This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2001-10-10 |
VITUG, J. |
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| Despite an obvious attempt to downgrade his own participation in the crime, state witness de la Cruz, nevertheless, did not renege from his agreement to give a good account of the crime, enough to indeed substantiate the conviction of his co-accused, now appellant Carlos Feliciano, by the trial court. On significant points, the damaging testimony of de la Cruz against appellant was corroborated by Ruben Barte and Ramon Yael. On the night of the incident, Feliciano hired his vehicle and drove it himself while De la Cruz was seated on its passenger seat. When the two did not return at the appointed time, Barte asked Ramon Yael, another tricycle driver who happened to be at the Kingsmen parking area, to accompany him to look for them. Myca Banson decided to come with them. After a while, the trio spotted Barte's tricycle being driven by de la Cruz, and followed it. Barte testified how the first tricycle turned turtle at the junction towards Magdalena Village. When the tricycle tilted, he saw a person in red falling from the vehicle, while another person who was in white, lifted the first person. When the first tricycle precariously lurched, its occupants hurriedly abandoned the vehicle. The obfuscating foliage, however, blocked his view so Barte was not able to identify who was with appellant and de la Cruz nor ascertain where the two men were later headed. When the three of them approached the overturned tricycle they found no one. Near the vehicle, they saw an abandoned bag which Myca Banson hastily retrieved. While Barte struggled to turn his vehicle upright, Myca left with Ramon Yael. Later, while riding his vehicle on his way back, Ruben Barte was forced to stop because its engine stalled. While inspecting the tricycle engine, appellant and de la Cruz approached him, and the former told him not to worry as he would pay for the damages. After a while, at the parking lot of the Kingsmen Building, appellant told him to take his vehicle to a dark place where he wiped off the blood from the tricycle's seats. When they met again several hours later, appellant gave him P450.00 for the damages sustained by the vehicle. Much later, Yael handed him another P250.00 given by appellant as additional payment. Ruben Barte kept quiet about the incident because appellant warned him against reporting the matter to anyone. Ramon Yael corroborated the testimony of Barte, adding that while they were chasing appellant and de la Cruz, one of the two fired a gun in the air, constraining them to decrease their speed. Militating against the unbiased nature of the testimony of these two witnesses was their admission of having willingly accepted the blood money which appellant gave them that could well qualify them as being themselves accessories to the crime.[20] | |||||