THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. GLICERIO NAVARRO, ALIAS NONONG, ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLANTS.

PAREDES, J.:

For the death of Alfredo Debil, the Provincial Fiscal of Cotabato presented
with the Court of First Instance of said Province, the following Information:

“The undersigned Provincial Fiscal accuses Jaime Navarro alias Jim, Glicerio
Navarro alias Nonong, Eleuterio Navarro and Yce feon Kon? of the crime of
murder, committed as follows:

That on or about August 4, 1952, in the Municipality of Koronadal, Province
of Cotabato, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court,
the said accused in company with some whose identity is unknown and who is still
at large, conspiring and confederating together and mutually helping each other,
armed with a piece of wood and bottles of coca cola, with deliberate intent to
take the life of one Alfredo Debil, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and
feloniously attack and assault said Alfredo Debil, who as a result thereof,
suffered several serious wounds on different parts of his body which caused his
death.

All contrary to law, and with the aggravating circumstances of nocturnity
which was purposely sought by the accused to insure the commission of the crime
herein charged and abuse of superior strength.”

Subsequent to the filing of the above information, however, the case with
respect to Eleuterio Navarro and Yee Bon Kong was dismissed upon motion of the
Fiscal, and the trial proceeded against Jaime Navarro and Glicerio Navarro.

The evidence adduced by the prosecution has established that in the evening
of August 4, 1952, the defendants Jaime Navarro and his brother Glicerio, one
person identified only as a relative of the Navarros, Teodorico Esprela, Ricardo
Arroyo and a number of other friends, indulge in a drinking spree, within the
premises of the public market of Marbel, Koronadal, Cotabato, where beer and
tuba were freely served and imbibed. There, loose talks bruited a plan to kill
somebody, prompted by a previous insinuation of Eleuterio Navarro, uncle of
Jaime and Glicerio. It appears that Eleuterio who was a desperate person, due to
lack of money, had heard that one Yee Bon Kong hated Alfredo Debil so much, that
he (Yee) was willing to pay a prize to anyone who would liquidate Debil. After
partaking of the drinks, the group proceeded to the entrance of the Grand
Theatre, same town, where they stayed until the screening was over. At the lobby
of the show-house, all they did was to chat idly among themselves. Even after
the movie-goers had already left and the theatre closed, the group still
lingered in the premises. At this juncture, Alfredo Debil passed in front of the
theatre, coming from the market premises. Upon seeing Debil, Jaime Navarro,
Glicerio Navarro and the unidentified relative followed, stalking from behind.
At a place along the street, which turned out to be near the house where the
accused were living, Debil paused to urinate, having his back towards the
stalkers. At this instance, Jaime hit Debil on the head with a piece of wood,
causing Debil to emit a loud expression of pain and to fall to the ground.
Glicerio and the unknown relative, followed suit, Glicerio hitting Debil with
the same piece of wood used by Jaime, and the unknown relative, with an empty
bottle of coca-cola. Debil died on the spot. :

An examination of the body of the deceased, made by Dr. de Jesus, medical
officer, showed that the following wounds were inflicted:

“(1) Wounds, two, incised, scalp, occipital region (one was 3 inches lone and
the other 2-1/2 Inches).

(2) Fracture, compound, comminuted, depressed, skull, about 6 inches long
extending from occipital region to right temporal region.

(3) Laceration, meninges and brain substance, over temporal region with
hemorrhage.

(4) Abrasion, moderate, buck.

(5) Contusions, moderate, over right eye and shoulder.

It is the opinion of the undersigned that the victim died instantaneously
because of the depressed fracture of the skull with resulting laceration of
meninges and brain.

Dr. de Jesus, found the corpse lying on the ground on one side of the body
and facing the highway of Marbel. One hand was under the body and the other
stretched out. The victim’s trousers were not buttoned and I lie fingers of his
hand that was under, was near his genital organs and the ground underneath, the
deceased was wet, which was a clear attestation that the victim died while ho
was urinating and fell immediately upon receiving the blows.

The defense of the accused was a denial of the charges and alibi. Jaime
Navarro imputed the killing of Debil to Ricardo Montalban alias Ricardo
Arroyo, and tried to establish this contention by the testimony of Antonio
Zerrudo, Jr. and Loreto Carbon and that of his own. It was pointed out that when
Arroyo was urinating at the balcony of the house where they were staying, he
(Arroyo) told appellant Jaime Navarro that he had seen his enemy; that although
he advised Arroyo to lie down, the latter answered that he was used to fighting
in Iloilo. Arroyo rushed down to the street and beat the person, which turned
out to be Debil. Thereafter, Arroyo returned to the house, carrying a piece of
wood and threatened Jaime not to divulge what he had just seen; and if he would
ever be arrested on account of the incident, he would implicate everybody in the
house. Zerrudo and Carbon tried to corroborate the story of Jaime Navarro, by
declaring that at about 11 o’clock in the evening of August 4, 1952, as they
were about to retire for the night, they heard person shouting. Thru a small
opening of the window, they saw a person staggering in the street who was
challenging anyone brave enough to fight him. Ricardo Montalban alias
Ricardo Arroyo approached said person and struck him on the head with a piece of
wood, two feet long, causing the victim to fall. They came to know afterward
that it was Debil who died on the spot where they saw Arroyo hit the person that
night.

Glicerio Navarro, upon the other hand, claimed that from August 2, 1952 and
five (S) days after August 4, 19S2, he never left the house of his aunt-in-law,
Mrs. Mercedes Delmo Navarro. This allegation was sought to be corroborated by
Mrs. Navarro, who testified that prior, during and after the date of the
killing, the accused Glicerio was in bed, suffering from malaria; and that she
knew this for a fact, because she attended Glicerio. Ricardo Arroyo, whom Jaime
Navarro and his two witnesses implicated as the perpetrator of the offense,
categorically declared that It was Jaime and Glicerio Navarro who killed Alfredo
Debil. This witness also belied the testimony of defense witnesses supporting
the alibi of Glicerio, by asserting that Glicerio was not sick at any-time
immediately before, during and after the commission of the crime.

The dispositive portion of the decision appealed from declares:

“The acts committed by Jaime Navarro alias Jim and Glicerio Navarro
alias Nonong as established by the evidence of the prosecution,
constitute the crime of MURDER qualified by the circumstance of treachery and
premeditation in the killing of Alfredo Debil. This crime is prescribed and
penalized by Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code with reclusion Temporal in
its maximum period to Death.

IN VIEW OF THE FOREIGN CONSIDERATIONS, Jaime Navarro alias Jim and
Glicerio Navarro alias Nonong are hereby declared GUILTY beyond
reasonable doubt of the crime of MURDER committed in the person of Alfredo Debil
and they are hereby sentenced to SUFFER, each, an IMPRISONMENT of from TWELVE
(12) YEARS OF PRISION MAYOR, as MINIMUM, to TWENTY (20) YEARS of RECLUSION
TEMPORAL as MAXIMUM, to pay the heirs of Alfredo Debil in an indemnity in the
amount of P6,000.00, with the (memories of the law and to pay the costs of these
proceedings.”

The above decision was appealed to the Court of Appeals, during the pendency
of which, Jaime Navarro petitioned for the withdrawal of his appeal, which was
granted. In the Resolution of the Court of Appeals, elevating the case to this
Court, it concurred with the findings of the trial court regarding the guilt of
the accused, but observed that the penalty imposable under the circumstances
obtaining should be reclusion perpetua, and, there- fore, it pronounced
itself without authority to impose the same.

In passing upon the tenability of the defense of appellant Jaime Navarro, the
trial court made the following disquisitions:

“Likewise, the Court does not give credit to the contention of the defense
that it was Ricardo Arroyo the person who killed Alfredo Debil on the night of
August 4, 1952; that Jaime Navarro himself saw Ricardo Arroyo, who was then
living with him in the same house of Elcuterio Navarro, when Ricardo Arroyo went
down the house hurriedly in the night of the killing;, that from the window of
the house, he, Jaime Navarro, saw Ricardo Arroyo, when the latter, with a piece
of wood, gave a blow to Alfredo Debil; that when Ricardo Arroyo returned to the
house after killing Alfredo Debil, the latter warned him not to divulge the
incident because otherwise, he, Jaime Navarro, would be implicated in the case;
that for this reason he never revealed to anybody that Ricurdo Arroyo was the
author of the crime until the trial of the case because ho was afraid to be
implicated. The strong impression of this Court is that the testimony of
defendant Jaime Navarro does not ring true. Beside this consideration, the
circumstance that defendant Jaime Navarro and Ricardo Arroyo were then living
together in the same house of Eleuterio Navarro, and that Ricardo Arroyo was a
sort of a protegee of the two defendants, because Ricardo Arroyo came to live in
the house where they wore living on the promise that they will find him
employment and to sponsor him to be a member of a labor union then existing in
Marbel, shows that socially and economically Ricardo Arroyo was, by far, lower
in station of life, than the defendants. Because of this consideration, Jaime
Navarro could not likely be easily influenced by the threat of Ricardo Arroyo
that he will be implicated in the case if he ever reveal the incident he
allegedly saw on the night of August 4, 1952. The attitude therefore of Jaime
Navarro in keeping silent by not revealing that Ricardo Arroyo was the author of
the crime until the trial of the case is not natural, hence, his story is
unbelievable. Besides, the incontrovertible fact that Alfredo Debil was found
with five lesions in his body makes inconsistent the claim of Jaime Navarro that
Ricardo Arroyo struck Alfredo Debil only once on the head with a blunt
instrument.

“Respecting the testimonies of witnesses Antonio Zerrudo and Loreto Carbon,
they are in the opinion of the Court, unbelievable. These witnesses declared
that on the night of August 4, 1952, at about eleven o’clock they went home
after seeing the Grand Theatre show. When they were about to sleep, they heard a
person shouting, challenging anybody to fight; they stood up from where they
were about to sleep and peeped, thru a small openings at the window; while
peeping they saw a person walking in zigzag along the road challenging; any
person who is brave to fight; after a while another person, who turned out to be
Ricardo Arroyo, coming from behind the house of Eleuterio Navarro, approached
the first person and struck the latter on the head with a blunt instrument and
then, after delivering the blow, returned towards the direction where he came
from, According to these witnesses, after they saw the incident just related,
they returned to their bed and after commenting lightly the occurrence they saw,
they slept, According to these witnesses they saw Alfredo Debil when the latter
fell to the. ground after receiving the blow from Ricardo Arroyo; that early in
the following morning they left the house where they slept and returned to their
farm without even thinking of the incident they have seen the night previous;
they did not even have the curiosity to find out what became of the man who fell
after receiving a blow on the head before they proceeded to their farm. The
behavior of these two witnesses is not humanly natural if what they related was
true. The natural impulse of a man who sees another falling to the ground as a
result of a blow given by an aggressor is to succor the victim, or at least, for
curiosity sake, go near the place of incident to find what it is all about, The
Court cannot accept as good the explanation that they were frightened so they
went to sleep. These witnesses further declared that they came to know, shortly
after the incident, that the victim was one Alfredo Debil, that the aggressor
was Ricardo Arroyo and that the herein accused were indicted for the killing of
Alfredo Debil, which according to them, was not true. Yet they kept silent, they
never revealed what they allegedly saw until the trial of this case, that is,
after the lapse of several years. This, the Court cannot believe.”

After going over the record, We are fully satisfied that the killing occurred
in the manner as narrated by the prosecution and as found by the trial court and
confirmed by the Court of Appeals. We have no cogent reasons to deviate from the
findings and conclusions reached by the two courts.

The next issue which We are called upon to rule then, is whether the penalty
to be imposed, is reclusion temporal as meted out by the trial court, or
reclusion perpetua as recommended by the Court of Appeals.

Both Courts are one in concluding that the element of evident premeditation
has been fully established. We do not, however, share the view. The prosecution
has not successfully proved a previous plan on the part of the appellants to
kill Debil. The fact that on the night of the killing, Jaime Navarro was
provided with a piece of wood, 2 feet long and 2-1/2″ in diameter and Glicerio
Navarro carried two empty coca-cola bottles; that soon after, Jaime hit the nape
of Debil with the wood, and the unidentified relative hit the hack of Debil at
the right, with an empty bottle, and thereafter Glicerio struck Debil with the
same piece of wood, does not definitely show the existence of a mature and cold
reflection to kill Debil or deliberate preparation to execute a plan. The
decision to kill, if one was ever thought, was, under the circumstances proven,
made on the moment Debil passed by the appellants until the moment he urinated,
which covered a very short interval of time. A qualifying circumstance not
alleged in the information or complaint, although proven, may only be considered
as an aggravating circum- stance, but not to qualify the offense charged. (See
People vs. Alcantara, 55 Off. Gaz., 3451, cited in Padilla’s Criminal
Law, p. 214, 1955 Ed.) And it could not have been lawfully proven, in the case
at bar, because all that t information alleged is merely “a deliberate intent to
take the life of one Alfredo Debil”, which is different from “evident
premeditation”.

We, are, however, satisfied that the aggravating circumstance of treachery is
present. The att.uk was sudden, and from behind while the victim was urinating,
done at night time, purposely sought to insure the success of the attack and
with abuse of superior strength. Nevertheless, treachery cannot qualify the
crime to murder, as the information does not alleged it as a qualifying
circumstance. In fact, there is no qualifying circumstance alleged, in the
information, either evident premeditation or treachery, as having attended the
commission of the offense charged.

Under the aegis of the foregoing facts, therefore, the crime for which
appellant could be held responsible, is only Homicide, aggravated by treachery,
with no mitigating circumstance to appreciate. The penalty imposable for the
crime is reclusion temporal (Art. 249, RPC) which is from twelve (12)
years and one (1) day to twenty (20) years. The penalty imposed by the lower
court being within the range provided for, is correct.

Premises considered, the decision appealed from is hereby affirmed. With cost
against appellant Glicerio Navarro.

Bengzon, C. J., Bautista Angelo, Concepcion, Reyes, J. D. L., Dizon,
Barrera, Regala, Makalintal, Dengzon, J. P. and Zaldivar, JJ. concur.