PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. DOMINADOR CIERBO, FLORENTINO MOLINA AND ANTONIO CHAN, ACCUSED-APPELLANTS.

People versus Cierbo

The Case

People versus Cierbo is a criminal case in which the People of the Philippines prosecuted Dominador Cierbo, Florentino Molina, and Antonio Chan for robbery with homicide — the taking of cash and two cassette radios from the house of Marcelino Dizon, attended by the shooting of five persons, all of whom died. The case matters to a reviewee for three reasons: it shows how the Supreme Court treats the defense of alibi against positive identification, it shows that the weakness of the defense never relieves the prosecution of its burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt, and it shows that a waiver of the second stage of the preliminary investigation, made in open court and never raised below, cannot later be invoked as a denial of due process.

Procedural History

The accused were charged by information with robbery with multiple homicide and serious physical injuries before the then Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur. Two of the five accused, Dominador Dayag and Nestor Dayag, remained at large. After trial, the trial court convicted Cierbo, Molina, and Chan of robbery with homicide, appreciated the aggravating circumstances of nighttime, dwelling, and abuse of superior strength, found no mitigating circumstance, and sentenced each of them to death, with an award of indemnity, moral damages, exemplary damages, and costs. The case reached the Supreme Court by automatic review, the mode then prescribed for cases in which the death penalty is imposed. On review, the Court affirmed the conviction of Cierbo and Molina but acquitted Chan, and modified the penalty to reclusion perpetua for lack of the required number of votes.

Facts

At about three o'clock in the morning of February 4, 1980, Orlando Castañeda, a fifteen-year-old student, and his cousin Romeo Sumalbag were asleep on the ground floor of the house of the spouses Marcelino and Nenita Dizon in Lidlidda, Ilocos Sur. Dominador Cierbo, Florentino Molina, and Dominador Dayag arrived and woke them. Cierbo held a long gun; Molina and Dayag held shorter guns. Molina tied Orlando's hands with a blanket and Cierbo tied Romeo's hands, while the other two stayed outside the door. The two boys were then ordered upstairs at gunpoint.

Inside a room on the second floor were Nenita Dizon, her husband Marcelino, their daughter Mylene, Maria Castañeda, Aurora Castañeda, and Teodoro Castañeda. The accused placed a blanket over Marcelino. Cierbo then ordered Nenita to bring out her money, and she took it from her bag and handed it to him. After that, all the accused began shooting — first at Nenita, then at the others in the room. Teodoro and Orlando hid behind a door. When the firing stopped, the accused ran downstairs, but Cierbo returned and fired at the small girl Mylene.

That same morning, policemen of the Integrated National Police of Lidlidda went to the house. They found the bodies of Aurora Castañeda, Romeo Sumalbag, and three-year-old Mylene Dizon, and found Maria Castañeda and Nenita Dizon gravely wounded; both died on the way to the hospital in Candon. At the scene the police recovered empty shells and slugs of a Garand rifle and a .45 caliber gun, and an empty Garand clip. At trial, the accused denied participation and interposed alibi, claiming they were gathering tobacco leaves elsewhere at the time. The trial court rejected the alibi because it did not show physical impossibility and because the accused had been positively identified.

Issues

• Whether or not the accused were denied due process because the Municipal Circuit Court did not conduct the second stage of the preliminary investigation.
• Whether or not the defense of alibi can prevail over the positive identification of the accused by prosecution witnesses.
• Whether or not the guilt of Antonio Chan was proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Applicable Provisions

Article 293 of the Revised Penal Code, defining robbery, provides:

Any person who, with intent to gain, shall take any personal property belonging to another, by means of violence against or intimidation of any person, or using force upon anything, shall be guilty of robbery.

This is the definition the information invokes, and the taking of the money and radios by violence is what makes the crime robbery.

Article 294, paragraph 1 of the Revised Penal Code, penalizing robbery with homicide, provides:

The penalty of reclusion perpetua to death, when by reason or on occasion of the robbery, the crime of homicide shall have been committed.

This is the provision under which the accused were charged and sentenced, and it fixes the range within which the Court modified the penalty.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court held that the contention is devoid of merit. The records show that the accused had waived their right to the second stage of the preliminary investigation, as reflected in the transcript where counsel stated the waiver and the court recorded that the complaint was read, the accused entered a plea of not guilty, and they waived that right. Moreover, the alleged denial was never raised before the trial court. The Court also noted that the two stages of the preliminary investigation have since been integrated under the law and the rules.

On the second issue, the Court affirmed the trial court's rejection of alibi. Alibi is a question of fact best determined by the trial court, and to prosper it must be shown that it was physically impossible for the accused to be at the place of the incident. The Court found that the distance between the places where the accused claimed to be and the scene of the crime did not preclude their presence there, and that alibi cannot prevail over positive identification by witnesses who had no ill motive to testify. As to Cierbo, there was the additional evidence of the dying declaration of Nenita Dizon, who, when asked who killed them, answered with his name and said they were the nephews of her husband; the Court held this admissible, if not as a dying declaration, as part of the res gestae.

On the third issue, the Court entertained reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Antonio Chan. Orlando Castañeda positively identified Cierbo and Molina but said he did not see Chan, and Teodoro Castañeda knew only Cierbo and pointed to the others only after being asked to look around the courtroom. The Court held that where the evidence for the prosecution is weak, the defense of alibi assumes importance, and it restated the governing rule:

The rule that alibi must be satisfactorily proven was never intended to change the burden of proof in criminal cases; otherwise, we will see the absurdity of an accused being put in a more difficult position where the prosecution's evidence is vague and weak than where it is strong.

The prosecution bears the burden of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and the weakness of the defense does not relieve it of that responsibility. Chan was therefore acquitted.

Doctrine

First, alibi is the weakest of defenses; it succeeds only upon a clear and convincing showing that it was physically impossible for the accused to be at the scene at the time of the crime, and it cannot overcome clear and positive identification by prosecution witnesses. Second, the weakness of the defense never shifts the burden of proof: the prosecution must still establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and where its evidence is weak and inconclusive, an accused may be acquitted even on the strength of alibi. Third, a waiver of the second stage of the preliminary investigation, made in open court and never raised before the trial court, cannot be raised for the first time on appeal as a denial of due process. Fourth, a statement made by a victim shortly before death, identifying her attackers, is admissible either as a dying declaration or as part of the res gestae. These rules are tied to Article 294, paragraph 1, which fixes the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death when homicide is committed by reason or on occasion of the robbery.

Disposition

Antonio Chan was acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt; the judgment of the trial court was affirmed as to Dominador Cierbo and Florentino Molina, but the penalty was modified to reclusion perpetua for lack of the required number of votes, with costs against them.

Remember This

Memorize the line that alibi, however weak, gains importance where the prosecution's evidence is itself weak, because the burden of proof never shifts to the accused. Examiners use this case to test alibi against positive identification, the requisites of a dying declaration and res gestae, and the effect of a waiver of the second stage of the preliminary investigation.