A San Miguel resident has been found guilty of homicide more than two decades after fatally hacking a fellow farmer who had refused to lend money to him.
Eddie Zarate Camacho, who was 31 when he used a bolo to mortally would Salvador Servillino Tuazon Jr., 30, in barangay Katipunan, was found guilty of homicide recently the Regional Trial Court.
RTC Branch 43 Acting Presiding Judge Ritche R. Regala sentenced him to suffer imprisonment of eight years and one day as minimum to 14 years, eight months and one day as maximum, and to pay the heirs of the victim the total sum of P150,000.00 as civil indemnity, moral and exemplary damages.
Prosecution witnesses told the Court that in the afternoon of April 10, 2000, the two men were in a drinking spree together with three other men when Camacho and Tuazon had a heated argument.
Camacho wanted to borrow money from Tuazon but the latter refused as he needed it to go back to Manila.
Later, they finished drinking and decided to head home together but the two farmers continued to quarrel about the money.
Upon reaching the house of Marcy Salvador Jr. shortly before 10 PM, he thought that Tuazon would sleep over at his house but he had gone out.
Salvador went out to look for him and at some distance from the house, he saw Camacho hack Tuazon with a bolo twice on his neck and cheek.
The witness ran away to ask for help and then went to the police the following morning.
In denying the charge, Camacho claimed that there was never a heated argument during the drinking spree and that he assisted Salvador in going home and then spent the night at the house of one Salvador Tupas. He said he noticed Tuazon going back to the drinking spree.
Tupas corroborated the accused’s version of the events and attested that Camacho never left their house that evening,
In finding the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt, Judge Regala stated that the prosecution was able to establish the elements of the crime of homicide, with the eyewitness’ testimony spontaneous, clear and straightforward.
“The Court cannot give credence to the accused’s defense that, at the time of the incident, he was sleeping at the house of Salvador Tupas because he failed to present clear and convincing proof that he was unable to be at the crime scene,” the Court stressed.
It likewise declined to accept Camacho’s argument that he only went to the police station because he was told police officers were seeking him and to clear his name.
Judge Regala noted that the police blotter showed that the accused submitted himself for safekeeping regarding the hacking incident, which he said hardly inspired any belief that his going to the police station was merely to clear his name but to initially surrender to the police authorities as the perpetrator of the crime.
The Court also found interesting the fact that Camacho’s whereabouts could not be determined for 22 years after the case was filed, which shows he had evaded arrest and is highly indicative of his guilt.
It said the accused had not even provided a plausible explanation for his prolonged absence, with his successful efforts to avoid arrest until his apprehension after 22 years not consistent with his claim of innocence.