1 - People Vs Gonzales GR 80762
1 - People Vs Gonzales GR 80762
PHYSICAL FINDINGS
1. Deceased is about 5 ft. and 4 inches in height, body moderately
built and on cadaveric rigidity.
EXTERNAL FINDINGS
1. Puncture wound, 1 cm. in width, 9 cm. in length, located at the
lower 3rd anterior aspect of the arm, right, directed upward to the
right axillary pit.
2. Stab wound, thru and thru, located at the proximal 3rd, forearm
right, posterior aspect with an entrance of 5 cm. in width and 9 cm.
in length with an exit at the middle 3rd, posterior aspect of the
forearm, right, with 1 cm. wound exit.
3. Stab wound, thru and thru, located at the middle 3rd, posterior
aspect of the forearm right, 1 cm. in width.
4. Incised wound, 4 cm. long, depth visualizing the right lateral border
of the sternum, 6th and 7th ribs, right located 1.5 inches below the
right nipple.
5. Stab wound, 2 cm. in width, 10.5 cm. in depth, directed inward to
the thoracic cavity right, located at the left midclavicular line at the
level of the 5th rib left.
6. Stab wound, 2 cm. in width, 9.5 cm. in depth directed toward the
right thoracic cavity, located at the mid left scapular line at the level
of the 8th intercostal space.
7. Puncture wound, 1 cm. in width, located at the base of the left
armpit directed toward the left thoracic cavity.
8. Puncture wound, 1 cm. in width, 11 cm. in length, directed toward
the left deltoid muscle, located at the upper 3rd axilla left.
9. Puncture wound, 3 cm in width, 11.5 cm in length, located at the
anterior aspect, proximal 3rd arm left, directed downward.
10. Stab wound, thru and thru, 2.5 cm. in width, and 5 cm. in length,
medial aspect, palm right.
11. Stabwound, 4 cm.in width, iliac area, right, directed inward with
portion of large intestine and mysentery coming out.
12. Stab wound, 4 cm. in width, located at the posterior portion of the
shoulder, right, directed downward to the aspex of the light thoracic
cavity.
13. Incised wound, 1 cm. in width, 10 cm. in length, located at the
medial portion of the medial border of the right scapula.
14. ncised wound, 1 cm. in width, 4.5 cm. in length, located at the
posterior aspect of the right elbow.
Now on the medical evidence. Dr. Rojas opined that it is possible that the
sixteen wounds described in the autopsy report were caused by two or
more bladed instruments. Nonetheless, he admitted the possibility that one
bladed instrument might have caused all. Thus, insofar as Dr. Rojas'
testimony and the autopsy report are concerned, Fausta Gonzales'
admission that she alone was responsible for the killing appears not at all
too impossible. And then there is the positive testimony of Dr. Rojas that
there were only five wounds that could be fatal out of the sixteen described
in the autopsy report. We shall discuss more the significance of these
wounds later.
It is thus clear from the foregoing that if the conviction of the appellant by
the lower courts is to be sustained, it can only be on the basis of the
testimony of Huntoria, the self-proclaimed eyewitness. Hence, a meticulous
scrutiny of Huntoria's testimony is compelling.
To recollect, Huntoria testified that he clearly saw all the accused, including
the appellant, take turns in hacking and stabbing Lloyd Peacerrada, at
about 8:00 o'clock in the evening, on February 21, 1981, in the field near a
"linasan" while he (Huntoria) stood concealed behind a clump of banana
trees some 15 to 20 meters away from where the crime was being
committed. According to him, he recognized the six accused as the
From his very testimony, Huntoria failed to impute a definite and specific
act committed, or contributed, by the appellant in the killing of Lloyd
Peacerrada.
It also bears stressing that there is nothing in the findings of the trial court
and of the Court of Appeals which would categorize the criminal liability of
the appellant as a principal by direct participation under Article 17,
paragraph 1 of the Revised Penal Code. Likewise, there is nothing in the
evidence for the prosecution that inculpates him by inducement, under
paragraph 2 of the same Article 17, or by indispensable cooperation under
paragraph 3 thereof. What then was the direct part in the killing did the
appellant perform to support the ultimate punishment imposed by the Court
of Appeals on him?
Article 4 of the Revised Penal Code provides how criminal liability is
incurred.
Art. 4. Criminal liability Criminal liability shall be incurred:
1. By any person committing a felony (delito) although the wrongful act
done be different from that which he intended.
2. By any person performing an act which would be an offense against
persons or property, were it not for the inherent impossibility of its
accomplishment or on account of the employment of inadequate or
ineffectual means.
(Emphasis supplied.)
Thus, one of the means by which criminal liability is incurred is through the
commission of a felony. Article 3 of the Revised Penal Code, on the other
hand, provides how felonies are committed.
Art. 3. Definition Acts and omissions punishable by law are felonies
(delitos).
Felonies are committed not only by means of deceit (dolo) but also by
means of fault (culpa).
There is deceit when the act is performed with deliberate intent; and there
is fault when the wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of
foresight, or lack of skill.
(Emphasis supplied.)
Thus, the elements of felonies in general are: (1) there must be an act or
omission; (2) the act or omission must be punishable under the Revised
Penal Code; and (3) the act is performed or the omission incurred by
means of deceit or fault.
Here, while the prosecution accuses, and the two lower courts both found,
that the appellant has committed a felony in the killing of Lloyd
Peacerrada, forsooth there is paucity of proof as to what act was
performed by the appellant. It has been said that "act," as used in Article 3
of the Revised Penal Code, must be understood as "any bodily movement
tending to produce some effect in the external world." 40 In this instance,
there must therefore be shown an "act" committed by the appellant which
would have inflicted any harm to the body of the victim that produced his
death.
Yet, even Huntoria, as earlier emphasized, admitted quite candidly that he
did not see who "stabbed" or who "hacked" the victim. Thus this principal
witness did not say, because he could not whether the appellant "hacked or
"stabbed" victim. In fact, Huntoria does not know what specific act was
performed by the appellant. This lack of specificity then makes the case fall
short of the test laid down by Article 3 of the Revised Penal Code
previously discussed. Furthermore, the fact that the victim sustained only
five fatal wounds out of the total of sixteen inflicted, as adverted to above,
while there are six accused charged as principals, it follows to reason that
one of the six accused could not have caused or dealt a fatal wound. And
this one could as well be the appellant, granted ex gratia argumenti that he
took part in the hacking and stabbing alleged by Huntoria. And why not
him? Is he not after all the oldest (already sexagenarian at that time) and
practically the father of the five accused? And pursuing this argument to the
limits of its logic, it is possible, nay even probable, that only four, or three,
or two of the accused could have inflicted all the five fatal wounds to the
exclusion of two, three, or four of them. And stretching the logic further, it is
possible, nay probable, that all the fatal wounds, including even all the nonfatal wounds, could have been dealt by Fausta in rage against the assault
on her womanhood and honor. But more importantly, there being not an
iota of evidence that the appellant caused any of the said five fatal wounds,
coupled with the prosecution's failure to prove the presence of conspiracy
beyond reasonable doubt, the appellant's conviction can not be sustained.
Additionally, Huntoria's credibility as a witness is likewise tarnished by the
fact that he only came out to testify in October 1981, or eight long months
since he allegedly saw the killing on February 21, 1981. While ordinarily the
failure of a witness to report at once to the police authorities the crime he
had witnessed should not be taken against him and should not affect his
credibility, 41 here, the unreasonable delay in Huntoria's coming out
engenders doubt on his veracity. 42 If the silence of coming out an alleged
eyewitness for several weeks renders his credibility doubtful, 43 the more it
should be for one who was mute for eight months. Further, Huntoria's long
delay in reveiling what he allegedly witnessed, has not been satisfactorily
explained. His lame excuse that he feared his life would be endangered is
too pat to be believed. There is no showing that he was threatened by the
accused or by anybody. And if it were true that he feared a possible
retaliation from the accused, 44 why did he finally volunteer to testify
considering that except for the spouses Augusto and Fausta Gonzales who
were already under police custody, the rest of the accused were then still
free and around; they were not yet named in the original information, 45 thus
the supposed danger on Huntoria's life would still be clear and present
when he testified.
Moreover, Huntoria is not exactly a disinterested witness as portrayed by
the prosecution. He admitted that he was a tenant of the deceased. In fact,
he stated that one of the principal reasons why he testified was because
the victim was also his landlord.
xxx xxx xxx
Q Now, Mr. Huntoria, why did it take you so long from the time you saw the
stabbing and hacking of Lloyd Peacerrada when you told Mrs.
Peacerrada about what happened to her husband?
A At first I was then afraid to tell anybody else but because I was haunted
by my conscience and secondly the victim was also my landlord I revealed
what I saw to the wife of the victim. 46
xxx xxx xxx
(Emphasis ours.)
At this juncture, it may be relevant to remind that under our socioeconomic
set-up, a tenant owes the very source of his livelihood, if not existence
itself, from his landlord who provides him with the land to till. In this milieu,
tenants like Huntoria are naturally beholden to their landlords and seek
ways and means to ingratiate themselves with the latter. In this instance,
volunteering his services as a purported eyewitness and providing that
material testimony which would lead to the conviction of the entire family of
Augusto Gonzales whose wife, Fausta, has confessed to the killing of Lloyd
Peacerrada, would, in a perverted sense, be a way by which Huntoria
sought to ingratiate himself with the surviving family of his deceased
landlord. This is especially so because the need to get into the good graces
27 Id., 64.
28 Id., 51.
29 Id., 52, 66.
30 Id., session of July 18, 1984, 12.
31 Id., 6.
32 Id., 14-15.
33 Rollo, id., 112.
34 Id., 113.
35 Id., 113-114.
36 Original Records, id., 7, 14-16.
37 Id., 4-5.
38 Id., 1.
39 T.S.N., session on July 27, 1982, 57-59.
40 REYES, THE REVISED PENAL CODE (1977), vol. 1, 68-69.
41 People vs. Punzalan, No. 54562, August 6, 1987, 153 SCRA 1; People vs.
Coronado, No. 68932, October 28, 1986, 145 SCRA 250.
42 People vs. Delavin, Nos. 73762-63 February 27,1987, 148 SCRA 257, citing
People vs. Madarang, No. L-22295, January 30, 1970, 31 SCRA 148.
43 People vs. Tulagan, No. 68620, July 22, 1986, 143 SCRA 107.
44 T.S.N., session of July 27, 1982, 50-51.
45 Original Records, id., 32-33.
46 T.S.N., session of July 27, 1982, id., 51-52.
47 Id., 67.
48 Id., 67-68.
49 The appellant was already 68 years old on July 18, 1984; T.S.N., session of
July 18, 1984, 3.
50 T.S.N., id., 6.
51 People vs. Arnel Mitra, et al., No. 80405, November 24, 1989; People vs.
Berbal and Juanito, No. 71527, August 10, 1989; People vs. Nolasco, No. 55483,
July 28, 1988, 163 SCRA 623; People vs. Pecato, No. L-41008, June 18, 1987,
151 SCRA 14.
52 People vs. Santos, No. 62072, November 11, 1985, 139 SCRA 583.