THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. CELSO ACABADO, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

This case was certified to the Supreme Court by the Court of Appeals
in view of its finding that the appellant committed, not homicide but murder,
and that he should be sentenced to reclusion perpetua.

At about 9:00 o’clock in the evening of May 14,1963,
on the occasion of the barrio fiesta of San Isidro, Sulat,
Samar, while Manuel Penis and Sunday Jabole were walking side by side towards the seashore, Cel­so Acabado, coming from the
opposite direction, sud­denly stabbed Manuel Penis with a knife on the epi­gastric region and immediately ran away towards the
house of Imboy Lobederio.  Sunday Jabole
recognized Celso Acabado as
the attacker.  Upon being stabbed, Manuel
Penis declared to his attacker, “I know you. You are Celso
Acabado.” Jabole then
took the wounded victim to the house of Barrio
Lieutenant Francis­co Plaza
where his dying declaration, Exh. “B”, was
taken by ex-Mayor Zosimo Opimo.

In his dying declaration, Exh.
“B”, the wounded vic­tim identified his assailant as Celso Acabado.  Upon learn­ing of the wounding of her son,
Manuel Penis, Eustaquia Sob­remonte
went to the house of Barrio Lieutenant
Francisco Pla­za,
where her son lay gravely wounded.  In
their conversa­tion, Manuel told his mother that it was Celso
Acabado who stabbed him and requested her to take the
necessary action against Celso Acabado.  The wounded man was then taken to the Borongan Emergency
Hospital where he died on May 16
due to internal hemorrhage resulting from the knife wound.  The death certificate, Exh. “A”, described the wound as
follows:  “Wd. stab 1-1/2 inches
long hypochondriac re­gion, left, directed inwards, medially penetrating.  Wound perforating the greater curvature of
the stomach.”  On the witness stand the
attending physician attributed the death to internal hemorrhage.

The trial court erred in finding that the killing was homicide on
the ground that the night attack was from in front.  There was treachery because although the
attack was from in front, it was sudden and in the dark.  The killing should therefore be qualified as
murder.

Appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to identify
him as the knife-wielder.  The contention
is unmeritorious.  Appellant was
positively identified by the eyewitness, Sunday Jabole,
and by the victim himself who declared at the time of the night attack, “I
know you.  You are Celso
Acabado.” 
Appellant was also identified by the victim in his dying declaration
taken by ex-Mayor Zosimo Opimo
and in his verbal declaration to his mother, Eusta­quia
Sobremonte, in the same evening.  The evidence shows that Manuel Penis and
Sunday Jabole knew Celso Acabado who was a resident of the nearby barrio of Nato prior to the stabbing.

Appellant contends that the lower court erred in not sustaining
his defense of alibi.  According to him
and his witnesses, on the night of the incident he was in the barrio of Nato, some 9 kilometers away from
the barrio of San Isidro, attending
a dance.  The contention is
untenable.  Alibi is one of the weakest
defenses, and is easily fabricated.  We
have examined the testimonies in support of this defense of alibi, and have
found the same unworthy of cre­dence. 
Even if the alibi were to be given credence it would not constitute a
good defense because the appellant could easily have taken time to go to the
barrio of San Isidro in half an hour by bicycle or in less than two hours by
foot and because of the positive identification of appel­lant, in the
circumstances, by Sunday Jabole and by the victim
himself.

There being no mitigating or aggravating circumstance attending
the commission of the murder, appel­lant should be given the penalty of reclusion
perpetua. 
The civil indemnity of P6,000 should be raised
to P12,000 (People vs. Pantoja, G.R. No. L-18793, October 11, 1968).

PREMISES CONSIDERED, the appealed judgment is mo­dified
by: 1. sentencing the appellant Celso Acabado to reclusion perpetua
with the accessory penalties of the law; and 2. ordering the said appellant to
pay the heirs of Manuel Penis the sum of P12,000 as
civil in­demnity.

Costs against the appellant.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, Dizon, Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Fernando, Teehankee,
and Barredo, JJ., concur.

Castro, J., took no part.