1. People v. Feliciano, G.R. No.

196735, 5 May 2014

Seven members of the UP Sigma Rho fraternity were eating lunch at the beach house
near the main library in UP Diliman, when they were attacked by several masked men
carrying baseball bats and lead pipes. The attacks stopped when policemen came. Victims
sustained injuries that required hospitalization and one of them died. Some victims and
witnesses recognized the accused who have no mask while some had their masks fell off.

In this case, the victims were able to positively identify their attackers while the accused-
appellants merely offered alibis and denials as their defense. The credibility of the
victims was upheld by both the trial court and the appellate court while giving little
credence to the accused-appellants' alibis. There is, thus, no reason to disturb their
findings.

[T]reachery is present when the offender commits any of the crimes against persons,
employing means, methods, or forms in the execution, which tend directly and specially
to insure its execution, without risk to the o ffender arising from the defense which the
offended party might make.

The victims, who were unarmed, were also attacked with lead pipes and baseball bats.
The swiftness and the suddenness of the attack gave no opportunity for the victims to
retaliate or even to defend themselves. Treachery, therefore, was present in this case.

It should be remembered that the trial court found that there was conspiracy among the
accused-appellants and the appellate court sustained this finding. Conspiracy, once
proven, has the effect of attaching liability to all of the accused, regardless of their degree
of participation. The liabilities of the accused-appellants in this case arose from a single
incident wherein the accused-appellants were armed with baseball bats and lead pipes, all
in agreement to do the highest amount of damage possible to the victims. Since the intent
to kill was evident from the moment the accused-appellants took their first swing, all of
them were liable for that intent to kill.