Describing a dying declaration as evidence of the highest order, the Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction of a Pandan resident for homicide in connection with a fatal stabbing 18 years ago.
In its decision rendered May 31, 2024, the CA’s Eighth Division chaired by Associate Justice Myra V, Garcia-Fernandez denied the appeal filed by Roger Rima Valerio over the guilty verdict of RTC Branch 43 in Criminal Case No. 3708.
However, it modified the penalty of imprisonment imposed on the accused, increasing the maximum penalty from the original 12 years to 14 years and retained the total P125,000 in damages and civil indemnity to be paid to the heirs of the victim, Jeffrey Icaranom.
The police had charged Valerio with murder for using a bladed weapon in attacking Icaranom at around 9:30 PM of Nov. 5, 2006 in Balangonan, Pandan, inflicting fatal injuries on the victim.
Primary witness Emerson Eusebio had told the police that he was at the sari-sari store of Rene Domingo when Icaranom arrived and bought two bottles of gin. He was invited by Jeffrey to go with him for a drinking session at the house of a certain Andres Fernandez but Eusebio declined.
Minutes later, Jeffrey returned to the store bloodied and grimacing in pain while holding his left shoulder.
Eusebio said the victim asked for help and repeatedly disclosed that Valerio, also known as “Ogie,” stabbed him and took his bottles of gin.
Fifteen minutes after the victim was taken to the hospital, Valerio arrived at the store together with Ryan Eusebio and Emerson noticed that the suspect had bloodstains on his right hand, which carried the two bottles of gin.
The victim subsequently died on Nov. 6, 2006 at 1:20 AM due to cardiac arrest.
With the suspect still at large six months after the issuance of the warrant of arrest, the case was archived until he was arrested in Cuenca, Batangas 13 years later.
In his appeal, Valerio said the RTC gravely erred in convicting him despite the lack of credibility of the prosecution witnesses and that it disregarded his defense of denial.
He claimed that it was Ryan Eusebio who stabbed Jeffrey and that Valerio fled because Ryan and his brother were hunting him.
In finding the appeal unmeritorious, the CA ruled that the RTC correctly convicted Valerio of homicide and gave credence to Emerson’s testimony.
A review of his testimony, the Court said, certainly showed that Valerio was indeed the perpetrator of the crime as Emerson was able to explain in great detail how the victim was able to identify his assailant through his dying declaration.
On the accused’s argument that the dearth in details of the victim’s statement does not qualify it as a dying declaration, the CA remained unconvinced.
“A dying declaration is an evidence of the highest order,” it stressed, citing a Supreme Court ruling that no person who knows of his impending death would make a careless and false accusation.
Aside from the circumstantial evidence that established beyond reasonable doubt that the one who fatally stabbed Jeffrey was Valerio, the Court also said that his denial and alibi cannot prevail over the positive and categorical testimonies of the witnesses.
It likewise noted that there was an implied admission of guilt when Valerio absconded after being named a person of interest in Jeffrey’s death and in offering to enter into a plea bargaining agreement.
The appeals court underscored that there was no explanaton as to Valerio’s absence for 13 years, which is unacceptable.
The decision was written by Associate Justice Rex Bernardo Pascual and concurred in by Associate Justices Garcia-Fernandez and Tira Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon.