PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. DANTE MORENO, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

Dante Moreno appealed from the decision of the Court of First Instance of Iloilo, convicting him of murder, sentencing him to reclusion perpetua and or­dering him to pay to the heirs of Mayor Ramon Alcantara an indemnity of P12,000 (Criminal Case No. 2706).

Marlyn Beboso, 17, an eyewitness, a student at the Lemery Community High
School, testified that in the evening of April 13, 1973, on the
occasion of the graduation exercises at the Central School of Lemery,
Iloilo, Dante Moreno, 28, shot in the head the town mayor, Ramon
Alcantara.

He shot the mayor at the precise moment when his head was turned to the
left and the mayor was looking at Zeus Doplayna, the assistant high
school principal, who was before the microphone on the stage about to
deliver his address.

The victim was attending the affair with his wife. Moreno was on the
right side of Marlyn who was behind Alcantara, separated from him only
by a waist-high bamboo fence. Moreno had stationed himself close to
Marlyn so much so that she thought at first that he was going to molest
her.

Marlyn remembered Moreno’s facial features, notably his left eye which
was slanting or “pirot” in the vernacular. After the shot was fired, the
lights were put off.

The victim sustained a through and through wound. The shot entered the
left parietal bone at the back of the head, passed the brain and exited
in the right temporal side of the skull (Exh. A). The victim died
instantly.

Moreno’s mother, Lagrimas, had complained to the Secretary of National
Defense about the persecu­tory acts of Mayor Alcantara against her
children. The complaint was indorsed by the provincial commander of
Iloilo to the commanding officer of the Constabulary company at Sara,
Iloilo. It was dismissed on February 24, 1973 for lack of merit (Exh. D,
E and G). The assassination was perpetrated less than two months later.

Dante Moreno and his brother Francisco were charged with murder. At the
trial, Dante, while admitting that he was present at the graduation
exer­cises, denied having shot the mayor. He testified that he was with
Resurreccion Paciente and Emiliana Cordero. They were at some distance
from the mayor. Dante was carrying on his shoulder Resurreccion’s child.
When they heard the shot, they scampered and left the place.

The trial court did not give credence to Dante Moreno’s evidence because
he was positively identi­fied by Marlyn Beboso as the gunwielder. She
was not impelled by any improper motive in testifying against him. As
already stated, Dante was convicted of murder. His brother, Francisco,
was absolved on the ground of reasonable doubt.

In this appeal, the accused contends that the trial court should have
given credence to his evidence rather than to the prosecution’s
evidence.

He calls attention to the fact that the real name of Marlyn Beboso is
Marlyn Rendon. That is true but this fact does not affect her
credibility. She used Marlyn Beboso because Beboso is her maternal
grandmother’s surname. She was then living with her grandmother. She
feared that if she used Marlyn Rendon, the name she used when she
enrolled in high school, Dante Moreno might be able to identify her and
inflict reprisals on her.

Appellant argues that as he was allegedly on Marlyn’s right, he could not have fired the shot which entered the left side of the mayor’s head.
However, there is no proof that the accused was right-handed. Even if
he were right-handed, he must have fired at the moment when the mayor’s
head was turned to the left (12, 15-16 tsn October 17, 1983).

The other points raised by the appellant have been competently refuted
by the Solicitor General in his brief. The guilt of the accused was
proven be­yond reasonable doubt.

The killing was qualified by alevosia. The accused employed a
mode of attack which insured its execution without any risk to himself
arising from the defense which the victim might have made.

As no other modifying circumstances were present, the trial court properly imposed the penalty of reclusion perpetua. Its judgment is affirmed with the modification that the indemnity is raised to P30,000. Costs de oficio.
SO ORDERED.

Makasiar, (Chairman), Guerrero, Abad Santos, and Gutierrez, Jr., JJ., concur.

Concepcion, Jr., and Escolin, JJ., no part.