Weighty evidence

Witnesses can testify only to those facts of their own perception except when testifying regarding a person’s dying declaration. This declaration of Emong is an example of this rule.

Emong was residing in a remote barangay with his wife Nita and four children. Near their house was their small sari-sari store. On the evening of November 4, 1998 after coming from the town to buy a truck battery for the fluorescent lamps in his store, and some corn bran and rice, and after having been invited by and taken dinner at their neighbor Lando and wife Linda, Emong returned to his store and sat on a bench located in front together with his three children.

At about this time, Nita was in their kitchen preparing milk for their baby who was then lying on the kitchen floor. Lando on the other hand remained in his house and continued eating his dinner. Suddenly, Lando heard a gunshot and noticed smoke and fire coming from the muzzle of a big gun. Moments later he saw Emong from their open type kitchen some 5 meters away, clasping his chest and staggering to the direction of their kitchen. Then Emong shouted to him "Tabangi ko Pre, gipusil ko ni kapitan" (Help me Pre, I was shot by the captain). Lando did not see the assailant as his attention was focused on Emong.

It was also at this time, when Nita who was putting the milk bottle into her baby’s mouth, heard the sound of gun burst followed by the shout "Help me Pre, I was shot by the captain". So she immediately pushed open the window of their kitchen and saw Tino, their former barangay captain wearing a black jacket and camouflage pants, carrying a long firearm which looked like an M-14 and running towards Lando’s house. She immediately went out of their house and ran towards Emong. Emong tried to speak to her but could not do so because his mouth was full of blood. Upon seeing the pitiful sight of her husband, she shouted several times "kapitan, ngano nimo gipatay ang akong bana".

Tino was arrested about 4 hours later as the prime suspect and charged with homicide. He denied killing Emong and pointed to Lando instead. He testified that he was then asleep when the shooting happened and he was just awakened by the tanods to respond to the shooting. And when he arrived at the scene, he saw Nita who was so mad at him. He also relied on the paraffin test results showing that he was negative for powder burns.

But after trial, the lower court still convicted Tino, relying more heavily on the testimonies of Lando and Nita regarding the dying declaration of Emong and the positive identification of Nita. The Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the lower court’s findings. Tino questioned the CA’s findings particularly that which considered Emong’s utterances after being shot and fatally wounded as his dying declaration. Was Tino correct?

No. Nita and Lando unequivocally declared and corroborated each other on the fact that the plea, "Help me Pre, I was shot by the Captain" had been uttered by the victim. Statements identifying the assailant, if uttered by a victim on the verge of death, are entitled to the highest degree of credence and respect. Persons aware of impending death have been known to be genuinely truthful in their words and extremely scrupulous in their accusations. The dying declaration is given credence on the premise that no one who knows of his impending death will make a careless and false accusation.

To be admissible, a dying declaration must (1) refer to the cause and circumstances surrounding the declarant’s death; (2) be made under consciousness of impending death; (3) be made freely and voluntarily without coercion or suggestions of improper influence; (4) be offered in a criminal case in which the death of the declarant is the subject of the inquiry; and (5) have been made by a declarant competent to testify as a witness. Emong’s declaration meets all these requirements. It was about the cause of his death pointing to the person who had shot him. Tino was the only person referred to as kapitan in their place. Emong gave the statement under a consciousness of an impending death. Even if he did not make an explicit statement of that realization, the degree and seriousness of the wounds and the fact that death occurred shortly afterwards is sufficient to show that he was conscious of his dying condition. It was also freely and voluntarily made and was offered in evidence in the criminal case for homicide. The victim, at the time he uttered the declaration was also competent as a witness. Testified to by his wife and neighbor, Emong’s dying declaration was not only admissible in evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule but was also a weighty and telling piece of evidence (Marturillas vs. People, G.R. 163217, April 18, 2006).

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