EN BANC
[G.R. No. L-1778. February 23, 1950. ]
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. LEONORA TALLEDO and BUENAVENTURA TIMBREZA, Defendants-Appellants.
Virgilio Valera and Marcelino N. Sayo, for Appellants.
Solicitor General Felix Bautista Angelo and Assistant Solicitor General Inocencio Rosal, for Appellee.
SYLLABUS
1. CRIMINAL LAW; MURDER; EVIDENCE; EVIDENCE TO BE BELIEVED MUST BE IN ACCORD WITH COMMON KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE OF MANKIND. — The version of the accused that the deceased came up the house and tried to rape her; that she shouted for help and evidently one person came to her aid; that not long after her cry for help, she heard a noise at her door and G evidently hearing the same noise, got up from her bed and went to the door, and that soon thereafter she heard the shot that wounded G and that she jumped down from the house and ran to the house of her uncle Q. T., are all incredible because people do not usually go up other’s houses at about 8:30 in the evening to rape women inmates therein, especially, in a neighborhood where the houses are near each other, and much more when there are other people in said houses, because L’s mother-in-law was lying down near her that night. There were houses near that of L, and those of her brother and of her uncle were quite near, both within calling distance, but strange to say, despite her alleged desperate cries for help, neither of them responded.
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; DYING DECLARATION; MEANING OF ILOCANO DIALECT "CAS LA CASTA" "MAY BE." — The Ilocano dialect "cas la casta" may be translated into "may be" but it may equally mean "so it seems" or "most probably" or "I believe so." Considering that the declarant was being questioned, apparently by a superior in the social scale, and a Government official at that, we may regard his answer "cas la casta" as a positive belief and assurance but expressed modestly, mildly and courteously by a humble barrio resident to a judicial officer, so much so that when the declarant made his statement, he was conscious of his impending death. Moreover, the fact that the declarant died four hours later, shows that his wound was not only fatal but that he must have been in a critical condition at the time of making the statement, and he was slowly bleeding to death due to the apparently unchecked flow of blood from his wound.
3. ID.; ID.; ID.; SPONTANEOUS STATEMENT MADE BY THE VICTIM TO ANOTHER AS PART OF THE "RES GEST
2. ID.; ID.; ID.; DYING DECLARATION; MEANING OF ILOCANO DIALECT "CAS LA CASTA" "MAY BE." — The Ilocano dialect "cas la casta" may be translated into "may be" but it may equally mean "so it seems" or "most probably" or "I believe so." Considering that the declarant was being questioned, apparently by a superior in the social scale, and a Government official at that, we may regard his answer "cas la casta" as a positive belief and assurance but expressed modestly, mildly and courteously by a humble barrio resident to a judicial officer, so much so that when the declarant made his statement, he was conscious of his impending death. Moreover, the fact that the declarant died four hours later, shows that his wound was not only fatal but that he must have been in a critical condition at the time of making the statement, and he was slowly bleeding to death due to the apparently unchecked flow of blood from his wound.
3. ID.; ID.; ID.; SPONTANEOUS STATEMENT MADE BY THE VICTIM TO ANOTHER AS PART OF THE "RES GEST
