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Lejano vs People of the Philippines Lumanog vs People of the

Philippines

Credibility of the Witness Credibility of the Witnesses

The testimony of Jessica Alfaro as the

eyewitness, describing the crime and

identifying Webb, Lejano, Gatchalian,

Fernandez, Estrada, Rodrigez, and two

others as the !ersons who committed it

The trial jdge too" into accont the

!ro#imity of Alejo to the s!ot where the

shooting occrred, his ele$ated !osition

from his gardhose, his o!!ortnity to

$iew frontally all the !er!etrators for a

brief time %% enogh for him to remember

their faces and his !ositi$e identi&cation

in the cortroom of a!!ellants as the si#

'() !ersons whom he saw acting

together in the fatal shooting of Abadilla

on Jne *+, *(-

Webb.s !artici!ation is the anchor of

Alfaro.s story- Withot it, the e$idence

against the others mst necessarily fall-

Alejo was $ery near the !lace where

Abadilla was shot and ths had a good

$iew of the gnmen, not to mention that

the two '/) loo"ots directly a!!roached

him and !ointed their gns at them

The length of time which too" Alfaro tocome forward and testify in the case is

most cons!icos- The delay of for '0)

years in re!orting the crime has to be

ta"en against her, !articlarly with the

story behind it-

Alejo immediately ga$e his statementbefore the !olice athorities jst hors

after the incident too" !lace

Alejo made an ot%of%cort identi&cation

!ointed1 !ositi$ely identi&ed a!!ellant

Joel de Jess and Lorenzo delos 2antos in

a line%! at the !olice station together

with !olice o3cers

Dissenting Opinion

Alfaro nderwent e#hasti$e and intense

cross%e#amination by eight '4) defense

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lawyers, it is to be noted that she

re$ealed sch details and obser$ations

which only a !erson who was actally

with the !er!etrators cold ha$e "nown-

Alfaro.s detailed testimony a!!ears clear

and con$incing, ths gi$ing the 5ortthe im!ression that she was sincere and

credible

6abital drg se and delay in re!orting

a crime did not a7ect the com!etence

and credibility of !rosection witness

Alfaro

Defense of the Alibi Defense of the Alibi

Webb !resented the strongest alibi

throgh 'a) the tra$el !re!arations8 'b)

the two immigration chec"s8 'c) details

of 92 sojorn8 'd) the second

immigration chec"8 and 'e) alibi $erss

!ositi$e identi&cation8 and 'f) a

docmented alibi-

The a!!ellants did not !resent clear and

con$incing e#cses showing the !hysical

im!ossibility of their being at the crime

scene between 4:;; o.cloc" and :;;

o.cloc" in the morning of Jne *+, *(-

Webb sbmitted the followingdocmentary e$idence in connectionwith his sojorn in the 92:

*) 3cial Recei!t issed by >range5ycle 5enter dated Jne +;, **,!hotogra!hs of the bicycle !rchased byWebb from said store8+) 5ar !late with the name ?Lew Webb?8

0) @ass!ort with @hili!!ine mmigrationarri$al stam!8B) @hotogra!hs of Webb with Rodrigezfamily8() 5alifornia =ri$er.s License of Webb,>riginal License 5ard of Webb issed on

Jne *0, **8C) 2tatement of Accont issed to

Degati$e &ndings of ballistic and

&nger!rint e#aminations

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En$ironment First Termite 5ontrolshowing 5hec" Do- ;*4;8 an" ofAmerica 5erti&cation on 5hec" Dos-;*// and ;*4;84) @blic Records of 5alifornia=e!artment of otor ctober /(, */8 92%D25erti&cation dated Agst +*, *B

athenticated by the @hili!!ine=e!artment of Foreign A7airs, correctingthe earlier Agst *;, *B 5erti&cation8*;) 5erti&cation issed by Agnes

Tabena84+ @assenger anifest of @AL

Flight Do- *;+8 @AL tic"et issed to

Webb,4B Arri$al in anila 5erti&cation

issed by the @hili!!ine mmigration,4(

=i!lomatic Dote of the 92 =e!artment of

2tate with enclosed letter from Acting

=irector =ebora A- Farmer of the Records

>!erations, >3ce of Records of the 92%

D2 stating that the 5erti&cation dated

Agst +*, *B is a tre and accrate

statement84C and 5erti&cate of

Athentication of @hili!!ine 5onsl

6errera%Lim-

The 2!reme 5ort ga$e $ery highcredence to the com!onded

docmentary alibi !resented by Webb-

This alibi altogether im!eaches Alfaro.s

testimony not only with res!ect to him,

bt also with res!ect to the other

accsed-

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Antonio Lejano and ichael Gatchalian

li"ewise raised the defense of alibiclaiming that they s!ent the night of

Jne /, ** ntil early morning of Jne

+;, ** watching $ideo ta!es at the

hose of 5arlos 2ya! at Ayala Alabang