Laws Applicable:
FACTS:
- During a benefit dance at Dump Site, Alejandro Fuentes, Jr. was witnessed by Alberto Toling and Honorio Osok who knew him for quite some time to have stabbed Malaspina in the abdomen with a hunting knife
- Alejandro Fuentes, Jr. and his uncle Felicisimo contends that it was Zoilo Fuentes, Jr. a.k.a "Jonie" who did it and fleed but it was dismissed because only hearsay
- RTC: guilty of murder qualified by treachery and imposed on him an indeterminate prison term of ten (10) years and one (1) day of prision mayor as minimum to seventeen (17) years and four (4) months of reclusion temporal as maximum, to indemnify the heirs of Malaspina the amount of P50,000.00 and to pay P8,300.00 as actual damages plus costs.
- CA: Affirmed
ISSUE: W/N the heirs of Malaspina should be awarded actual damages
HELD: NO. AFFIRMED with the modification that the penalty imposed should be as it is corrected to reclusion perpetua, and the award of actual damages is deleted
- the Court can only give credence to those supported by receipts and which appear to have been genuinely expended in connection with the death of the victim. Since the actual amount was not substantiated, the same cannot be granted