Carbon worker gets 40 years for shooting man

Finding the defense of the accused weak, the Regional Trial Court yesterday sentenced to 40 years imprisonment a laborer of the Carbon Public Market.

Carlos Flores Pasulohan had claimed he was merely mistaken to be Carlos Flores, the accused in the case. However, former RTC Executive Judge Simeon Dumdum gave little weight to his alibi and convicted him of murder for shooting a certain Dennis dela Cerna in 1997.

Dumdum ruled that Carlos Flores Pasulohan and Carlos Flores are one and the same.

Dumdum said it is not unusual for a person to use his mother's surname, especially if it is more prominent or convenient. "Certainly, Flores has a better sound and is more easily pronounced than Pasulohan," he said.

"The accused relies on alibi. Jurisprudence has it that, for alibi to prosper, the accused must prove not only that he was somewhere else when the crime was committed but also that it was physically impossible for him to be at the scene of the crime at the time of its commission. The accused failed to give this proof," Dumdum further said.

A witness of the prosecution, who had associated with Pasulohan for 10 years, identified him and said that Carlos Flores is the same person that he regularly met at the Carbon Market.

For his defense, Pasulohan and his witness Crizaldo Jumao-as had described suspect Carlos Flores as a resident of Bato, Ermita and who is originally from Iligan City. They described him as a tall and dark man with a mole on his nose and who used to push a cart at the Carbon Market. They said this Carlos Flores allegedly fled the place after the killing of Dela Cerna, putting himself beyond the reach of the law.

However, the court was not convinced and gave weight to the eyewitness account of brothers Dario and Danilo dela Cerna who pointed at Pasulohan as the one who shot their brother. Dumdum said the defense also failed to show ill-motive on the part of the Dela Cerna brothers to falsely accuse the suspect of the crime.

"But it does not matter whether the name of the killer was Carlos Flores or Carlos Flores Pasulohan. There was just one killer. Dario dela Cerna and his brother Danilo saw him shoot Dennis dela Cerna, and in the courtroom did not hesitate in pointing to Carlos Flores Pasulohan as that killer. The defense failed to show that Dario and Danilo had a motive to falsely accuse Carlos Flores Pasulohan with killing their brother," Dumdum said. - Joeberth M. Ocao/MEEV