
hereby affirmed in toto.
SO ORDERED.
Narvasa, Cruz, Gancayco and Medialdea, JJ., concur.