THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. MOROS USAB MOHAMAD @ BIRA SAHID @ BIRA, ET AL., GONZALIN ALIAS GONZALES AND UBAY, DEFENDANTS AND APPELLANTS.

Compulsory review of the decision
of the Court of First Instance of Basilan City in Criminal Case No. 460
convicting Gonzalin, alias Gonzales — hereinafter referred to merely as
Gonzalin — and Ubay of the crime of robbery in band with murder, and sentencing
each of them to suffer the penalty of death, to return the articles robbed of
pay their corresponding value in, the amount of P1,069.
25, to pay, jointly and severally, the heirs of the deceased Wilfredo de Leon,
the amount of P6,000.00, and to pay the costs.

The information filed by the City
Fiscal of Basilan charged Gonzalin and Ubay, together with Usab Mohamad, alias
Bira Sahid, alias Bira, and seven others who were still at large at the time,
with the crime of robbery in band with murder, committed as follows:

“That on or about the 26th day
of January, 3957, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, viz., at
Calabasa Landing Field, Latuan, Isabela, City of Basilan, Philippines the
abovenamed accused, Moros Usab Mohamad alias Kira Sahid alias Bira, Gonzalin
alias Gonzales and Ubay, conspiring and confederating together, aiding and
assisting with their companions, Moros Sahibad. Ungang Apang, Halim alias
Tuppi, alias Abduhalim, Lahco, Tinguilan Isa and Idong, who are still at large;
armed with rifles and bladed weapons, did then and there willfully unlawfully
and feloniously, with intent to gain and by means of force, violence and
intimidation against persons, take, steal and carry away the following personal
properties, to wit:

one	(1)	wrist watch ‘Lord Elgin’, 21 jewels, valued	P200.00
one	(1)	38 cal. revolver, ‘Commando’ type	519.25
Money in cash mostly in P20.00 bills, P10.00 bills amounting to			350.00

all worth the amount, of P1,069.25,
Philippine currency, belonging to Wilfredo de Leon; that in the commission of
the crime herein charged the said accused taking advantage of their superior
strength, fully armed with rifles and barongs hid themselves in the bushes, did
then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, shoot with their rifles
and hack with their bladed weapons said Wilfredo de Leon, thereby inflicting
multiple gunshot and incised wounds on vital parts of his body which caused his
instant death.”

Upon arraignment, Usab Mohamad
pleaded guilty and was sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua,
whereas Gonzalin and Ubay entered a plea of not guilty upon which they were
jointly tried.

The evidence for the prosecution
shows that in a small island off the mainland of Mindanao, the ten accused met and planned
to rob the payroll money of the American Rubber Plantation scheduled to arrive
by plane from Zamboanga at the Calabasa airfield, Latuan, Isabela, Basilan City, on January
26, 1957.
Armed with rifles and bladed weapons they set sail on two vintas and after
landing on a beach near said airfield at about 3:00 a.m., of that date they proceeded
thereto and deployed themselves near its gate.

At about 7:00 a.m. of the day
aforesaid, Wilfredo de Leon, paymaster of the American Rubber Plantation in
Latuan, Isabela, Basilan City, arrived at the airport in a pick-up truck driven
by Florentine Morales, to meet the plane carrying the company payroll money,
Parking the vehicle on one side of the runway Morales seated himself on top
thereof, while De Leon was seated towards its rear end. A few minutes later, a
plane belonging to Johnston & Co. flew in and landed on the airstrip to
pick up a passenger bound for Zamboanga City. While waiting for the latter, the
pilot, Inocencio Rivero, alighted from the plane loitered with De Leon and Morales by the truck, but
after thirty minutes, the passenger having failed to arrive, his plane took
off.

In the belief that the payroll
money had been delivered to De Leon, the ambushers started moving in.
Hearing some noise coming from the nearby bushes, De Leon reached for his revolver from his
side trouser’s pocket at the same time that Gonzalin aimed his gun at him. At
that juncture, Morales stood up to jump from the pick-up and saw Gonzalin
aiming his gun at De Leon, and Ubay, a short distance away among the bushes.
While running away from the attackers, Morales was fired at several times but
escaped unhurt. De Leon, however, was shot and fell to the
ground near the rear end of the truck. The rest of the group then came out of
their hiding places and hacked De Leon to death with their bladed
weapons, relieving him of his wrist watch, his 38 Cal. revolver and cash, all totaling P1,069.25. Thereafter they left the airport and dispersed.
About a kilometer away, Gonzalin, Ubay, Usab and another member of the band
passed by the place where Iluminada Saburo and her son, Pedro, were fishing.
Mother and son had earlier heard shots coming from, the direction of the airport,
and when Gonzalin and his companions passed by, they (Iluminada and her son)
noticed that they were armed and that one of them was wounded. They also
recognized Gonzalin and Ubay. Later in the day, Usab was arrested by the police
authorities of Basilan as he Jay seated under a mango tree suffering from a
gunshot wound. In an on-the-spot investigation, he implicated Gonzalin and
Ubay, among others, in the commission of the offense. Upon his subsequent
arrest in Basilan City, a package of “Bankers”
cigarettes and a “Sefiorita” notebook were found in the possession of
Gonzalin, both articles stained with human blood. De Leon‘s widow identified the notebook as
the one she had given her late husband.

In two separate extrajudicial
statements (Exhibits U and V), Usab pointed to
Gonzalin and Ubay as members of the group that ambushed and killed De Leon.

A post-mortem examination of the
body of the victim showed that death was caused by “acute anemia,
secondary hemorrhage, due to multiple gunshots and incised wounds”. (Exhibit J).

In their brief, defendants”
assail the credibility and the sufficiency of the testimonies of principal
witnesses Florentino Morales, Iluminada Salburo and her son, identifying them
as members of the group that killed and robbed De Leon, and further claim that
the trial court erred in giving more weight to the extra-judicial statements of
co-accused Usab (Exhibits U and V) than to his testimony in open court
favorable to them.

With respect to Morales, defendants
claim that he could not have really seen them well, because his line of vision
was covered by the deceased De Leon moments before the latter was
shot. True, the witness admitted that his line of vision was covered by De Leon, but this was when the ambushers,
closing in upon them from the bushes, made some noise which attracted De Leon‘s attention. Thereafter and after
De Leon had shouted “hop”, he (Morales) stood up from the top of the
truck where he had been seated and peeped through the sides of De Leon, thereby
seeing defendants and their companions coming, with Gonzalin aiming a carbine
at De Leon, and Ubay standing among the bushes. Morales also testified that he
personally knew both Gonzalin and Ubay because they often went to Latuan where
the American Rubber Plantation was located and of which he had been for
sometime an employee; that he knew Ubay since he (Morales) was a little boy
(pp. 47 to 50, transcript of September 1, 1958). Bearing in mind that the crime
was committed in the morning – after eight o’clock – Morales could not have possibly
been mistaken.

Defendants further claim that
Iluminada Salburo and her son could not have identified them because said
witnesses had been fishing and did not sleep the previous night. The assumption
that said witnesses spent a sleepless night is wrong, because the truth of the
matter is – according to their testimony – that they slept part of that night
in the mangrove at Calabasa and fished during the rest.

Moreover, according to Iluminada,
she was only about six meters away when defendants and their companions walked
by that morning; that walking slowly behind Gonzalin, Ubay and another
unidentified member of their group, was a wounded man armed with a bolo; that
he knew Gonzalin as a former P.C. agent; and that although she did not know the
name of the other defendants (Ubay), she also recognized him, adding that said
accused also know her.

Iluminada’s seventeen year old son,
Pedro, testified to the same effect, adding that he was familiar with the Jaces
of Gonzalin and Ubay because they worked together in the American Rubber
Plantation.

Another circumstance pointing
strongly to defendants’ guilt is the recovery from the possession of Gonzalin
of a package of “Bankers” cigarettes (Exhibit A) stained with human
blood, and a “Señorita” notebook, similarly stained. The widow of the
deceased De Leon took the witness stand and
identified this notebook as the one she had given to her husband. When Gonzalin
was asked where he had gotten the cigarettes and the notebook, he grew pale and
could give no explanation.

Upon the other hand, the fact of
conspiracy among Gonzalin, Ubay, Usab and their companions was satisfactorily
proven by the latter himself when lie took the stand as a witness for the
defense. In the course of his testimony, he admitted that the raiding party was
composed of nine members who had previously met in an island near a place
called Tumahubong where they planned the commission of the crime; that the nine
members, armed with carbines, garands and other deadly weapons rode on two
vintas and landed near the Calabasa airfield at about three o’clock in the
morning of January 26, 1957; that upon landing, they concealed themselves among
the bushes near the gate of the airport and waited for the arrival
of the plane that usually carried the payroll money of the American Rubber
Company.

It is true that Usab attempted to
exculpate Gonzalin and Ubay saying that they did not form part of the group of
raiders and that he did not even know them until they found themselves together
in jail, but that particular portion of his testimony can not be believed. It
runs counter to the contents of his two affidavits (Exhibits U and V) which
were admitted as rebuttal evidence without objection on the part of the
defense. Besides, even a cursory examination of that portion of his testimony
will readily show that it is evasive.

Moreover, the record shows that
Major Santiago of the constabulary conducted a re-enactment of the crime in the
very place of its commission, Usab having been featured prominently in said
re-enactment. Voluntarily he showed to the investigators the manner in which
the crime was committed, and several pictures of the re-enactment were taken,
one of them showing Usab portraying the position of Gonzalin as the latter was
aiming his gun at the deceased De Leon (Exhibit E), and another the position of
Ubay likewise aiming a gun (Exhibit F), his own position when he was bringing a
basket of ammunition on orders of Gonzalin (Exhibit G) and his position when
overtaken by the police under a mango tree suffering from a gunshot wound
(Exhibit I).

Upon all the foregoing, we are
constrained to hold – as did the lower court – that the guilt of defendants
Gonzalin and Ubay has been established beyond reasonable doubt. In the view we
take of the case, we find it unnecessary to consider the other points raised by
defendants in relation to the admissibility of Usab’s affidavits (Exhibits U
and V).

Wherefore, the decision of the
trial court being in accordance with law and the evidence, the same is hereby
affirmed, with costs.

Bengzon, C.J., Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera, Paredes, Dizon, Regala and Makalintal, JJ., concur.