Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence > Year 1995 > January 1995 Decisions > G.R. No. 110107 January 26, 1995 : PEOPLE OF THE PHIL. vs. DOLORES C. LORENZO:

DAVIDE, JR., J.:

For having allegedly killed her husband on 30 July 1990, Accused-Appellant.Dolores Lorenzo y Corsino, a policewoman, was charged with the crime of parricide in an information 1 filed with the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Tuguegarao, Cagayan, on 30 March 1992. The information was docketed as Criminal Case No. 2060-92-TUG and raffled to Branch 5. The accusatory portion thereof reads as follows:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary

"That on or about July 30, 1990, in the Municipality of Tuguegarao, Province of Cagayan, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the said accused, PO1 Dolores C. Lorenzo, armed with a bolo and a fan knife, with intent to kill, with evident premeditation and with treachery did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault, stab, hack and chop one, Agapito Lorenzo, her own husband, inflicting upon him several injuries on the different parts of his body which caused his death.cralaw

That in the commission of the offense, the aggravating circumstance of cruelty was present."

After due trial, the trial court promulgated on 24 February 1993 2 its judgment finding the appellant guilty of the crime of parricide and sentencing her to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua and to pay the heirs of the victim P50,000.00.cralaw

At the trial, the prosecution presented barangay captain Isabelo Liban and SPO1 Jose Eclipse as its witnesses. The defense presented the appellant herself and Romeo Racheta. The versions of both the prosecution and the defense are summarized by the trial court as follows:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary

"The prosecution's evidence tells the following story:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary

Agapito Lorenzo and accused Dolores Lorenzo were spouses residing in Looban, Barangay 12, Balzain, Tuguegarao, Cagayan. Among their neighbors are Barangay Captain Isabelo Liban, Romeo Racheta and Robert Santos.cralaw

In the evening of July 30, 1990, SPO1 Jose Eclipse of the Tuguegarao PNP Station was in Balzain, Tuguegarao, Cagayan because that was his post for the night. At about a little past 10:00 o'clock that evening, a tricycle driver went to Policeman Eclipse and reported to him a stabbing incident in said Barangay 12;

Policeman Eclipse rushed to the reported crime scene. On his way, he met PO1 Dolores Lorenzo, a policewoman of his own Station who immediately surrendered to him a blood-stained bolo and a fan knife and told him, 'I killed my husband'.cralaw

The two proceeded to where the victim was. In front of the store of Barangay Captain Isabelo Liban, Policeman Eclipse saw Agapito sprawled on the ground with blood all over his body.cralaw

Policeman Eclipse called for Barangay Captain Liban to come out of his house. In the presence and within the hearing of said barangay official, Policewoman Lorenzo again said, 'I'm surrendering because I killed my husband'.cralaw

Policeman Eclipse ordered somebody to get a tricycle to bring the lifeless body of Agapito Lorenzo to a funeral parlor while he and Policewoman Lorenzo went to the Tuguegarao PNP Station. Policeman Eclipse turned over Policewoman Lorenzo together with the bolo and knife to the Desk Officer, SPO3 Urbano Aquino. Eclipse then orally made his report to the Desk Officer which was noted down in the Police Blotter.cralaw

The defense painted another picture of the incident. It's theory is that it was not Policewoman Lorenzo but a certain Robert Santos who killed Agapito. Here is the defense's version of the incident.cralaw

In the afternoon of July 30, 1990, Agapito Lorenzo and his neighbor Robert Santos were in the former's house passing the time over a bottle of beer grande. When Policewoman Lorenzo arrived home from work, Agapito, in the presence of Robert Santos, met her with the following intemperate questions: 'Your mother's cunt, why do you arrive only now? Where did you come from?' To avoid further scandal, Policewoman Lorenzo just keep quiet, went to change her clothes and proceeded to the kitchen to prepare supper. Finding nothing to cook, she asked permission from her husband to go to market.cralaw

Policewoman Lorenzo went to market and then immediately went back home to cook what she bought. While cooking in the kitchen, she heard a heated exchange of words between Robert Santos and her husband in the sala of their house pertaining to some bullets and a hand grenade which the latter gave Robert Santos.cralaw

Policewoman Lorenzo went to the sala to pacify the quarelling men only to meet Robert Santos running out of the house with a bolo and being chased by Agapito Lorenzo who was holding a knife in his hand and whose clothes were splattered with blood. When Agapito overtook Robert, a struggle for the possession of the bolo ensued between the two men.cralaw

While wrestling, Agapito dropped his knife. Policewoman Lorenzo picked it up and tried to stab Robert with it but she was so overwhelmed by nervousness that she collapsed into unconsciousness. Seconds later on, she regained consciousness and found herself beside her dying husband.cralaw

Policewoman Lorenzo stood and picked up the knife and bolo. It was at this precise time when Policeman Eclipse arrived at the scene of the incident.cralaw

Policewoman Lorenzo gave the knife and bolo to Policeman Eclipse. The Policeman invited her to go with him to the Tuguegarao PNP Station. She obliged. When the two arrived at the police station, Policeman Eclipse, in the presence of Policewoman Lorenzo, reported to the Desk Officer that the latter killed her husband. Since the policewoman had not yet fully recovered her composure, she did not say anything." 3

The trial court gave full faith and credit to the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses. It found nothing on record which showed that their impartiality had been vitiated or compromised or that they had any motive to falsely impute upon the appellant the commission of the crime. It further declared that when the appellant surrendered the knife and bolo to SPO1 Eclipse and volunteered the information that she killed her husband, she made an extrajudicial confession and nothing more was needed to prove her culpability. 4 The trial court held that the confession was admissible for it was not made in violation of paragraph 1, Section 12, Article III of the Constitution. 5 The appellant was neither under police custody nor under investigation in connection with the killing of her husband.cralaw

The trial court rejected the story of the defense and characterized it as "palpably a put-up scenario . . . [A] story which runs against the grain of ordinary reality, controverts logic and assails common sense." 6

"First, Accused Policewoman Lorenzo testified that it is not true that she confessed to Policeman Eclipse in the presence of Barangay Captain Liban that she killed her husband. If her denial is true, why did she not correct or even protest when Policeman Eclipse reported to the Desk Officer that she confessed having killed her husband? Why did she not even try to correct the entry in the police blotter containing said inculpatory report? On the contrary, by some inexplicable quirk, she even let the cat out when she presented in evidence Exhibit "1".cralaw

Second, Accused put forth the theory of her defense: it was not she but Robert Santos who did her husband in. This theory is shot. If this is true, why did she not tell it to Policeman Eclipse and Barangay Captain Liban at the scene of the crime? Why did she withhold such a very vital information when she was brought to the Tuguegarao PNP Station shortly after the incident? But the biggest

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