People v. Pentecostes, GR No.

2226158, November 8, 2017

Digested by: Rynn Judd C. Escaño 1 – Wigmore

Facts:
Liberato Pentecostes (accused – appellant) was found guilty of Murder, qualified by treachery of
the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals.
On March 24, 2005, Liberato was having a drinking session at the residence of Angel Vargas,
the father of the victim. At around 3:00 in the afternoon, Angel sent Vivian (victim) to return a
chair they borrowed from Auring Rabal but failed to return home. It was at around 3:30 or 4:30
in the afternoon Antonio Vargas and Jason Basagre saw Liberato at Antonio’s corn plantation
carrying the victim on his back and appeared to be headed towards a nearby body of water. The
following morning, the victim’s body was recovered near Joel Basagre’s house, the father of
Jason. An autopsy was then performed discovering that Vivian’s cause of death was drowning.
Immediately, the police investigated all those who were present in the drinking session.
However, Liberato fled fearing he will be shot by the police. During the hearing, it was who
Antonio testified that he saw the accused at around 3:30 in the afternoon headed down the
slope towards the stream. Jason, on the other hand, testified that he saw him at around 4:30 in
the afternoon headed towards the creek.
Issue:
Whether or not, there should be an established motive for the court to convict the accused?
Ruling:
No.
Motive is not an essential element of the crime, and the absence thereof does not preclude a
finding of guilt.
Thus, in the case at hand, even though the motive is absent and lacking direct evidence, the
court found that the circumstantial evidence that established Liberato’s authorship of the crime
and him being positively identified by two (2) eyewitnesses is enough for him to be deemed
guilty.