Mariano Delimios alias Bigote, Eugenia  Delimios  and Bernardo Tariman alias Benny  were charged  with the crime of robbery  in band with homicide in an amended information filed in the Court of First Instance of Camarines  Sur.  Upon arraignment  the three  defendants entered a plea of not guilty.   Florentino Dacuba, Armando Cadag,  Jesus Bordejos alias  Jesse, Federico Babasa alias Decoy and Salvador Sulit, Jr., the co-defendants charged with the  crime in the amended information, were  still at large at the time of the filing thereof.  On 25 March 1953, upon motion of the Provincial Fiscal the amended information was dismissed  as  to  Florentino  Dacuba, Armando  Cadag  and Salvador Sulit,  Jr.  After  trial, on 27  July  1953 the Court rendered judgment finding the  defendants guilty of the  crime charged  and  sentencing each of them to  suffer  the  penalty of reclusion perpetua,  to indemnify jointly  and severally  the heirs of the deceased  Cecilio Iriola in the sum of P6,000,  to indemnify Lee Yat in the sum of P164, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to pay the costs. The defendants appealed to this  Court.  On 10 November 1955  this Court dismissed the  appeal interposed  by Bernardo  Tariman.

The  evidence for the prosecution  shows that at about 7:00 o'clock in the evening of 27 September 1950  Eugenia Delimios, Mariano Delimios and Bernardo Tariman, the first armed  with a knife and  the  last two with bolos, entered the store of Lee Yat at barrio Hanauan, municipality  of  Ocampo, Camarines Sur and said: "Do not make noise, we  are going to get what we want." Upon seeing Gaspar Peralta inside the store, Mariano pulled his right shoulder, hit him on the head with a "baji" (palma brava) held  by his right hand and  with the  bolo in his left hand aimed to  strike him, and asked him what he was doing there.  Gaspar answered that he was buying something. Bernardo asked  Mariano  if  Gaspar  was  their enemy.  Gaspar answered he was  not.  Felix Brazal, who came to the place with Eugenia, Mariano and Bernardo, at  a  distance of about  ten meters from the  store, saw Bernardo  about to  strike Gaspar with his bolo and "palma brava" while Mariano was touching Gaspar's right shoulder with his bolo.   Felix asked the two why they were doing that to Gaspar and told them not to  do  harm to him because he was a good man.  He took aside Gaspar to the road and advised him  to leave the place  to  avoid trouble and embarrassment.   Gaspar went  home.  Bernardo struck  with his bolo the  box containing rice  in the store.   Then the three took from  the  stand ten packages of different brands valued at P40,  two boxes of canned  salmon and sardines valued at P38, two  sacks of rice valued at P86 and Lee Yat's wrist watch valued at P40.  Tito Crucillo who  was  at his store about 45 meters from that of Lee Yat heard the noise  coming from Lee Yat's store,  so he came out of his store and from a distance of. about five meters from Lee  Yat's saw  what Eugenia, Mariano and Bernardo  were doing inside Lee Yat's store.  He immediately went to report the incident to Cecilio Iriola, the barrio lieutenant.  Upon  hearing the report  of Tito,  Cecilio took his gun and put on his badge and  together with Tito  went to the place. Meanwhile at Lee  Yat's  store, Eugenia called for the truck parked a few  meters away and with the aid of  Mariano and Bernardo  started loading the goods they took.  Upon reaching the store of Juan Salve  about  150  meters from Lee Yat's,  Cecilio fired  his gun and upon reaching Lee Yat's store he fired  again and shouted, "I am the barrio lieutenant." Mariano  and  Bernardo  laid  flat  on  the ground face downward.   When Cecilio reached the spot where the two laid, they rose and struck  him with their bolos.   Then Mariano ordered  his  companions  to get on  the truck and speed away. Cecilio called for  help saying that  he  was struck  by Mariano Delimios and Bernardo  Tariman  with their bolos.  When Tito came to his aid  he found  him sitting in  a reclining position supported by his two arms on  the  ground and his feet stretched forward.  Asked  who  his  assailants were he answered that they were Mariano Delimios and Bernardo Tariman.  He brought Cecilio to the house of Mrs. Pelagia Bacay Moll,  a nurse, where he expired.  The next day, 28  September 1950,   Dr. Servillano Olano,  president of the  4th and  6th Sanitary Divisions,  made an autopsy on the cadaver and reported on the external  and internal examinations  he  made, as  follows:

Wound No. 1 Left ear divided horizontally, a 5 cm. portion was left hanging, the inferior portion still attached to the main body of the  ear.

Wound No. 2 A  clean cut wound on the  posterior side of left shoulder of about 6 by 4 cm. and one cm.  deep.  The head of  the humerus was  scrapped.

Wound No.  3 A clean  cut  wound on  the center of the left deltoid  muscle  of about  3 by 1  cm. and one  cm. deep.

Wound No. 4 A ;clean cut semi-circular extensive wound at the center  of the  left  forearm  of about 11  by  7 cm. in dimensions, reaching and scraping a portion of the ulnar bone. The soft tissues form a semi-circular flap which fall when one moves the arm.

Wound No. 5 A clean cut wound 10 by  5 cm. and one cm. deep at the  left side of the body on the level  of  the 8th rib, exposing portions of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th ribs.  This wound was found later to be non-perforating.

Wound No. 6 A similar wound  as No.  5 but on the right side and fracturing the 8th  rib about  2 cm.  from its attachment in the spinal column.  This wound was ground also to be nonperforating.

Wound No.  7 A clean cut wound 8 by 4 cm. and 2 cm. deep on the right hip region.

 Wound No.  8 A clean cut circular wound of about 4 cm. in diameter and almost reaching the tibia, located about 8 cm. below the  right  knee.

Wound No. 9 A clean  cut linear wound running medially downwards  about  6 by 2  cm. about 12 cm. below  right knee  joint. The tibia  was almost cut.

Wound  No. 10 A  clean  cut linear  wound  running  medially downwards about 7 by  3 cm.  almost cutting  the  tibia, situated about  5 cm.  below left knee.

Wound  No. 11 A  clean  cut linear  wound  running  medially downwards about 14 by 7 cm., cutting the tibia and fibulae and the anterior tibial artery,  situated  2 cm.  below wound No. 11. On  section, the body was  found  to  be Very  pale  and contains little  adipose tissue.  Lungs  and heart  normal. Stomach empty.

 Wounds Nos. 5 and 6 were found to be non-perforating.   No other peculiarities  in the rest  of  the body having any direct relation with the occurrence of death were  observed.

CONCLUSIONS

From the foregoing  necropsy findings, it may be reasonably inferred:

1. That, in  view of the blood lost  as  indicated,  due to the numerous wounds and  cutting of the anterior tibial  artery, Cecilio Iriola  died from  syncope  secondary to profuse bleeding from said artery and numerous  wounds  found.

2. That, judging from the  nature of the cadaveric changes, the period  of  time that had  elapsed from the moment of death until the  time of  autopsy must be about 18 hours.

3. That  Wound No. 11,  because of its extent and depth, (cutting the  anterior  tibial  artery) and  location may  be classified as very severe  wound but not  necessarily mortal.

4. That  prompt  medical attention  of  the  deceased may have prolonged or even saved his life. (Exhibit A.)

The evidence for  the defense  shows that at about  3:30 o'clock in the  afternoon  of 27  September 1950 Eugenia Delimios, accompanied by her  four year old child,  went to barrio Hanauan,  municipality of Ocampo,  Camarines Sur,  to  make some purcnases.   At the  store of  Chua Luy,  she bought on credit the following: 10  gantas of rice,  6 cans  of salmon, 6 cans of sardines, 1  package of cigarettes  (matamis),  5  Kilos of sugar and 1/4  kilo of garlic,  which were  packed  in three bundles and brought by  Chua Luy's  helper outside the store beside the  road. From there  she went to a store run by a Filipino opposite Lee Yat's where while talking with the storekeeper, Cecilio Iriola appeared brandishing and swinging his bolo a little less than a  yard long.   When she  was told that their stock of rice was  for retail of a few gantas only, she left and proceeded to Lee Yat's  store.  She bought  fish worth P1  from  Valeriano  Camilo  and after receiving the fish and  the  change  from the vendor, she went back to the Lee Yat's store.  Cecilio  Iriola, Gaspar  Peralta and Tito Crucillo followed  her.  Eugenia talked with Lee Yat who quoted a sack of rice at P23 which quotation he  later on  reduced to P22.50 when she  huggled with him.  She bought 2  sacks of rice,  6 packages of cigarettes, 2 dozen cans of sardines, 2 dozen cans of salmon, for which she was charged P95.20.   Lee Yat  packed  the goods  she bought  and  brought  out the  two sacks  of rice. At this  juncture  Cesar  Era  came  in  and asked her  whether she already had  received the  compressor to which  question she answered  in the   affirmative. Eugenia took out  from  her vanity case  4 P20  bills, 2 P5  bills  and 1  P10  bill  which she  placed on the table to pay for the goods bought.  As Lee Yat was handing to  her the change of P4.80, Cecilio addressed Eugenia in Bicol, "Mrs. give  the change to  us."  When she paid no  attention to  him, Cecilio asked  her, "Where is  the change I was asking from you?"  In answer, she rebuked him for begging despite his strong physique, which remark angered  Cecilio. Eugenia   stopped  an ALATCO bus passing by and  the  conductor named  Anayan  and  the driver  named   Exequiel  Patriarca alighted  to load Eugenia's packages.  As the two, with  the aid of Cesar Era, started to load them, Cecilio  stopped them, threatening to do harm to them if they  should disobey him. The three desisted.  When Eugenia picked  up  the bundle of canned goods,  Cecilio Iriola snatched it away from her. Eugenia dropped the bundle scattering the canned goods on the ground Cecilio took the fish wrapped in a piece of paper which Eugenia bought,  while  Tito and Gaspar picked up  the  bundles containing the rest of the goods she  purchased  and  deposited them inside the store of Lee Yat, with  instruction not to give them to anybody. The bus driver  drove  on  leaving Eugenia behind. . At about  5:30 o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a  bus of the BITRANCO  passed by and  Eugenia boarded it to  go home to Higfiaroy.  On her way she met  a truck on which her  husband was riding.   He had left Higfiaroy to go to Hanauan to meet her upon receipt of the information about  the  incident  from Exequiel Patriarca.  She signalled  the  truck to stop, transferred to it to join her husband, and returned  to Hanauan. On their way, they stopped at  the  store of Dominador Nunez at barrio Osini at the instance  of  Felix Brazal who  made  some purchases there. Resuming, they reached Hanauan at about 6:30 o'clock in the evening where Eugenia and her husband Mariano alighted in front of Lee  Yat's  store,  There she  pointed to him the bundles belonging  to  her which she  failed  to bring home. She told Lee  Yat that she would  get  them already.  Lee Yat  at  first refused to allow her  to get them, saying that they were deposited in  his  store  by Cecilio  Iriola.  Mariano protested to Lee  Yat and asked  him why he would  not allow his wife who purchased them from him to  get what she owned.  Lee Yat finally yielded.  Mariano carried the sacks of rice and  the bundles of goods bought by his wife to the truck while his laborers Felix Brazal, Federico Babasa, Jesus  Bordejos and Armando  Cadag stayed on top  of the truck and  helped him get the  sacks  of rice and bundles of  goods as he raised  them up. When Mariano was raising  up the  first sack of rice, a shot was fired,  followed  by another, coming from the direction of  Naga City.  Eugenia saw Cecilio  approaching the truck armed with a gun  and  a bolo.  When  Mariano was loading the last sack of rice Cecilio shouted  at him, "Why  did  you get that?" and struck her  husband with a bolo on  the  right leg. Mariano turned around to the right and  fell.   As  he was about to fall Cecilio  dealt him another  blow.  Upon seeing that Mariano was being attacked, his men aboard the truck jumped to the ground. Cecilio  chased  Felix Brazal.  At that  moment Bernardo intercepted Cecilio and grappled with him.  Cecilio tried to strike Bernardo but the latter was able to pary his blow and wrest his bolo  from him.   Cecilio ran away and Bernardo picked up Mariano  whom he  carried  to the  truck. They brought  him to  Tigaon and  later  to Goa  where he was treated by  a physician.  He  was subsequently  transferred  to the provincial   hospital  at Naga City  where he was medically examined.   Dr. Diosdado P.  Lahum,  senior  resident physician,  issued the following certificate:

April 16, 1951

TO  WHOM IT MAY  CONCERN:

This is to certify that Mariano de Limios, 40 years old, male, married, and a resident of Tinambac, Camarines Sur, was physically examined in this hospital on Sept. 28, 1950,at 11:30 A.M.

1. Wound,  incised,  3  inches  long, sutured, scalp,   left temporal region.

2.  Wound,  incised,  3 inches  long,  sutured, hand,  right, dorsal aspect.

3. Wound,  incised, 4 inches long, sutured,  directed transversely,. right  leg, lower  3rd.

The right leg was fluoroscoped  on August 29, 1950.  The following finding was  noted:

1. Complete oblique fracture of lower 3rd  fibula,   right.

The patient was confined  in this hospital from September 28, 1950, and was  discharged from  the hospital with  slight dermal wound. Plaster cast  was applied over the right leg  on  October 29, 1950, and was removed on January 3, 1951.   The patient was then able to walk  over the removal  although with slight difficulty. (Exhibit 4-Delimios.)

A careful review of  the evidence leads  us to give more credence  to the evidence for the defense.  It  is hard  to believe  that the  three  defendants  would  commit robbery in the   center  of  the  barrio. where   there are  several stores.   The  prosecution attempted to show that at 7:00 o'clock in the evening of  27 September  1950,  the three defendants, together with Jesus Bordejos alias  Jesse and Federico Babasa alias Decoy, who are still at large, went to the barrio  of Hanauan to  commit the robbery charged in  the amended information.  On the other  hand, the evidence  for  the defense shows  that  at  3:30 o'clock  in the afternoon of that day, the appellant Eugenia Delimios, accompanied  by her  four year  old  child, went to the barrio to make  some  purchases, but  was  prevented by Cecilio Iriola  from taking home what she had purchased, because  he was angered by  the  refusal of Engenia Delimios to  give  him  the  change  of F4.80 that Lee Yat handed to  her after paying for her  purchases in his store. According to Felix Brazal, upon whom the trial court placed much reliance, at 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon of  that  day, after his work in Hignaroy was over,, he  asked Mariano Delimios for  rice but the latter told him to go  to Hanauan where  his wife was.  This part of  the  testimony  of  Felix Brazal corroborates  the evidence for the defense that before the incident  which resulted  in the death  of  Cecilio Iriola, Eugenia Delimios went to  barrio Hanauan  to make  some purchases.   Felix Brazal  further testified  that  he asked for rice  from Mariano  Delimios  because  he was not  given his pay for  the  work  he had done  in the construction  of the bridge in Hignaroy.   So  at 6:00  o'clock in the evening, he boarded the truck used by Mariano Delimios and  went with him to Hanauan.  This testimony again tallies with the  evidence  for the  defense that after learning  from Exequiel Patriarca the incident that took place between his  wife  and Cecilio Iriola, Mariano went to Hanauan in his  truck and on the way  he met his wife who transferred to his truck and returned  to Hanauan.  The trial court gave credence to the  testimony of Felix  Brazal because he was a  laborer of Mariano Delimios in the construction of the bridge  in Higñaroy  and that notwithstanding the fact that  he was under his employ, he testified against Mariano Delimios and his wife.  However, the fact that he had a grudge  against the Delimioses because according to  him he  was not paid his wages as laborer and failed to get the  rice which he needed  for him and his family was overlooked  by the trial  court.

Another witness whose testimony was relied  upon by the trial court  is Lee  Yat.  However,  the latter  withheld from the Court  certain  facts such as the incident that took place between Gaspar Peralta and the two male defendants inside  his store before the alleged robbery was committed,  he having testified  that  Gaspar  was inside the store when the  alleged robbers  arrived.  On  cross-examination, he testified that he did not hear any noise outside his  store  after  the  alleged robbers had  left and after closing his store.  It is hard to believe  that he did not hear the shooting  and the  shouts  of Cecilio  Iriola for help when he was wounded.  It  is  also hard to believe that his wife who was  in his store when the robbers arrived was able to leave the store to  go to a nearby restaurant and come back later after the store was closed, because the alleged robbers  who  were armed, according to  the evidence  for the  prosecution,  would  not  have allowed her to leave the store to enable her  to call the police  for help.

The  testimony  of  Tito Crucillo loses its reliability in view of the fact  that  he was with Cecilio Iriola in the store of Lee Yat extorting  money  from  the appellant Eugenia  Delimios.

If the  evidence for the prosecution is to  be believed in its entirety, the wounds inflicted upon Mariano Delimios would  have no  explanation because, according  to that evidence,  Cecilio Iriola  did not  strike  or  hit  Mariano Delimios with his bolo.   On  the other hand, the evidence for the defense shows that when the last sack of rice was being raised by  Mariano Delimios to be placed on board the truck, Cecilio  Iriola attacked Mariano Delimios with  his  bolo  and hit  the  latter on the lower  part of the  right  leg  above  the  heel. Commenting  on  this testimony of  Mariano Delimios, the trial court stated that if it  is true  that  Cecilio Iriola  struck with  his & bolo Mariano  Delimios,  both  standing,  he  would not have hit him on the right leg,  lower 3rd, and  for  that reason his  testimony  was not  given credence.  But  the trial court overlooked the fact that the day following the incident Mariano Delimios was examined by Dr. Diosdado P. Lahum  and  in addition  to  the wound on the right leg,  3rd, he was wounded on the scalp,  left temporal region, and  hand, right" dorsal aspect.

The defendant spouses were engaged in the construction work with a fair income.   This fact, taken together with the other circumstances of the case, engenders and creates a serious  and reasonable  doubt that they would go  to the extent of robbing a Chinese vendor of two  sacks  of. rice, ten packages  of cigarettes,  two  boxes  of canned salmon and sardines and  a watch, all  valued at P154. What really happened,  as  may be gleaned from the evidence  presented  by the prosecution  and the  defense, was  that when  Eugenia was prevented  by the deceased and  his companions from bringing with  her the goods she had  purchased, which were deposited  by  them  in the store of Lee Yat, she  returned to Hignaroy.   On the way she  met her husband who was on his  way  to  aid her after Exequiel Patriarca had informed him  of what happened to  her and  upon reaching Lee  Yat's  store  at Hanauan got what rightfully belonged to her.   Upon beings informed that  she  was back with her  husband  to get them, Cecilio Iriola hurried to the store and as he approached the place  fired his gun twice, perhaps to scare them away and to  prevent them from getting the goods which he had left and deposited in the  store of Lee Yat The prosecution  attempted  to  establish  that  Mariano Delimios and  Bernardo  Tariman  struck Cecilio Iriola with their  bolos. On  the other hand, the evidence for the defense shows that Mariano Delimios  did not strike Cecilio  Iriola, because  after the latter struck Mariano Delimios  on the right  leg, the latter turned  around to the  right  and  fell. The  wounds inflicted  upon  Cecilio Iriola were caused not  by Mariano Delimios  but by his companions who jumped from the truck probably  to stop the fight, most likely by Bernardo Tariman who grappled with the deceased Cecilio Iriola.

Upon  the whole evidence we cannot conclude and  find the appellants  guilty  beyond  reasonable  doubt  of  the crime charged in the amended information, and for that reason we reverse the judgment appealed from and acquit the  appellants Mariano Delimios and Eugenia Delimios, with the proportionate costs de oficio.

Paras C. J. Bengzon,  Montemayor, Reyes, A., Bautista, Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion and Endencia, JJ.,  concur.