G.R. No. 76211 ; April 30, 1991
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. ALEJO CUYO y MORTERO and FELIX BUEN y PAREDES, accused-appellants.

FACTS

In the evening of October 5, 1983, Josefino Garcia was shot and killed inside his home in Bacnotan, La Union. His wife, Rebecca Lapitan, who was washing clothes just outside the kitchen, witnessed the shooting. She positively identified the assailants as Alejo Cuyo, whom she had known since childhood, and Felix Buen, the barangay tanod. She saw them appear at the kitchen window, from which one of them fired twice at Josefino. Their daughter, Mary Ann Garcia, corroborated this, testifying that she saw the two appellants running away from the scene shortly after hearing gunshots and her mother’s cries. Rebecca immediately reported the identities of the killers to responding neighbors and police.
The appellants denied involvement, raising alibis. Cuyo claimed he was watching television at a neighbor’s house, while Buen asserted he was at home. Paraffin tests yielded a positive result for gunpowder nitrates on Buen’s hands but negative for Cuyo. The prosecution also presented evidence of a prior threat, where Benjamin Buen, Felix’s brother, was overheard saying “Let us kill first Sipin (Josefino),” to which Felix merely nudged him. The appellants were charged with murder, qualified by treachery and evident premeditation.

ISSUE

The principal issue is whether the defense of alibi can prevail over the positive identification of the appellants by the prosecution witnesses.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The defense of alibi cannot prevail over the positive and categorical identification of the accused by credible witnesses, absent a clear showing of the physical impossibility for them to be at the crime scene. The Court found no such impossibility in this case. The testimonies of Rebecca and Mary Ann Garcia were consistent, credible, and given without ill motive. Their identification was made under sufficient illumination from a fluorescent lamp and nearby house lights.
The Court upheld the finding of treachery (alevosia), as the attack was sudden, at close range, and without any warning or opportunity for the victim to defend himself, ensuring the execution of the crime without risk to the assailants. The aggravating circumstance of dwelling was also properly appreciated since the victim was killed in his own home without provocation. However, the Court eliminated the aggravating circumstance of evident premeditation, as the evidence—merely an alleged statement by Benjamin Buen without a clear conspiratorial response from the appellants—was insufficient to prove deliberate planning. The penalty of reclusion perpetua was thus correctly imposed. The appealed decision was affirmed with the modification regarding evident premeditation.