PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.

CARLOS MELENDRES, ANTONIO GERODIAS and

SOFRONIO GONZALES, Defendants-Appellants.

G.R. No. L-38095, August 10, 1981, EN BANC, (Abad Santos, J.)

FACTS:

 Angel Montero was stabbed to death and Aniano Catipay was seriously wounded, and would have also died were it not
for timely medical intervention.
 The sudden concerted assault was made while the victims were talking with their fellow inmates of the New Bilibid
Prison who belonged to the OXO-KKK gang, in Cell No. 1.
 Immediately after the stabbing incident, the four accused Carlos Melendres, Rodolfo Molina, Antonio Gerodias and
Sofronio Gonzales were positively identified by an eye-witness Nimrod Egonia who pointed to them as the assailants.
 Sofronio Gonzales confessed though orally his guilt to the New Bilibid Prison guard- investigator who investigated the
four accused and before whom they executed their affidavits.
 At the trial Catipay, one of the victims positively recognized and identified the accused as those who attacked him and
the deceased.
 Carlos Melendres, admitted having stabbed Aniano Catipay but denied having stabbed Angel Montero while Antonio
Gerodias and Sofronio Gonzales denied any participation in the incident.
 Rodolfo Molina died in the course of the trial.
 The Circuit Criminal Court found the accused guilty of Murder and sentenced them to death.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the accused are guilty.

RULING:

The court ruled in the affirmitive.

 The Supreme Court found no circumstance or fact of substance which would justify a reversal of the trial court’s finding
of guilt including the aggravating circumstances of treachery and quasi- recidivism but the judgment of death was
modified to reclusion perpetua after considering the wretched conditions in the New Bilibid Prison.
 Where an eye witness disclosed the identity of the assailants to the prison guard-investigator immediately after the
incident, his statement may well be deemed part of res gestae as it was given spontaneously and immediately
subsequent to the stabbing incident when there was yet no opportunity for fabrication.
 While the accused Antonio Gerodias ("Rodias" or "Demonyo") and Sofronio Gonzales ("Ponyong") were saying that they
had nothing to do with the criminal assault on Catipay and Montero, they were also saying that at the time of the
assault they ran to the very place of the assault, such denial cannot prevail over the positive and conclusive
identification made by Aniano Catipay and Nimrod Egonia.
 The court a quo correctly found that the concerted assault was qualified by treachery where the attack was so sudden
and at a time when it was least expected, as the victims were talking face to face with the accused and they were caught
off-guard, a situation which for the accused, insured the consummation of the assault without risk to themselves.