PEOPLE Vs TUNIACO

PEOPLE vs.
TUNIACO
Facts:
1. The city prosecutor of General Santos City charged the accused Romulo Tuniaco, Jeffrey Datulayta, and Alex Aleman with
murder before the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
2. Solice officers from the Lagao Police Sub-Station requested police officer Jaime Tabucon of the Central Police Station of
General Santos City homicide division to take the statement of accused Alex Aleman regarding the slaying of a certain Dondon
Cortez. On his arrival at the sub-station, Tabucon noted the presence of Atty. Ruperto Besinga, Jr. of the Public Attorney’s Office
(PAO) who was conversing with those taken into custody for the offense. When queried if the suspects would be willing to give
their statements, Atty. Besinga said that they were.
3. Before anything else, officer Tabucon informed accused Aleman in Cebuano of his constitutional right to remain silent and to
the assistance of counsel of his own choice and asked him if he was willing to give a statement. Aleman answered in the
affirmative. When Aleman said that he had no lawyer, Tabucon pointed to Atty. Besinga who claimed that he was assisting all
the suspects in the case. Tabucon warned Aleman that anything he would say may be used against him later in court.
Afterwards, the police officer started taking down Aleman’s statement.
4. Accused Aleman said that in the course of a drinking bout with accused Datulayta and Tuniaco, Dondon Cortez threatened to
report his drinking companions’ illegal activities to the police unless they gave him money for his forthcoming marriage.
According to Aleman, Datulayta and Tuniaco had already planned to kill Cortez for making the same threats and now they
decided to do it. They got Cortez drunk then led him out supposedly to get the money he needed.
The three accused brought Cortez to Apopong near the dump site and, as they were walking, accused Aleman turned on Cortez
and stabbed him on the stomach. Accused Datulayta, on the other hand, drew out his single shot homemade M16 pistol 1 and
shot Cortez on the head, causing him to fall. Datulayta handed over the gun to Aleman who fired another shot on Cortez’s
head. Accused Tuniaco used the same gun to pump some bullets into Cortez’s body. Then they covered him with rice husks.
5. Later, accused Datulayta and Aleman led Tabucon, the city prosecutor, and a police inspector, to the dump site where they
left their victim’s body. After some search, the group found a spot covered with burnt rice husks and a partially burnt body of a
man. About a foot from the body, they found the shells of a 5.56 caliber gun and an armalite rifle.
6. Although the prosecution and defense stipulated that Atty. Besinga assisted accused Aleman during the taking of his
extrajudicial confession, the latter, however, recanted what he said to the police during the trial. He testified that some police
officers took him from his aunt’s and brought him to the Lagao police station. He was there asked to admit having taken part in
the murder of Cortez. When he refused, they tortured him until he agreed to sign a document admitting his part in the crime.
9. Accused Aleman also testified that he could not remember having been assisted by Atty. Besinga during the police
investigation. He even denied ever knowing the lawyer. Aleman further denied prior association with accused Tuniaco and
Datulayta. He said that he met them only at the city jail where they were detained for the death of Cortez.
10. RTC rendered judgment, finding accused Aleman guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime charged. Court of Appeals
affirmed the decision of the RTC.
Issue:
1) Whether the prosecution was able to present evidence of corpus delicti. –YES.
2) Whether accused Aleman’s extrajudicial confession is admissible in evidence. –YES.
Ruling:
1. Corpus delicti has been defined as the body, foundation, or substance of a crime. The evidence of a dead body with a gunshot
wound on its back would be evidence that murder has been committed. Corpus delicti has two elements: (a) that a certain
result has been established, for example, that a man has died and (b) that some person is criminally responsible for it. The
prosecution is burdened to prove corpus delicti beyond reasonable doubt either by direct evidence or by circumstantial or
presumptive evidence.
The defense claims that the prosecution failed to prove corpus delicti since it did not bother to present a medical certificate
identifying the remains found at the dump site and an autopsy report showing such remains sustained gunshot and stab
wounds that resulted in death; and the shells of the guns used in killing the victim.
But corpus delicti need not be proved by an autopsy report of the dead victim’s body or even by the testimony of the physician
who examined such body. While such report or testimony is useful for understanding the nature of the injuries the victim
suffered, they are not indispensable proof of such injuries or of the fact of death.6 Nor is the presentation of the murder
weapons also indispensable since the physical existence of such weapons is not an element of the crime of murder.
2. Confession to be admissible must be a) voluntary; b) made with the assistance of a competent and independent counsel; c)
express; and d) in writing. These requirements were met here. A lawyer, not working with or was not beholden to the police,
Atty. Besinga, assisted accused Aleman during the custodial investigation. Officer Tabucon testified that he saw accused
Aleman, before the taking of his statement, conversing with counsel at the police station. Atty. Besinga did not dispute this
claim.
Aleman alleges torture as the reason for the execution of the confession. The appellate court is correct in ruling that such
allegation is baseless. It is a settled rule that where the defendant did not present evidence of compulsion, where he did not
institute any criminal or administrative action against his supposed intimidators, where no physical evidence of violence was
presented, all these will be considered as indicating voluntariness. 9 Here, although Aleman claimed that he bore torture marks
on his head, he never brought this to the attention of his counsel, his relatives, or the prosecutor who administered his oath.
Accused Aleman claims, citing People v. Galit, that long questions followed by monosyllabic answers do not satisfy the
requirement that the accused is amply informed of his rights. But this does not apply here. Tabucon testified that he spoke to
Aleman clearly in the language he knew. Aleman, joined by Atty. Besinga, even signed a certification that the investigator
sufficiently explained to him his constitutional rights and that he was still willing to give his statement.
Further, Aleman asserts that he was lacking in education and so he did not fully realize the consequences of a confession. But as
the CA said, no law or jurisprudence requires the police officer to ascertain the educational attainment of the accused. All
that is needed is an effective communication between the interrogator and the suspect to the end that the latter is able to
understand his rights. This appears to have been done in this case.
Moreover, as the lower court noted, it is improbable that the police fabricated Aleman’s confession and just forced him to sign
it. The confession has details that only the person who committed the crime could have possibly known. What is more,
ACCUSED DATULAYTA’S CONFESSION CORROBORATE THAT OF ALEMAN IN IMPORTANT DETAILS. UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF
INTERLOCKING CONFESSIONS, SUCH CORROBORATION IS CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE AGAINST THE PERSON IMPLICATED IN
IT.

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PEOPLE vs.

2) Whether accused Aleman’s extrajudicial confession is admissible in evidence. –YES.

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