People Of The Philippines v. Taguinod

SARMIENTO, J.:

This case is a classic story of a romance that ended in tragedy. It all began with the fatal attraction of Marcos Manalang (the herein appellant) to a certain Maggie Chavez, which attraction degenerated into a diabolic obsession, climaxing in the brutal slaying of an elderly woman, her two young grandchildren, and a domestic helper. The facts established by the evidence on record are as follows: The spouses Engineer Maximino Lorenzo, and Edith Bolivar-Lorenzo, 41 and 37 years of age, respectively, resided with their two sons, Carlomax and Lawrence, nine and seven years old, respectively, in their house at Lot 47 Block 84, Lagro Subdivision, Novaliches, Quezon City.

Also living with them in the same house were Maximino's 69 year old mother, Felisa Capalungan Vda. de Lorenzo, his niece and househelp Zenaida Q. Nicobeza, 19 years old, and appellant Marcos Manalang, a 20-year old cousin of Maximino.1 Mrs. Edith Bolivar-Lorenzo met the appellant only after she had married Maximino in May, 1973. It was only in 1978, however, that the appellant became close to the Lorenzo couple when Maximino, who was working as an engineer in a government project at Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, gave the appellant a job as a timekeeper.

After his stint in Pantabangan, Maximino asked Marcos to stay with his family in Lagro Subdivision. The Lorenzos treated Marcos like their own son. They took care of all his needs, even sending him to college.2 At first, Marcos took up forestry, then he shifted to mechanical engineering at the Araneta University in Caloocan City.3 It was at this time when the appellant became acquainted with a Maggie Chavez, a young lady also living in the same subdivision.

The appellant, completely smitten by her, courted her assiduously, and after one year of persistent courtship, Maggie reciprocated his love and they became steady lovers.4 But this love affair with Maggie proved to be destructive for the appellant. Instead of attending school, he spent his time going out with Maggie and the money intended for his tuition and daily allowance, on their dates.5 It took almost a year before the appellant realized that he was cheating his cousin Maximino, who, not knowing that the appellant had already dropped out of school, continued giving him money for his tuition fees and daily allowances. Now conscious of his deception, the appellant felt helpless and desperate, not being able to tell his Kuya Maximino his problem, and fearful that should he fall from the good graces of his benefactor, he would subsequently lose the affection of his dearly beloved Maggie.6 Marcos was in that confused state of mind in the evening of January 2, 1984, when he decided, while he was ruminating in bed, to eliminate all the members of the Lorenzo family, whom he considered as roadblocks to his love affair with Maggie.

He decided to carry out his evil scheme with a hammer, a kitchen knife, and a butcher's knife.7 The next day, on January 3, 1984, Marcos waited for the Lorenzo couple to leave for work at about 7:30 o'clock in the morning. After they had gone, he sent the housegirl, Zenaida Nicobeza, to buy some items in the market, giving her P20.00 for the purpose. When Zenaida had left, the appellant, armed with a kitchen knife, entered the room of his aunt Felisa Capalungan Vda.

de Lorenzo who was at that time sewing clothes. He approached her from behind, and staying obliquely to her left side, suddenly stabbed her right side with the kitchen knife. The old woman begged for her life and asked forgiveness from the appellant for whatever wrong she might have done him.

But the appellant did not heed her pleas, and continued stabbing her many more times.8 The lifeless body of Felisa lay on the floor. The appellant then proceeded to the master's bedroom, where his nephew, Carlomax Lorenzo, who was suffering from measles, was asleep. The appellant covered the mouth of the boy with a pillow then stabbed him several times with the same kitchen knife.

From there, he moved to the children's bedroom where his other nephew, Lawrence Lorenzo, was still sleeping. The appellant repeated what he had done to Carlomax, although in the process of stabbing Lawrence, the kitchen knife broke and injured the appellant's hands.9 After killing Lawrence, the appellant got hold of a hammer and waited for Zenaida to return from the market. Upon her arrival, Zenaida noticed the wounds on the appellant's hands; she asked the latter what had happened.

The appellant told her that he sustained his wounds while slicing meat. Then, as Zenaida turned away from the appellant, the latter hit her neck with the hammer, causing her to fall on the floor, groaning. Hearing her groaning, the appellant hit her repeatedly with the hammer and then stabbed her with a butcher's knife in the neck.10 Thereafter, the appellant dragged the lifeless bodies of Carlomax, Lawrence, and Zenaida to the room of his aunt, Felisa, piled their cadavers on top of each other, placing Lawrence's cadaver at the top of the pile.11 To remove traces of his having killed Zenaida, the appellant wiped away the blood stains in that portion of the living room where the househelp had fallen.

After that, he washed himself in the bathroom and applied first aid on his wounds. He decided to leave the house and so he packed his clothes. Realizing that he did not have money for his travelling expenses, he searched the bag of his aunt Felisa and the purse of Zenaida, from which he found and took P200.00 and P50.00, respectively.

Knowing these amounts to be insufficient, he got the keys to the different lockers in the house, and with one of them he opened the drawer of his Kuya Maximino's table where he found P 50.00. He also took from the drawer a caliber .22 magnum Arminius revolver. He likewise opened the lockers of his Ate Edith and the children, from which he took some pieces of jewelry.12 With the money and assorted jewelry he had collected, the appellant got on the bicycle of Maximino and went to the Lagro Health Center to have his wounds treated.

He presented himself for treatment to midwife Cresencia P. Somera, who, in turn, turned him over to Dra. Irene Panes. The doctor asked the appellant to write his name in the register, but the appellant did not do so, and instead left without saying a word.

The appellant proceeded to the district of Novaliches on the bicycle. He wanted to go farther by boarding a jeepney but since the jeepney driver would not allow him to board with the bike, the appellant left the same with a waitress at a restaurant in front of the Our Lady of Mercy Hospital. Then, the appellant went to Araneta University in Caloocan City to have his wounds treated.

But since he arrived there at 12:00 noon and the clinic was already closed, he decided to go to the MCU Hospital. At the MCU Hospital, the appellant was not attended to immediately, so he went back to Novaliches, and then to the house of the Lorenzos at Lagro and waited for the Lorenzo couple with the intention of killing both of them with a bolo. But when the car of Maximino arrived at about 6:00 o'clock in the early evening of January 3, 1984, the appellant had a sudden change of heart.

So, he ran out of the house through the back door, and jumped over the fence of a neighbor, Noel Galinato, from whom be asked permission to pass through.13 The appellant reached Malinta, Valenzuela and entered a private clinic for treatment.

But the doctor there advised him to seek treatment at the Novaliches Hospital where a nurse, however, told him that the hospital staff cannot stitch his wounds, and forthwith advised him to go to the Quezon City General Hospital. The appellant first took his supper at the restaurant in front of the Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, and there offered to sell Maximino's bike for P200.00. As he was about to enter the Quezon City General Hospital, he read a notice tacked on the wall stating that all bags would be searched; the appellant felt apprehensive that the gun of his kuya Maximino inside his bag would be discovered.

So he went instead to Monuments, took a taxi to Araneta University, and slept at the ROTC headquarters. At about 5:00 o'clock in the morning of the next day, January 4, 1984, the appellant went to the Sto. Nino beach in Tanza, Cavite to hide.

There, he slept overnight. That evening, the appellant planned to surrender to police authorities the next day with the help of Maggie. However, he read a news item in The People's Journal about the murders in Lagro Subdivision and which reported that the suspect's girlfriend, Maggie, was "hiding from the mad killer."

His intention to surrender having been estopped, on the next day, January 5, 1984, the appellant boarded a Philippine Rabbit bus in Avenida, Sta. Cruz, Manila, for Baguio City. In Baguio, he stayed at the Emerald Lodge, registering under the name of Rey dela Cruz.

The appellant kept thinking about the news item which stated that Maggie was hiding from him. He was desperate; all at once, he realized that his innamorata, the object of his obsessive love, for whom he had killed the impediments to their relationship, had vanished, had gone into hiding and had called him a "mad killer." He was completely devastated.

Still, he tried to put things right by confessing to the murders. He wrote several letters; one of them, dated January 6, 1984, was addressed to Capt. Jil Fabian, the Lorenzos' neighbor at Lagro, in which the appellant admitted having killed the four persons and of having the intention to kill all the members of the Lorenzo family, including the Lorenzo couple, with a bolo, but that he changed his mind about killing the couple who had been very good to him he also recounted in the letter his love affair with Maggie.

Another letter was addressed to Mrs. Chavez, care of Capt. Jil Fabian, wherein the accused confessed his love for Maggie. In a third letter addressed to Mrs. Chavez and Maggie, he also professed his undying love for Maggie and admitted that it was his intention to kill all the Lorenzos whom he perceived as obstacles to a happy love affair with Maggie.

The next day, January 7, 1984, the appellant returned to Manila, but on the same day, he went back to Baguio. At the Emerald Lodge where he again stayed that night, the appellant planned to kill himself with the gun of his Kuya Maximino. But he realized doing so was an offense against God.

So he desisted. Besides, he wanted his relatives and the others to know that it was he and he alone who had killed the four victims and that he did not want other persons to be suspected of having done so. It was for this reason that he wanted to surrender alive.

Thus, on January 11, 1984, the appellant left Baguio for his hometown, Solana, Cagayan. In Solana, the appellant, accompanied by his brother, Juan Manalang, and his uncle, Pat. Taguinod, surrendered, in the early morning of January 13, 1984, to Solana Mayor Alexander Balauitan to whom he admitted having killed Felisa, the two children, and the maid.

After the appellant's confession, Mayor Balauitan turned him over to then Minister Juan Ponce Enrile who happened to be in Solana, attending a plebiscite rally. The appellant had also surrendered to Mayor Balauitan the pieces of jewelry and the caliber .22 magnum Arminius revolver14 which he had taken from the residence of the Lorenzos.

Minister Enrile then ordered Regional Commander Manlongat and PC Provincial Commander Col. Tirso Gador to take custody of the appellant, who was thereafter brought to the headquarters of the Cagayan PC/INP Command in Tuguegarao, Cagayan. There the appellant, with the assistance of lawyer Elpidio Atal, was informed by Police/Cpl.

Manuel F. Gaddan, of his (appellant's) constitutional rights in custodial investigation; in his extra-judicial confession, the appellant admitted having killed Felisa Capalungan Vda. de Lorenzo, Carlomax Lorenzo, Loren (Lawrence) Lorenzo, and Gerly (Zenaida) Nicobeza, with a kitchen knife, bolo, and hammer in the home of the Lorenzos on Block 84, Lot 47, Lagro Subdivision, Novaliches, Quezon City, and having taken cash money in the amount of P300.00, as well as pieces of jewelry, for his travelling expenses.15 From the PC/INP Headquarters in Tuguegarao, Cagayan, the appellant was brought to Camp Crame, Quezon City. Then he was turned over to the Quezon City Police.

At the Police Station, on January 16, 1984, Police Corporal Rogelio R. Castillo informed the appellant of his constitutional rights in custodial investigation. After thus being informed and with the assistance of lawyer Nelson Becinio, the appellant again confessed to the killing of his Nanang Iling (Felisa Capalungan Vda. de Lorenzo), Carlo (Carlomax Lorenzo), Louie (Lawrence Lorenzo), and Gerlie (Zenaida Nicobeza), with a kitchen knife, a ball pin hammer, and a bolo, at about 8:00 A.M. on January 3, 1984, at Block 84, Lot 47, Lagro Subdivision, Novaliches, Quezon City which was the house of his "Kuya"

Max (Maximino) Lorenzo, and to having taken the amount of P300.00 in bills and assorted coins, as well as pieces of jewelry from the house of the couple.16 On January 17, 1984, an Information was filed before the Regional Trial Court, Branch LXXXIX in Quezon City accusing Marcos Manalang y Taguinod of the crime of Robbery with Multiple Homicide, committed as follows: That on or about the 3rd day of January, 1984, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, the above-named accused, with intent of gain and by means of violence and/or intimidation of person, did then and there, wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously rob the residence of spouses MAXIMINO LORENZO Y CAPALUNGAN and EDITH BOLIVAR-LORENZO located at Block 84, Lot 47, Lagro Subdivision, Bgy. Pasong Putik, Novaliches, this City, by then and there taking away therefrom the following personal property: (1) Arminius rev. cal.

22 magnum, SN 754670 P1,000.00 (2) 50 rounds of cal. .22 ammo., plus 7 ammo inside the gun's revolving chamber 250.00 (3) One (1) imported blue racer bike 5,000.00 (4) One (1) Rado watch 600.00 (5) One (1) Casio mini calculator 300.00 (6) Cash 13,000.00 (7) 4-sets, diamond ring & earring 20,000.00 (8) Cash 2,000.00 (9) 1-set diamond ring & earring 5,000.00 (10) 1-pc. gold earring with pearl stones 600.00 (11) 1-pc.

gold ring with pearl stones 600.00 (12) 1- Bulova wrist watch 600.00 (13) 4 - piggy banks 5,000.00 (14) 4 - wrist watches 1,200.00 (15) 1- digital watch 200.00