Criminal Case Digest: People vs Magalano, 266 SCRA 305

People vs Magalano, 266 SCRA 305

Criminal Case Digest:
Digested Cases

Issue :
On or about February 1, 1989 at Sitio    Tampa-on, Barangay Banawe, Pamplona, Negros Oriental, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused conspiring together and mutually helping each other, with treachery and intent to kill, did then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously attack, assault, hack and stab one Elfonio Adelantar, inflicting upon the latter multiple injuries, which directly caused the death of said Elfonio Adelantar. The key prosecution witness, Cirilo Manaban who was then only fourteen years old, witnessed the killing of his brother-in-law, Elfonio Adelantar.
Issues:
1.)  The appellant’s asserts  that their respective pleas of self-defense and denial should have been favorably appreciated by the trial court, considering the inconsistencies and consequent unreliability of the testimony of the prosecution’s principal eyewitness, hence their guilt was not proven beyond reasonable doubt.
2. ) WON the passage of Republic Act No. 7659 has transformed the indivisible nature of reclusion perpetua into a divisible one because of its “defined duration” ranging from 20 years and 1 day to 40 years.
Decision :
Far from being corrosive of the testimony of Cirilo Manaban, those inconsistencies are merely minor lapses and clearly of no consequence, especially when viewed against his narration of the events before the trial court.  The essential test is that the testimony of the witness is disencumbered, credible, and in accord with human experience.

After deliberating on the motion and re-examining the legislative history of R.A. No. 7659, the Court concludes that although Section 17 of R.A. No. 7659 has fixed the duration  of reclusion perpetua from twenty (20) years and one (1) day to forty (40) years, there was no clear legislative intent to alter its original classification as an indivisible penalty.


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