THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. LEODEGARIO BALONGCAS, ET AL., DEFENDANTS. JULIAN PORTALLO, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

Leodegario Balongcas, Francisco Balongcas, Luis Lumayag and Julian
Portallo were charged with murder for the death of Placido Amorcillo
before the Court of First Instance of Misamis Occidental, while
Leodegario Balongeas was charged with frustrated murder for the
injuries sustained by Leon Agad.

Upon agreement of the
parties both cases were tried jointly after which the court found the
accused above mentioned guilty of murder with the qualifying
circumstance of treachery and the aggravating circumstance of superior
strength and sentenced each to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua,
to indemnify the heirs of the deceased jointly and severally in the
amount of P3,000.00, with the accessory penalties provided for by law,
and to pay the costs. In the other case, Leodegario Balongcas was found
guilty of less serious physical injuries and was sentenced to suffer
the penalty of 3 months of arresto mayor and to pay the costs.

From the above decision, only Julian Portallo and Luis Lumayag
appealed, but on January 8, 1957, upon his petition, the appeal of
Lumayag was withdrawn. Hence, only the appeal of Portallo is before us
for determination.

In the evening of May 14, 1952, a benefit
dance to celebrate the barrio fiesta was held in Buracan, municipality
of Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental. Because there were more men than
ladies in the gathering, the managers of the affair headed by barrio
lieutenant Mariano Limatoc decided to sell three different colors of
ribbons to the men, namely, red,, blue and white. In order that there
may be order in the dance, the man wearing ribbons of the same color
were requested to dance for pieces that correspond to that color. At
about 8:30 of the evening, Leodegario Balongcas, Francisco Balongcas,
Luis Lumayag and Julian Portallo arrived to attend the dance. Since the
four carried only P1.00, only Leodegario and his brother Francisco
bought two red colored ribbons at P0.50 each. It appears that upon
entering the hall the two brothers immediately danced and in fact
continued dancing in spite of the fact that the piece played were
intended for the men wearing blue and white ribbons. Thereupon, barrio
lieutenant Mariano Limatoc called the attention of the two brothers
that they were not dancing properly warning them not to dance unless
the pieces played correspond to their ribbons in order that the other
young men may not be offended. The Balongcas brothers, however, did not
heed, the warning and so Limatoc asked Placido Amorcillo, a special
agent of the provincial governor, to talk to them. Acceding to the
request, Amorcillo addressed the gathering requesting the men not to
dance unless the pieces correspond to the color of their ribbons. A
dance piece was thereafter played for men wearing blue ribbons and this
time the Balongcas brothers did not dance. Forthwith barrio lieutenant
Limatoc began selling flowers.

During the refreshment period
the two brothers and their companions Lumayag and Portallo were seen
gathered together behind the string band engaged in a conversation.
Placido Amorcilla refused the refreshment offered him saying that he
had stomach trouble and went forthwith outside to defecate. A little
later, Leon Agad, one of the members of the string band playing in the
dance, heard the voice of Amorcillo asking for a help so he ran towards
him to find out what was happening. Limatoc who saw Agad running
followed whereupon both saw the four men, Leodegario Balongcas,
Francisco Balongcas, Luis Lumayag, and Julian Portallo, assaulting
Placido Amorcillo. As Limatoc drew nearer, Francisco Balongcas, Luis
Lumayag and Julian Portallo ran away, while Leon Agad caught and held
Leodegario Balongcas who in the ensuing struggle stabbed him (Agad)
three times.

Maura de Amorcillo, wife of Placido, who was
also at the dance, heard the shouts for help of her husband and when
she ran towards the place where his voice was coming from she saw the
same four person attacking him. Her plea to spare his life was unheeded.

Mariano Limatoc, Leon Agad and Amancio Aballe also approached Placido
Amorcillo after being left alone who, upon being asked what happened,
said, ” I am wounded. I am going to die.” Amorcillo said that those who
attacked him came from inside the chapel situated nearby. Limatoc then
called for a policeman to report the matter to the chief of police
after which Amorcillo was brought to the clinic of Dr. Evaristo Payad.
He died two hours after he was operated on by the latter. According to
Dr. Payad, death was caused by hemorrhage and shock resulting from the
wounds inflicted on the deceased. These wounds were described by Dr.
Payad in a medical certificate copy of which appears transcribed in the
brief of the government.

Chief of Police Ospicio Semino
investigated the scene of the incident where he found a dagger which
belonged to Leodegario Balongcas. In a sworn statement signed by the
latter before the justice of the peace he stated that he stabbed the
deceased with a dagger and that he is the only one who killed him.

Appellant did not take the witness stand but merely relied on the
testimony of his co-accused Francisco Balongcas and Leodegario
Balongcas and of one Miguel Villahermosa. The first two declared that
they went to attend the dance together with their cousin Luis Lumayag
and appellant, a friend who was allowed by them to live in their house.
Because they had only P1.00 at the time only Leodegario and Francisco
bought red ribbons costing P0.50 each who danced to the pieces
corresponding to their ribbons as requested by the managers of the
dance. They said that at ten o’clock in the evening Francisco
Balongcas, Luis Lumayag and appellant went home leaving Leodegario in
the dancing hall. Francisco Balongcas claims that he and Luis Lumayag
left for Cebu early the next morning to deliver corn and chickens to
his brother and stayed there for about one week. He did not know of the
stabbing and so he was surprised when upon going home he was arrested
by the police authorities.

Leodegario Balongcas, on his
part, declared that he stayed in the dance hall for about 3 or 4 hours
after his companions had left; that when he was leaving the hall, Leon
Agad followed him and all of a sudden Agad boxed him on his lower nape;
that when he asked Agad why he boxed him, one Placido Amorcillo
arrived, and immediately pressed his neck with his left arm; that he
tried to escape and when he could not do so he remembered the knife he
had in his waist which he took and with it stabbed Amorcillo several
times; that he later went home without telling his mother about the
incident and left for the mountains; that he was later arrested by the
authorities for the death of Amorcillo; and that in the investigation
made of him by the chief of police, he signed a statement wherein he
admitted that he alone killed Amorcillo.

The plea of alibi
which the defense set up in exculpation of appellant even if the same
finds support only on the testimony of his co-accused who were found
guilty by the trial court is of no avail for the simple reason that his
identification and participation in the assault heaped on the victim
Placido Amorcillo appears established by positive and competent
evidence. Indeed, there are eyewitnesses who testified that appellant
was seen in a huddle previous to the attack and that he is one of those
who simultaneously wounded and inflicted injuries upon the victim.

Thus, Mariano Limatoc, the barrio lieutenant of the place of the
incident, declared that he positively saw appellant, together with his
co-accused, in a huddle near the string band after the deceased warned
them not to dance to the pieces which do not correspond to their
ribbons. When he followed Leon Agad to the place where the shouts came,
he saw appellant and his co-accused in the act of simultaneously
assaulting the victim near the chapel, and that as he drew nearer,
appellant and some of his companions ran away. His testimony was
corroborated by Leon Agad, a member of the string band, and even by the
victim himself when hours before he expired he declared before Limatoc
that it was the four accused herein who attacked him. To the same
effect is the testimony of Maura Amorcillo, wife of the deceased, who
likewise went to the place of the incident when she heard the outcries
of her husband and saw him being attacked by the four accused. There
can, therefore, be no doubt of appellant’s identification and
participation in the killing of the deceased.

There is an
intimation in the evidence that the stabbing of Amorcillo was motivated
by a personal grudge. It appears that sometime in 1949, at the instance
of the deceased, the house of Bernarda Lumayag was searched by some
constabulary soldiers who found there one carbine and one pistol as a
result of which Bernarda was prosecuted for illegal possession of
firearms. This Bernarda, it should be noted, is the mother of accused
Leodegario Balongcas and Francisco Balongcas. It is true that appellant
is not a relative of the Balongcas, but suffice it to state that he is
their friend so much so that when the incident took place he was living
in their house as a member of their family.

Appellant’s
guilt is further established by the fact that he together with
Francisco Balongcas and Luis Lumayag disappeared from their homes
immediately after the commission of the crime for which reason the
chief of police could not effect their arrest until three days
thereafter. This unexplained flight may be considered as a circumstance
tending to establish guilt. (U.S. vs. Alegado, 25 Phil., 510).

The decision appealed from being in accordance with law and the evidence, we are presumed to affirm the same.

Wherefore, the decision appealed from, insofar as appellant is
concerned, is affirmed with the proportionate costs against appellant.

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