Case 13

CASE 13
G.R. No. 142682 (June 5, 2002)

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CRISPULO DIJAN Y MACAJIYA, accused-
appellant.
FACTS:
On Aril 11, 1998 around 10 o’clock in the evening, Roderick Silvestre and Alvaro Hilario went to buy some
cigarettes when they saw the group of Crispulo Dijan, Romualdo Paglinawan and Oliver Lizardo, passing by
the store. Romualdo Paglinawan confronted Alvaro Hilario for purportedly giving him a “bad stare”. Silvestre
apologized to the group and explained that was the natural way Hilario gazed at people. Dijan, Paglinawan and
Lizardo left the place. While Silvestre and Hilario were walking, the three accused, who apparently were
waiting for the duo, suddenly ganged up on, and took turns in stabbing, Hilario. At that point, Hilario, who was
walking slightly ahead of Silvestre, cried out and told the latter to flee. Silvestre ran away until he was able to
cling to a passing passenger jeepney.
The police found the lifeless body of Hilario and identified the whereabouts of the assailants. Hilario was
found to have sustained several stab wounds, punctured and incised wounds, and abrasion in various parts of
the body which caused his death. The medico-legal officer concluded that the wounds could have been
inflicted by two assailants with the use of two single-bladed weapons and an icepick.
The trial court saw the case for the prosecution insofar as accused-appellant Crispulo M. Dijan was concerned
whom the court found guilty of the crime of murder, acquitting thereby Dijan's two co-accused, Romualdo
Paglinawan and Oliver Lizardo, based on reasonable doubt and charged against him and is ordered to suffer
the penalty of reclusion perpetua. Aggrieved, accused appellant appealed his conviction.
ISSUES:
1. The trial court erred in finding accused-appellant Crispulo Dijan guilty beyond reasonable doubt of
the crime of murder.
2. Assuming for the sake of argument that accused-appellant is guilty, the trial court erred in
appreciating the qualifying circumstance of treachery.
HELD:
NO. A party who invokes the justifying circumstance of "defense of a stranger" has the burden of proving by
clear and convincing evidence the exculpatory cause that can save him from conviction. The number of
wounds sustained by the victim would itself likewise negate accused-appellant's claim of defense of a stranger.
The autopsy conducted on the corpse would show that the deceased sustained fourteen injuries consisting of
nine stab wounds, three punctured wounds, an incised wound and an abrasion. Certainly, the nature and
number of wounds inflicted by an accused on the victim should be significant indicia in determining the
plausibility of the defense plea.
YES. The Court, however, finds the evidence of the prosecution to be wanting in respect to the qualifying
circumstance of treachery. The essence of treachery is the sudden and unexpected attack by an aggressor on an
unsuspecting victim, depriving the latter of any real chance to defense himself and thereby ensuring its
commission with no risk to the aggressor. Here, it was not satisfactorily established that the victim was
unarmed at the time of the stabbing incident. On the contrary, the stab wound on the person of Romualdo
Paglinawan, a companion and co-accused of herein appellant, could indicate that the victim might have also
been armed. Neither was it made clear that there was no provocation on the part of the victim.
Accused-appellant can thus only be convicted of the crime of homicide, the penalty for which, under Article
249 of the Revised Penal Code, is reclusion temporal that, absent any mitigating nor aggravating circumstance,
shall be imposed in its medium period.
WHEREFORE, the appealed decision of the Regional Trial Court is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION in
that accused-appellant is only found GUILTY of HOMICIDE and sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of
nine (9) years and one (1) day of prision mayor, as minimum, to fifteen (15) years and eleven (11) months and
three (3) days of reclusion temporal, as maximum, and is ordered to pay the heirs of the victim Alvaro Hilario
civil indemnity of Fifty Thousand (P50,000.00) pesos and actual damages of Thirty-four Thousand Two
Hundred (P34,200.00) Pesos.

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CASE 13

G.R. No. 142682 (June 5, 2002)

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