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FIRST DIVISION

G.R. No. 126042. October 8, 1998

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ISIDRO MIJARES, Accused-Appellant.

D E C I S I O N

PANGANIBAN, J.:

A person may be convicted on the basis of circumstantial evidence, provided the proven circumstances inexorably lead to one fair and reasonable conclusion pointing to the accused as the guilty person, to the exclusion of all others. Where the evidence presented admits of other conclusions, the accused must be acquitted.

The Case

Appellant Isidro Mijares challenges before us the April 8, 1996 Decision¹ of the Regional Trial Court of Zamboanga City, Branch 16, in Criminal Case No. 13275, convicting him of murder and sentencing him to reclusion perpetua.

In an Information dated June 28, 1995, Third Assistant City Prosecutor Elpidio F. Nuval charged appellant with killing a six-year-old girl, Marissa Agujar:

That on or about June, 19, 1995, in the City of Zamboanga, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, in disregard of the respect due the offended party on account of her tender age and sex, by means of treachery and taking advantage of his superior streng[th], and with intent to kill, did then and there, wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously, assault, attack and slice the neck with the use of a bladed weapon that he was then armed with, at the person of MARISSA AGUJAR y MAAMBONG, a girl, 6 years of age, thereby inflicting upon the latters person mortal injuries which directly caused her death, to the damage and prejudice of the heirs of said victim.

During his arraignment on July 14, 1995, Mijares, assisted by Counsel de Oficio Melchor Lim, entered a plea of not guilty.² Trial ensued in due course. Thereafter, the court a quo rendered the assailed Decision, the dispositive portion of which reads:

WHEREFORE, the Court finds accused ISIDRO MIJARES GUILTY BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT, as principal, of the crime of [m]urder for the unjustified killing of Marissa Agujar y Maambong, without any mitigating or aggravating circumstance, and SENTENCES said accused to suffer the penalty of RECLUSION PERPETUA with all the accessory penalties provided by law; to pay the heirs of the victim P10,500.00 as actual damages representing expenses incurred in connection with the victims death; P50,000.00 as indemnity for the victims death; P50,000.00 as moral damages and P30,000.00 as exemplary damages; and to pay the costs.

The accused shall be credited in the service of his sentence the full period during which he was under preventive imprisonment.³

The Facts

Version of the Prosecution

In the Appellees Brief,⁴ the solicitor general presents the following narration of the facts.

Around 5:00 in the afternoon of June 19, 1995, Marissa Agujar, then six years old, was fetched by her mother Marilyn Agujar from the Southcom Elementary School, Zamboanga City, where she was a Grade I pupil. Marilyn, at the time, was living with her live-in partner, Adlai Mides, in Baliwasan Tabuk, Zamboanga City. As soon as she arrived home, Marilyn changed Marissas clothes and washed them. Meanwhile, Marissa got her marbles inside an empty mayonnaise jar and asked her mothers permission to play outside.

After washing clothes at 6:30 in the evening, Marilyn looked for Marissa at their neighbors houses but she was unable to find her. She met Freddie, a friend of appellant Isidro Mijares, who warned her about appellant who was looking and waiting outside for her live-in partner, Adlai, because appellant had a quarrel with Adlai and wanted to stab him. Marilyn went to the place where appellant was allegedly waiting for Adlai but did not find him there.

She then continued to look for Marissa until 8:00 in the evening but her search was fruitless. She decided to fetch Adlai who was with his brother at Lower Calarian. The couple went home and prepared for supper. Adlai told Marilyn to look again for Marissa, but she was still unable to find her. This caused the couple to quarrel until their neighbor, Andy Antalan, a policeman, intervened and told them to concentrate instead on looking for Marissa (TSN, August 30, 1995, pp. 27-35).

Another neighbor, Arnold Laurente, father of Arzen Lyod Laurente with whom Marissa was playing marbles that afternoon, told Marilyn that Marissa was with appellant who was drunk. They went to look for appellant at Elizabeth Oglos house where he was reportedly staying, at the house of Cesario Mijares, appellants brother, and at the house of their friends, but still to no avail (TSN, supra, pp. 36-39).

They continued looking for Marissa the following day, June 20, 1995. At 11:20 in the morning of that day, Marilyn decided to go to the police station and report her daughters absence. This was recorded in a Complaint Assignment Sheet (Exhibit C) (TSN, supra, pp. 42-43).

On June 21, 1995, Marilyn saw appellant walking in Sta. Catalina district, Zamboanga City, and confronted him. He vehemently denied meeting Marissa and bringing her with him even when Marilyn brought him to the police station. But he was released because the police had nothing against him at that time (TSN, supra, pp. 44-46).

In the morning of June 26, 1995, the body of Marissa was found on the floor of a room in the second storey of an old abandoned house near San Jose Road. Marissa was lying in a supine position, Tikangkang (open legs), her mouth opened. She was wearing a red jumper and it was worn with the back part of the dress in front, and the one that [was] supposed to be in front was at the back which was opened. She was already in a state of decomposition, her color was already black, and there was some sort of oil or fluid oozing from her body. Also recovered from the scene of the crime were eleven pieces of marbles, a headband and a pair of blue slippers marked Rambo (Exhibits L; L-1; O) (TSN, supra, pp. 49-59).

The postmortem examination by Dr. Rodolfo M. Valmoria, [c]hief [m]edico-[l]egal [o]fficer of the PNP Crime Laboratory Service 9, Zamboanga City, showed the presence of sliced wound at the upper posterior neck and the cause of death is cardiorespiratory arrest due to shock and hemorrhage secondary to sliced wound, posterior neck (Exhibit I; I-1; and J). The victims body was already in a state of decomposition (TSN, August 31, 1995, p. 4). When Dr. Valmoria first saw the victim, she was in a supine position, face up, her arms on her side and legs in open, flexed position. She had a wound on the upper portion on the posterior neck which could have been caused by a sharp-bladed instrument like a knife. The wound teemed with maggots. It was a fatal wound. The first and second vertebrae were exposed.

Dr. Valmoria checked the external genitalia for possible sexual assault but it was masked because of the decomposed state of the body. Thus, he could not make a conclusion that the victim was sexually assaulted, but he opined that it was possible that she was sexually abused. The victim was then wearing a panty, short pants and a red jumpsuit which were all inverted, with their inside portions out, indicating that they were taken off and then put on again, possibly when the victim was already dead. Based on the condition of the cadaver, the victim could have been dead for about 5 to 7 days. It was also possible that she died in the evening of June 19, 1995 (TSN, August 31, 1995, pp. 4-9).

Per testimony of Marilyn, the victims mother, appellant was a friend of her live-in partner, Adlai Mides. He was also a carpenter mason like Adlai. When they were both working at the construction of Baliwasan Commercial Complex just across the place where the dead body of Marissa was found, Adlai, taking pity on him because he had no place to stay, invited appellant to stay with them. Appellant stayed with them for two weeks in March 1995. Eventually, Adlai asked him to leave because he did not contribute for the food that he ate. When appellant was staying with them, the victim was close to him, played with him and even called him Uncle. Whenever he called her, she readily approached him and even obeyed him whenever she was told to do something for him (TSN, August 31, 1995, pp. 15-18).

Appellant returned thereafter and borrowed a hammer from Marilyn. At 3:00 in the afternoon of the incident in question, Marilyn saw him at Upper Calarian drinking with Adlai (TSN, supra, pp. 18-19).

Adlai confirmed Marilyns testimony and added that he saw appellant in Lower Calarian at 7:00 in the morning of the incident in question. He asked him about the hammer he borrowed and appellant told him that it was in the house of Elizabeth Oglos where he was staying. Upon appellants invitation, Adlai went with him to the house of Nonoy Espanola in Southcom Village where they drank two bottles of gin.

They left Espanolas house at 3:00 in the afternoon and passed by the store of Clara Sabellano where appellant ordered another bottle of gin. Because he was very drunk, appellant made fun of a waitress married to a marine, which irritated Adlai who decided to leave him and take a tricycle.

But appellant also boarded the tricycle and they proceeded to the house of Vicente Bandillon. Appellant left and Adlai joined Vicente, Tirso Bonhanong and Raul Santillan who were drinking. However, Adlai did not drink because he was already drunk. Appellant returned and Adlai confronted him anew about the hammer. Adlai eventually hit appellant with a glass on the chest. Appellant became angry. They parted ways and Adlai went to the house of his younger sister, arriving at 7:00 in the evening, and stayed there until he was fetched by Marilyn at 8:00 oclock that same evening. Noticing Marissas absence, they looked for her but were unable to find her (TSN, September 4, 1995, pp. 3-19).

Marissas playmate, Arzen Lyod Laurente, 7 years old, provided the missing link. He testified that at 5:00 in the afternoon of June 19, 1995, the day of the incident, he was playing marbles with Marissa. While playing, Arzens mother told him to buy cooking oil at the store of his Aunt Mila. Marissa went with him. When they reached the store, Marissa and Arzen saw appellant and the latter gave Marissa P1.00 for candy. Arzen then went home with his father while Marissa was left in the store with appellant (TSN, August 30, 1995, pp. 9-15). When Arzen turned his head, he saw Marissa and appellant leaving the store. At that time, it was already dark but not so dark yet. That was the last time Arzen saw Marissa alive (TSN, supra, pp. 18-19).

Elizabeth Oglos revealed that appellant, who was her brothers close friend, arrived at her house on June 17, 1995, from Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi and asked if he could stay with her. She consented because she knew him. She noticed that he was wearing a pair of yellow plastic slippers with thin and worn-out soles (Exhibits K and K-1). He then asked permission to go out and drink with his friends. However, he left his yellow slippers and instead used Elizabeths pair of slippers which was thicker, with violet strap[s] and black upper portion[s]. On the strap of both slippers was the name Rambo (Exhibits L and L-1). She identified the slippers found at the scene of the crime as her Rambo slippers which she described as the pair used by appellant without her permission. When asked to wear the Rambo slippers, the same perfectly fitted her feet while the yellow slippers appeared too big for her (TSN, August 31, 1995, pp. 32-41).

Appellant returned to her house in the evening of June 17, 1995, but left again the following day, still using her slippers, and returned in the evening. On June 19, 1995, he again left he[r] house in the morning and returned about 7:00 in the evening to change his clothes. She did not notice if he was wearing her slippers. He did not sleep at Elizabeths house that night and the following successive nights, June 20 and 21.

However, Elizabeth saw him on June 21, 1995, at the house of their neighbor, Francisco Bandillon, where she told him that somebody was looking for him because a child was missing. Appellant denied having anything to do with it, but Elizabeth noticed that he was no longer wearing her slippers. When asked about her slippers, appellant replied that he lost them at Southcom when he had a quarrel with Adlai Mides. He returned on June 22, 1995, bringing his clothes which he got from Marilyn and Adlai, but again left and did not sleep there. He returned and slept there on June 23, 1995, and left early in the morning of June 24, 1995, to board a launch for Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi bringing his clothes with him, on the pretext that his brother had work for him there (TSN, supra, pp. 41-52).

PO2 Jose RT Tortola confirmed that after receiving the report that a dead body was found inside the Domi[ni]can Compound, San Jose Road, Zamboanga City, he proceeded to the crime scene with two other policemen. They found the decomposed body of the victim sprawled on the floor in a supine position. Scattered near the victims head were eleven pieces of marbles (Exhibit F). About ten to fifteen inches on her right side was a headband (Exhibit D). One of the slippers with [a] Rambo mark was found outside the room, about ten meters away (Exhibits L; L-1) (TSN, September 1, 1995, pp. 4-14).⁵

Version of the Defense

The defense, in the Appellants Brief,⁶ contests the above facts and alleges denial as follows:

Hilda Paalisbo testified that Isidro Mijares went to her house in the evening of June 19, 1995 and slept there. Isidro was wearing slippers then. (TSN, pp. 1-16, September 11, 1995)

Cesario Mijares testified that he is the elder brother of Isidro Mijares. Isidro was arrested because he (Isidro) was being suspected of kidnapping a child. (TSN, pp. 16-36, September 11, 1995)

Isidro Mijares testified that he and Adlai had a drinking spree in the morning of June 19, 1995 till 3:00 o clock in the afternoon of the same date. At about 6:30 p.m. of the said date, they parted ways. He (Isidro Mijares) slept in the house of Hilda Paalisbo. He denied [having] taken Marissa Agujar. (TSN, pp. 1-59, September 12, 1995)⁷

The Ruling of the Trial Court

In convicting appellant, the trial court held that although there is no direct evidence in the case at bar proving that it was accused Isidro Mijares who killed Marissa Agujar x x x circumstantial evidence will support a judgment of conviction if: (1) there is more than one circumstance; (2) the facts from which the inferences are derived are proven; and (3) the combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.⁸ The following are the particular circumstances that led the trial court to conclude that it was indeed Appellant Isidro Mijares who had killed Marissa Agujar:

x x x [T]hat Isidro Mijares is known to the victim[,] Marissa Agujar; that he was asked by the victims mother and stepfather to leave the house after staying for one week with them; that he borrowed the hammer of Adlai (Dodong) Mides, the victims stepfather, and brought it to Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi without permission for which Adlai Mides got angry at him; that before they parted in the evening of June 19, 1995, Adlai Mides hit Isidro Mijares with a glass (baso) on the chest for which Isidro got mad; that Isidro was last seen with Marissa Agujar on the evening when she disappeared; the fact that Isidro did not sleep in the house of Elizabeth Oglos in the evening of June 19, 20, 21, and 22, 1995; that when Marilyn Agujar saw him walking in Sta. Catalina in the morning of June 21, 1995, Isidro was about to run but did not when he saw that Marilyns companion was a woman; that he left for Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi in the morning of June 24, 1995 notwithstanding the fact that he was a suspect in connection with the loss of Marissa Agujar; the fact that the slippers (Exh. L ; L-1) belonging to Elizabeth Oglos which Isidro Mijares used without asking permission on June 17, 1995 was found near the dead body of Marissa Agujar in an abandoned house at the vicinity of the Dominican Convent near the BBC (Baliwasan Commercial Complex); and the fact that Isidro Mijares is familiar with the said vicinity as he worked for one (1) month at the BBC together with Adlai (Dodong) Mides, the victims stepfather x x x.⁹cräläwvirtualibräry

These facts were duly proven and, taken together, established beyond reasonable doubt that Accused Isidro Mijares was guilty of murder qualified by treachery.¹⁰ The killing of a child is treacherous per se.

Hence, this appeal.¹¹

Assignment of Errors

Assailing the trial courts Decision, appellant alleges:

I

The court a quo erred in giving much credence to the evidence brought forth by the prosecution.

II

The court a quo erred in not acquitting the accused-appellant of the crime charged in spite of the presence of reasonable doubt favoring his eventual absolution therefrom.¹²

The Courts Ruling

The appeal is meritorious.

Main Issue:

Sufficiency of Circumstantial Evidence

Section 4, Rule 133 of the Rules of Court provides: Circumstantial evidence is sufficient for conviction if: (a) There is more than one circumstance; (b) The facts from which the inferences are derived are proven; and (c) The combination of all the circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.

The prosecution sought to establish appellants culpability through the following circumstances: (1) appellant used to stay in the victims home; (2) appellant was asked to leave said house, causing him to get angry with the victims mother and stepfather; (3) on June 19, 1995, in an altercation with appellant, the victims stepfather hit the formers chest with a drinking glass; (4) appellant was the last one seen with the victim on the night she disappeared; (5) appellant, who had stayed in the house of Elizabeth Oglos, on two consecutive nights immediately prior to the killing, henceforth stopped sleeping there; (6) two days after Marissas disappearance, when the victims mother saw appellant, he made a move to run away but upon seeing that her companion was only a woman, confronted her instead; (7) the slippers that appellant borrowed from Elizabeth Oglos were found near the victims dead body; (8) appellant was familiar with the place where the victims dead body was found; and (9) knowing that he was a suspect in the disappearance of Marissa Agujar, appellant suddenly left for Cagayan de Tawi-tawi on June 24, 1995.

This Court, however, cannot sustain the conviction of the appellant. To our mind, the totality of the circumstantial evidence does not constitute an unbroken chain which leads to one fair and reasonable conclusion pointing to accused as the guilty person, to the exclusion of all others.¹³cräläwvirtualibräry

Lest it be forgotten, the Constitution dictates that the accused must be presumed innocent. Hence, if the circumstances are capable of several interpretations, one of which is consistent with the innocence of the accused and the others consistent with his guilt, then the evidence has not fulfilled the test of moral certainty and is thus insufficient to support a conviction.¹⁴cräläwvirtualibräry

In the present case, the circumstances are subject to two antithetical interpretations, one of guilt and the other of innocence. In other words, the pieces of circumstantial evidence presented do not inexorably lead to the conclusion that appellant is guilty.

The two most damning pieces of circumstantial evidence crucial to the prosecutions case are: appellant was the last person seen with the victim, and his slippers were found at the crime scene. Neither one or both in combination with the others prove with moral certainty that the appellant was the culprit.

That appellant was the last person seen with the victim on the night she disappeared does not necessarily prove that he killed her. It was not established that appellant and the victim were together until the crime was committed. It was not even shown that the appellant proceeded to the crime scene, either by himself or together with the victim.

Likewise, the fact that the slippers which appellant borrowed from Elizabeth Oglos were found near the victims dead body does not necessarily prove that he was the perpetrator of the crime. Even if we were to conjecture that appellant went to the locus criminis and inadvertently left them there, such supposition does not necessarily imply that he had committed the crime. Indeed, it was not established whether appellant went to that place before, during or after the commission of the crime, if at all. Moreover, the prosecution has not ruled out the possibility that the slippers may have been brought by another person to the crime scene, precisely to implicate him and thus exonerate the real culprit. Clearly, several antithetical propositions may be inferred from the presence of the slippers at the crime scene, and appellants guilt is only one of them.

Equally inconclusive is the prosecutions assertion of appellants flight. The prosecution points out that appellant, who had stayed in the house of Elizabeth Oglos on two consecutive nights immediately prior to the killing, did not return to the house after the commission of the crime. As mentioned earlier, even though he knew that he was a suspect in the disappearance of Marissa Agujar, he still suddenly left for Cagayan de Tawi-tawi.

The conduct of the appellant does not show his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. In the first place, appellant was not a resident of Zamboanga City; hence, his departure for Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi on June 24, 1995 to attend to an unfinished task is hardly irregular. Moreover, appellant had also stayed with several other persons during his other visits to the city. Having slept in Elizabeths house for two days after his arrival in Zamboanga City, it was possible that he wanted to see his other friends there, such as Hilda Paalisbo, one of those with whom he had stayed during his previous visits.

Marilyn alleged that, two days after the victims disappearance, appellant was about to run away from her when she saw him. But such behavior ceases to be suspicious when one considers that appellant agreed to go with her to the police station, so that he could answer certain questions regarding Marissa Agujars disappearance.

Motive to Kill

The trial court also cited two particular circumstances to show that appellant had a motive to commit the crime: first, appellant was allegedly asked to leave the victims house during one of his previous visits; and second, appellant had an altercation with the victims stepfather while they were drinking on the afternoon of June 19, 1995.

This Court, however, finds the above circumstances insufficient to impel the appellant to kill Marissa Agujar. That he was infuriated by the victims parents and that he continued to bear such sentiment to the point of wanting to kill the girl were not supported by the evidence. Aside from the fact that said leaving had occurred several months prior to the killing, appellant and the victims stepfather, Adlai Mides, even went on a drinking spree together. In any event, we believe that the alleged motives are not serious enough to induce a person to commit so grievous a crime.

Analogous Cases

In People v. Ragon,¹⁵ the trial court convicted appellant of murder, based on these circumstances: he and his companions were the last persons seen with the victim, and the cap worn by Ragons companion was found beside the victims dead body. The trial court further stated that Ragon conspired with the other accused to kill the victim, because the latter had initially refused to transport them to San Julian. However, this Court found that the circumstantial evidence presented did not conclusively point to Ragon as the perpetrator of the murder. The presence of the cap of Ragons companion beside the dead body only proved that said person, not necessarily Ragon himself, was at the locus criminis. That such cap was found in the vicinity of the crime scene did not necessarily imply that the accused killed the victim.

In People v. Binamira,¹⁶ the trial court convicted the accused based on the following pieces of circumstantial evidence: (1) he was accosted by security guards near the crime scene; (2) he was walking suspiciously fast; (3) bloodied clothes were allegedly recovered from him. Appellant therein was acquitted because the evidence, in view of the constitutional presumption of innocence, has not fulfilled the test of moral certainty and was thus insufficient to support a conviction.

Indeed, this Court has ruled that a person cannot be held liable for the killing, unless all the proven circumstances point to his guilt:

Parenthetically, when the prosecutions case is anchored only on circumstantial evidence, all the circumstances must be consistent with the hypothesis that the accused is guilty of the crime sought to be proven, and no other. In addition, the circumstances under consideration must not support any rational hypothesis consistent with the innocence of the accused.¹⁷cräläwvirtualibräry

In the present case, Appellant Mijares enjoys the presumption of innocence. The pieces of circumstantial evidence relied upon by the trial court do not pass the test of moral certainty, as they admit of the alternative inference that another person or persons, not necessarily the appellant, may have killed Marissa Agujar. Where the evidence admits of two interpretations, one of which is consistent with guilt, and the other with innocence, the accused must be acquitted. This, we do in the instant case.

In view of the foregoing, the Court finds no need to discuss appellants other arguments.

WHEREFORE, the appeal is hereby GRANTED. The assailed Decision is REVERSEDand SET ASIDE. Appellant is ACQUITTED on reasonable doubt. Unless convicted of any other crime or detained for some lawful reason, Appellant Isidro Mijares is ORDEREDRELEASEDimmediately. The director of prisons is hereby DIRECTED to inform this Court, within five days from notice, of the date and time the appellant is released pursuant to this Decision.

SO ORDERED.

Davide, Jr. (Chairman), Vitug, and Quisumbing, JJ., concur.

Bellosillo, J., please see dissenting opinion.

Endnotes:

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¹ Penned by Judge Jesus C. Carbon, Jr.

² Records, p. 14.

³ Appealed Decision, p. 24; rollo, p. 36.