The court has sentenced a man to 14 years in prison for shooting his neighbor in barangay Apas four years ago.
Accused Efren Rentillosa was earlier charged for murder but Regional Trial Court Judge Gilbert Moises convicted him only of homicide after the prosecution failed to prove evident premeditation in the shooting, which occurred in the dawn of August 1, 2003.
Moises gave weight to the testimony of prosecution witnesses who positively identified Rentillosa as the one who pulled the trigger on the victim, Archiel Tabanao.
Witness Diomedes Tabanag testified that he was with the victim shortly before the shooting and even saw Rentillosa and Tabanao having a “not friendly” conversation.
He said after he heard a gun burst, he saw Rentillosa with a .38 caliber, adding that Tabanao was hit with the second bullet.
Another witness, Nelson Vercide, also testified he saw Rentillosa with a gun after he heard two gunshots from the basketball court near his house.
Vercide said Rentillosa was with another person, a certain Randy Sirasida, who was also allegedly with a gun at that time. Vercide said when he shouted at the perpetrators to deter their next move, they then ran away.
“It is elementary in our rules on criminal procedure that the positive identification by an eyewitness has greater evidentiary weight than the mere denial of the accused. Denial, like alibi, is a weak defense, which becomes even weaker in the face of positive identification of the assailant by an eyewitness,” Moises said.
With this rule, Moises said Rentillosa’s mere denial could not be given full credence.
The court also took into consideration the last statement of Tabanao moments before he died- that it was Rentillosa and Sirasida, who shot him. But the court has earlier dropped Sirasida from the charge for lack of probable cause for the issuance of a warrant of arrest.
“The court takes cognizance of the ante-mortem statement of the victim since it is very improbable for him to utter a lie at that point when he is already near death. Verily, his only tendency then is to speak the truth,” Moises said.
In his defense, Rentillosa had denied shooting Tabanao and instead pointing to another person as the perpetrator. He even accused Vercide of being mad at him for his refusal to testify about the incident.
He also alleged that Vercide even threatened him upon learning that he would not testify in the case. — Joeberth M. Ocao/LPM