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APPELLANTS’ BRIEF People of the Philippines vs. Fortuna, et. al. S. C. G. R. No. 141660-64 Such hesitation is a possible result of fear after what they have gone through in the hands of the police. It is also evident that the accused were made to understand that the CHR personnel were there to investigate the possible human rights violations against the accused. Given this premise, how then can these accused be expected to relate their stories constituting their defense in the murder case when the same were not called for at that time? Thus, the trial court’s appreciation of the failure of the accused to relate their defenses to the CHR lawyers as basis for disregarding such defense is misplaced. C. The defense of alibi presented by the accused in this case gains significance with the weakness of the prosecution’s evidence that does not concretely pin down the suspects as the ones who committed the crime. There are a lot of instances, as in this case, that alibi and denial are the only defenses available to the accused. For how else would the accused counter the accusations that they were the ones who committed the crime than by denying their participation in it and by presenting in court their whereabouts to prove that they were not at the crime scene. The defense of alibi cannot be given credence and is greatly weakened when there is a strong evidence of positive identification that establishes with moral certainty the presence of the accused at the crime scene and evidence establishing the culpability of the accused to the crime complained of. Positive identification gains more credibility when the witness has all along known the suspects personally and he saw them commit a crime. In such situations, there is less likelihood that the witness would be mistaken in ascertaining the identity of the suspects. However, when the witness does not have any previous association with the suspects and more so when the witness only saw the suspects for the very first time at that moment when they were committing a crime, there is always a possibility that the witness might not be able to accurately ascertain the identity of the suspects. Especially Page 102 of 127 102
APPELLANTS’ BRIEF People of the Philippines vs. Fortuna, et. al. S. C. G. R. No. 141660-64 so when the witness only saw the suspects for a very brief moment and under highly stressful conditions. The possibility of accurately identifying the suspects in this case is even made more difficult as the witness would be recalling four different suspects. As the records have shown, the witness was only able to describe two of the four suspects just five hours after the incident happened. (Question and Answer # 21, Exhibit L-1) The only link given by the prosecution establishing Augusto Santos’ participation in the commission of the crime is the identification made by Freddie Alejo in open court. Such identification as we have earlier discussed is unreliable and does not establish with moral certainty that it was indeed Augusto Santos whom Freddie Alejo saw as one of the four men surrounding the victim’s car. Not even the proferred extra-judicial confessions of Joel de Jesus and Lorenzo delos Santos, though they are inadmissible in evidence for having been obtained thru unconstitutional means, point to Augusto Santos as being at the crime scene. The only mention made in the sworn statement of Joel de Jesus is that of a certain Ogie who was with Lorenzo when they allegedly fetched Joel from his place in Fairview. But this certainly did not place Augusto Santos at Katipunan where the crime took place. Similarly, for Lenido Lumanog, the only evidence establishing his presence at the crime scene is Freddie Alejo’s in-court identification which we have already shown to be short of meeting the totality of circumstances test. Both the alleged extra-judicial confessions of Joel de Jesus and Lorenzo delos Santos cannot be used in evidence for having been obtained through unconstitutional means. As this Court has held in People vs. Repe in disregarding the extra-judicial confessions of two co-accused against the other accused, While it is true that the trial court observed that appellants’ extrajudicial confessions are interlocking and replete with minor details that could have been known only to the appellants, and hence indicate that they were voluntarily given, still, one cannot be unmindful of the equally-settled rule that even if the confessions of the accused is “gospel truth”, if it was made without the assistance of counsel, it is inadmissible in Page 103 of 127 103
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Republic of the Philippines - Campaign

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