THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. LORENZO JARAVATA @ ENSO, ET AL., DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.

Aurelio Flores, a truck driver of Carried Lumber Co., Dagupan City,
was shot to death on December 23,
1958 in­side its compound. 
Assailant and his companions fled. 
A complaint for the murder of Flores was filed on
January 31, 1959 in the Dagupan City Municipal Court against Cle­mente
Dadoya and two others unknown.  Subsequently, this was amended to charge the
following: (1) Lorenzo Jarava­ta; (2) Clemente Dadoya; (3) Raymundo Muñoz; (4) Gregorio Muñoz; (5) Segundo Santos; and (6) Rafael Fernandez.

Raymundo Muñoz,
in April of 1959, surrendered to the Philippine Constabulary.  On April
23, 1959, he signed an affidavit (Exh. K)
before the Philippine Constabulary ad­mitting participation in the Flores
killing and implicat­ing his co-accused, thus: Lorenzo Jaravata
as the master­mind; Clemente Dadoya
as the contactman; Gregorio Muñoz
as the executioner; Segundo Santos as Jaravata’s body­guard
who taught Gregorio Muñoz how to use the gun; and
Rafael Fernandez as the one who gave him (Raymundo Muñoz) a knife.

An information for the same offense was
filed on June 2, 1959 in the
Court of First Instance of Pangasi­nan against the
six accused aforementioned.  Raymundo Muñoz was later
discharged to be a State witness. 

After trial – the remaining accused having pleaded not guilty –
the Court of First Instance on April
26, 1963 rendered a judgment of conviction, sentencing all the five
accused to reclusion perpetua, to
jointly and severally indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the amount of P6,000.00 and to pay the costs.

The defendants appealed. 
Subsequently, however, Dadoya and Gregorio Muñoz moved for withdrawal of their ap­peals; We granted said motions on January 22, 1965 and November 3, 1966, respectively.  This left Lorenzo Jara­vata,
Segundo Santos and Rafael Fernandez as the only appellants.

Raised by the appeal are chiefly two issues: First, did the court
a quo err in giving credence to State wit­ness Raymundo Muñoz’ testimony?
Second, is the penalty to be alike for all if found guilty?

State witness Raymundo Muñoz testified that on December 16, 1958, Clemente Dadoya contacted him in his house at Quitakit
and brought him to Lorenzo Jaravata.  At Jaravata’s
house, in Dagupan
City, in the presence of Clemente Dadoya, Segundo Santos
and Rafael Fernandez, Jaravata asked him to kill
Aurelio Flores, offering him a P150.00-a-month job and additional money.  Flores, Jara­vata said, was making trouble with the union Jaravata headed.  Raymundo’s reply was that he would try.  Jara­vata gave a
.45-cal. pistol to Dadoya for Raymundo
Muñoz to use; and he told them that one Francisco Balolong would point Flores out to
them.

Raymundo Muñoz,
accompanied by Dadoya, went to the Carried Lumber Co.
compound that night and on two other times; they did not find Flores;
on said occasions, Ray­mundo slept in Jaravata’s house.

About a week later, on December
22, 1958, Dadoya again fetched him from
his house; on their way to Dagu­pan City, they met Raymundo’s grandson, Gregorio Muñoz.  Da­doya proposed
the same thing to Gregorio, who came along and promised to try.

At Dagupan
City, they went to Jaravata’s place.  Ja­ravata made the same proposal to Gregorio Muñoz.  Santos and
Fernandez, who were again present, urged him to ac­cept.  Finally Gregorio Muñoz
said he will try.  It was then agreed
that Gregorio Muñoz would use Jaravata’s
.45-cal. pistol.  Because Gregorio Muñoz said that he did not know how to use the pistol,
Segundo Santos undertook the task of teaching Gregorio how to use it upon
orders of Ja­ravata. 
Francisco Balolong was again mentioned as the
one who would point out Flores.  That night, they slept in Jaravata’s
place.

The next day, December
23, 1958, at about seven in the evening, Dadoya,
Gregorio Muñoz and he (Raymundo
Muñoz) went to Carried Lumber Co. compound to kill Flores.  Dadoya had a knife;
he, too, had a knife, given to him for this purpose by Rafael Fernandez; and
Gregorio had the .45-cal. pistol.

They posted themselves behind a pile of logs inside the
compound.  Francisco Balolong
approached them and told them that Flores had passed by
and was near the gate; Flores, after talking to one Ben Puga, came around again and passed by them.  Gregorio immediately followed him.  Noticing this, Flores
turned around, at about five meters away from Gregorio.  As he did so, Gregorio shot him twice.  Flores fell; Gregorio
shot him five times more.  All three of
them fled.  Gregorio handed the gun to Dadoya who threw it to a canal.

Some time afterwards, he asked Jaravata
for money but the latter said he could not give him yet, as he (Jaravata) was being investigated.  Dadoya later gave Raymundo P95 of which he kept P25 and gave P70 to
Gregorio.  On April 14, 1959 he surrendered to the Philippine
Constabulary at Camp Crame and there later he
executed his affidavit.

Prosecution witness Francisco Balolong,
a crane ope­rator of Carried Lumber Co., testified that three weeks before
December 23, 1959, he was in Jaravata’s house; that
there, in the presence of Segundo Santos, Jaravata
told him of his plan to kill Flores for the reason that Flores was making
trouble in the union, and that Flores and Puga had
attempted to kill him.

A week later, on December
16, 1958, at about seven in the evening – said witness further
testified – he saw Da­doya, Segundo Santos and Raymundo Muñoz in the Carried
Lumber; he saw Santos give Raymundo a gun and a knife and heard him caution Raymundo to be careful in shooting Flores.

And – continued Balolong – on December 23, 1958 at six in the
evening, Santos was in the Carried
Lumber; San­tos told him that the
person to kill Flores was already in Jaravata’s
house.  At seven that evening, he saw Dadoya, Raymundo and Gregorio Muñoz hidden behind a pile of logs in the Carried Lumber
premises; he asked them what they were doing and they said they were waiting
for somebody.  Dadoya
later pointed out Flores to Gregorio and the latter shot
Flores, twice, then several times more.  Balolong de­nied
that he was the one who pointed Flores out.

Also testifying for the prosecution, the deceased’s wife, Elvira
Flores, stated that in the evenings of De­cember 18 and 20, 1958, she saw two
persons roaming around the lot of Carried Lumber Co., for about five hours,
watch­ing, near a pile of logs, their house. 
She told her husband about it and he in turn reported the same to a
compa­ny security guard.  She identified Dadoya as one of the men. 
She could not remember the other.

The prosecution also presented Assistant Chief of Po­lice Victor
Arenas of Dagupan and Fiscal Jose Alvero
to show that on March 5, 1959, Gregorio Muñoz, then
detained in jail, verbally confessed regarding Jaravata’s
proposal, Santos’ teaching him to use the gun to kill Flores, and Fernandez’
giving Raymundo a knife for the mission; but that
later, on advice of counsel, he refused to sign the written confession.

Against the above testimonies, Dadoya
denied the accusation against him, claiming that he was at home from December 15-23, 1958 and did not go
out because his wife gave birth at the end of November.  Similarly, Gregorio Muñoz
denied participation in the killing. 
Also, he de­nied his alleged verbal confession and said denial was
supported by his uncle and his lawyer, present during the incident of his
investigation.

Appellant Lorenzo Jaravata in his
testimony stated that he had no grievance with the deceased Flores;
that it was one Simeon Sarmiento, not Flores,
who caused him to be investigated for alleged illegal disbursement of union
funds.  Flores,
however, Jaravata further said, was the leader in
maltreating some people; that Ben Puga, Flo­res’
bodyguard, stabbed one Arbolante.  As to Santos and Fernandez, Jaravata admits knowing them; he also knows the witness Balolong; but he denies that he knows Dadoya;
he further admits that he filed a criminal case against Flo­res and Puga because Puga hit him with a
piece of wood.  Accused Jaravata, however, denied all testimonies linking him to
the killing of Flores.

Segundo Santos admitted he knows Jaravata;
claimed that Jaravata’s brother, Cornelio, is his
employer; de­nies that he was present in the alleged plot to kill Flo­res;
and denies that he taught Gregorio Muñoz to use the
gun.

Rafael Fernandez also denied complicity in the al­leged plan to
kill Flores; said he knows Santos
but not Jaravata nor Balolong
nor Gregorio nor Raymundo Muñoz.

The defendants merely denied the accusations.  They could not explain why Raymundo Muñoz would implicate
them and accuse them of Flores’ murder and testify
against them.  The trial court found Raymundo’s testimony credi­ble.  No reason to disturb its finding has been
shown.  Credibility of witnesses is best
determined by the trial judge (People v. Evaristo,
L-14520, February 26, 1965; People v. Lumayag,
L-19142, March 31, 1965).

Raymundo Muñoz’
testimony is moreover corroborated by Francisco Balolong
and Elvira Flores.  Furthermore, Jaravata’s ill-feelings towards Flores
is shown by the fact that Flores
sided with Sarmiento in his union dis­pute against Jaravata and the fact that Jaravata
filed a criminal case against Flores and Puga.

As regards the penalty, the proof of conspiracy is beyond
reasonable doubt; Jaravata was the mastermind of the plan;
Segundo Santos, always present when the plot was discussed, trained and
instructed Gregorio, the trigger-man, on how to use the gun; and Rafael Fernan­dez,
twice present during the plot’s formulation, gave Raymundo
Santos a knife for the purpose of their mission to kill Flores.  Accordingly, all of them are liable as
principals.

Now, treachery attended the commission of the of­fense, absorbing
nighttime; for the assailants hid be­hind a pile of logs under cover of darkness;
the victim was approached from behind and shot as he turned around.  Furthermore, there was evident premeditation,
since the accused repeatedly plotted the commission of the offense over a
period of several weeks and, on at least two occa­sions, made preliminary
efforts to carry it out.  These
aggravating circumstances, treachery and evident premedi­tation, are alleged in
the information and thus, either one suffices to qualify the offense to murder;
and there being no mitigating circumstance, the remaining aggravat­ing
circumstance should have put the penalty in its maxi­mum period, namely,
death.  For lack of the requisite number
of votes, however, the penalty of reclusion perpetua
is imposed, together with the indemnity of P6,000.00
for the heirs of the deceased and costs imposed below.

WHEREFORE, the judgment appealed from is hereby
affirmed.  Costs
against appellants.

SO ORDERED.

Reyes, J.B.L., Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Castro, Angeles, and Fernando, JJ., concur.

Concepcion, C.J., and Dizon, J., on official leave.