[G.R. No. 172110 : August 01, 2011]
MINDA VILLAMOR, APPELLEE, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, APPELLANT.
[G.R. NO. 181804]
GLICERIO VIOS, JR., APPELLEE, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, APPELLANT.
D E C I S I O N
PERALTA, J.:
These two cases were consolidated as they arose from the same factual milieu and assail the same decision of the Court of Appeals.
Minda Villamor and Glicerio Vios, Jr. (petitioners), along with Nicolas Caballero, Ricardo Tormis, and Jeffrey Cutab, were charged with frustrated murder before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Lanao del Norte, Branch 4, Iligan City, docketed as Criminal Case No. 4-7450. The accusatory portion of the Amended Information dated February 2, 1999 filed against them reads:
When arraigned, all the accused pleaded not guilty.
Soon after, accused Ricardo Tormis changed his previous plea to guilty, was sentenced, and then committed to the San Ramon Penal Colony and Farm in Zamboanga City to serve his sentence.2 Accused Nicolas Caballero was subsequently discharged as an accused, as he was utilized as a state witness.3 The case against accused Jeffrey Cutab was later dismissed after his Demurrer to Evidence was granted by the RTC.4
The facts established by the evidence of the prosecution, as summarized by the Solicitor General in the People's Brief, are as follows:
Minda Villamor and Glicerio Vios, Jr. (petitioners), along with Nicolas Caballero, Ricardo Tormis, and Jeffrey Cutab, were charged with frustrated murder before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Lanao del Norte, Branch 4, Iligan City, docketed as Criminal Case No. 4-7450. The accusatory portion of the Amended Information dated February 2, 1999 filed against them reads:
That on or about January 7, 1999, in the City of Iligan, Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the said accused, conspiring and confederating together and mutually helping each other, by means of treachery, evident premeditation and inconsideration of a price or reward, armed with a bladed weapon and with intent to kill, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault, stab and wound one Jean V. Jumawan thereby inflicting upon her the following physical injuries, to wit:
Multiple stab wounds, abdomen.
thus performing all the acts of execution which should have produced the crime of Murder as a consequence, but nevertheless did not produce it by reason of causes independent of their will.1 (Underscoring in the original)
When arraigned, all the accused pleaded not guilty.
Soon after, accused Ricardo Tormis changed his previous plea to guilty, was sentenced, and then committed to the San Ramon Penal Colony and Farm in Zamboanga City to serve his sentence.2 Accused Nicolas Caballero was subsequently discharged as an accused, as he was utilized as a state witness.3 The case against accused Jeffrey Cutab was later dismissed after his Demurrer to Evidence was granted by the RTC.4
The facts established by the evidence of the prosecution, as summarized by the Solicitor General in the People's Brief, are as follows:
About 1:00 P.M. of January 7, 1999, victim Jean Jumawan, a public school teacher, was resting inside her classroom No. 11 at Iligan City East Central School, Tambo, Hinaplanon, Iligan City when Ricardo Tormis and Nicolas Caballero arrived. Immediately thereafter, Caballero stepped out of the classroom while Tormis handed Jumawan an envelope, saying that it came from Minda Villamor and Glicerio Vios, Jr. (TSN, Aug. 18, 1999, p. 7). When Jumawan was about to open the envelope, Tormis suddenly stabbed her successively, hitting the different parts of her body (TSN, id., pp. 7-8). When she parried Tormis’ assault, Jumawan's hand likewise sustained injuries. She fell down to the floor. Tormis continued his assault but missed because Jumawan, who was then lying on the floor, kicked him, causing him to stagger backward. Jumawan stood up and shouted for help while Tormis fled (TSN, id., p. 9).
Bloodied and weak, Jumawan was carried and brought to the Mindanao Sanitarium and Hospital where Dr. Anastacio Gayao and Dr. Elfred Solis performed surgery on her major multiple stab wounds x x x. Dr. Gayao issued her a medical certificate (Exh. B,
