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PEOPLE Vs. Anacleto Furugganan

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. ANACLETO FURUGGANAN, alias "BOY," accused-appellant. The Solicitor General for plaintiff-appellee. Public Attorney's Office for accused-appellant.

G.R. Nos. 90191-96 | 1991-01-28

D E C I S I O N


REGALADO, J.:

The developmental annals of our criminal justice system provide certain basic rules of governance in determining the fate of one. caught in the toils of the law. Elementary as these tenets may now appear to be, yet they are not infrequently overlooked or ignored. We are forced to repeat them for purposes of this case.

At bottom is the presumption of innocence, juris tantum to be sure but constituting the take-off point for criminal actions. Doctrinally, this presumption yields only to the requisite quantum of evidence of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Any doubt shall be considered in favor of the accused....