THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. ILDEFONSO CORTEZ, ET AL., DEFENDANTS. ALEJO UY, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

On January 11, 1956 an information for murder was filed in the Court
of First Instance of Isabela against Alejo uy, Sergio Pataueg, Felix
Sacang and Ildefonso Cortez in connection with the death of Librado
Pascual. After trial Cortez was acquitted; Pataueg and Sacang were
convicted of slight physical injuries; and Uy was found guilty of
murder and sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua,
to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the sum of P6,000.00 and to
pay one-fourth of the costs. Uy appealed to the Court of Appeals, which
forwarded the record to this Court in view of the penalty imposed.

The facts established by the prosecution are as follows: On the
night of October 24, 1955 a dance was held in the yard of Juan Saguisi
in Turod, Reina Mercedes, Isabela, to celebrate the wedding of his
daughter and Angel Calimag. Many person were gathered at the place,
which was sufficiently illuminated by several electric light bulbs. At
about 9:30 o’clock Balbino Dulay, who was acting as master of
ceremonies, announced a special dance number for all candidates present
who were running for municipal offices. While some of them were dancing
Dulay asked one Elpidio Pedro to request the spectators who were
crowding in on the dancers to move back a little. As Pedro tried to
push back the crowd he was in turn pushed back by someone standing near
Sergio Pataueg, Felix Sacang and Alejo Uy, all residents of Banquero, a
barrio of Reina Mercedes about four kilometers from Turod. When Pedro
again requested the people to move back Pataueg gave him a fist blow,
causing him to retreat to the center of the dancing area. At that
juncture Ernesto Pascual and Remigio Pascual arrived at the scene and
told the three Banquero residents—Pataueg, Sacang and Uy—not to make
trouble. Immediately Pataueg hit Ernesto and a fist fight ensued
between the Pascual brothers on one side and the three Banquero
residents on the other. From the place where he had been making his
announcements, Dulay saw Uy with a drawn balisong and Sacang
holding another weapon. Dulay rushed forward to stop the fight and led
the two armed men, together with Pataueg, to their former places. In
the meantime the Pascual brothers had run away.

As Dulay was going back to his original position, policeman Pedro
Cortes fired a shot in the air. Thereupon Uy, Pataueg and Sacang rushed
to the middle of the dancing space where Librado Pascual, brother of
Ernesto and Remigio, was standing with both arms crossed over his
breast. Coming from behind, Pataueg clubbed Librado with a long piece
of wood, the blow landing on the upper part of his back. Librado
wheeled around to defend himself and with raised hands faced Pataueg.
Sacang then hacked Librado with a bolo on the back of the head. Librado
turned to face him, and it was at that moment that Alejo Uy, coming
from Librado’s right, stabbed him with a dagger on the right chest just
below the armpit. The three assailants then run away.

Librado Pascual was promptly taken to a clinic at Cauayan, Isabela,
where Dr. Angel P. Albano admitted him at 12:30 o’clock in the morning
of October 25. The doctor found that he had sustained three injuries,
of which one, 2-1/2 inches wide and 6 inches deep at the fourth
interspace above the right nipple, penetrated the lung. The other two
were a contused wound on the head and an ecchymosis on the scapular
region. Due to the seriousness of the stab wound an operation was
performed, after which the doctor, having been told by Librado that he
was surely going to die, advised Sgt. Ordonez of the Cauayan police
force to take his ante mortem statement. The police officer
put it in typewritten form, after which it was signed by the declarant.
A portion of that statement (Exh. A) read as follows:

Librado Pascual died at 1:20 o’clock the same morning, the cause of
death being certified by Dr. Albano as internal hemorrhage due to the
stab wound on the breast.

At the trial about two years after the occurrence; one Domingo Paual
testified for the defense and declared that he was the one who stabbed
the deceased. He did so, he said, because while he was running away
during the fight at the dance Librado Pascual blocked his way and then
hit him with the fists and clubbed him on the back.

Domingo Paual’s confession is obviously a last-minute concoction
designed to exculpate the accused. He said he and Librado were facing
each other; if so, the club wielded by the latter could hardly have
landed on his back. Paual also said that he was boxed and clubbed, also
on the back, by several other men and yet he sustained no wound or
bruise as a result thereof. He said he wanted to save innocent persons
from being convicted of a crime they did not commit, but he did not
inform the police when the four accused were arrested on October 26,
1955. He explained his failure on the ground that he was afraid of
reprisal from the victim’s relatives; yet he claims he informed one
Tirso Gaffud of what he had done to Librado, with the request that the
information be conveyed to the police. Gaffud was presented as witness
for the accused, but he mentioned nothing about the alleged information
and request of Paual.

Appellant testified that he saw Paual stab Librado and that, in
Paual’s presence, he told the latter’s parents about it. If that were
true, why should Paual still inform appellant, after the latter was
released on bail, that it was he who stabbed the deceased? And if
appellant knew that Paual was the killer, it is difficult to understand
why he did not so inform the police when he was arrested or the justice
of the peace during the preliminary investigation. As it was, Paual’s
admission came out only when he executed his statement on September 24,
1957, or about two years after the incident and while the defense was
presenting its evidence. All these circumstances, taken together with
the clear and convincing testimony of several witnesses who were
present during the incident, render Paual’s confession utterly unworthy
of credence.

Appellant assails the credibility of the said witnesses, namely,
Jeremias Lungub, Balbino Dulay and Gregorio Santua. No motive has been
shown, however, for these witnesses to implicate him falsely. Appellant
admitted that he knew of no grudge which Lungub and Santua might have
against him. The fact that the deceased was Lungub’s brother-in-law is
no reason why the latter should perjure himself.

Appellant questions the admissibility of the ante mortem
statement of the deceased. The testimony of Dr. Albano, who was present
at the time Librado gave the declaration, and of Sgt. Ordonez, who put
it in typewritten form, sufficiently proves its authenticity. That the
deceased gave it under the consciousness of impending death is shown
also by Dr. Albano’s testimony as well as by the serious nature of the
wound, which in fact resulted in death shortly after the statement was
taken. People vs. Chan, 50 Phil., 182; People vs. Andia, et al. 112 Phil., 338.

The trial court found appellant guilty of murder, qualified by
treachery. The Solicitor General disagrees, and points out that at the
moment of the stabbing Librado Pascual was already under attack by
Pataueg and Secang, and was in fact trying to defend himself. In other
words, appellant did not commit the act in such a manner as to insure
its success or to make it impossible or hard for the victim to do
anything in his own defense. The decision to kill was sudden and if the
latter’s position at that precise moment was vulnerable, it was not
deliberately sought by appellant, but was purely accidental. People vs.
Cadag, et al. 112 Phil., 314. But while the element of treachery cannot
be considered so as to qualify the crime as murder, the abuse of
superior strength, although not alleged in the information, must be
treated as a generic aggravating circumstance. The aggressors not only
had the numerical superiority, but were all armed against the
weaponless victim.

The judgment appealed from is modified by finding appellant Alejo Uy
guilty of homicide, with the aggravating circumstance aforesaid and no
mitigating circumstance to offset it, and sentencing him to an
indeterminate penalty of from 8 years and 1 day of prision mayor, as minimum, to 17 years, 4 months and 1 day of reclusion temporal, as maximum; to indemnify the heirs of Librado Pascual in the sum of P6,000.00, and to pay one-fourth of the costs.

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