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PEOPLE vs. Reynaldo "Renato" Datun, et al.

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee vs. REYNALDO "RENATO" DATUN, RONALD "OTIC" SE?EREZ, ELVIS ESTOLOGA, PEDRO ESMAYA, JR., and CONSTANTINO VEJO, 1 JR., accused-appellants.

G.R. No. 118080 | 1997-05-07

D E C I S I O N


PANGANIBAN, J.:

Appellants attack the credibility of the two prosecution eyewitnesses because the head blow upon the victim, which was testified to by them, was not included in the death certificate. We hold however that a death certificate, unlike an autopsy report, establishes only the fact of death and the immediate, antecedent and underlying causes of such death. It cannot be used to deny other injuries sustained by the victim but not contained in said document.

In an Information dated June 25, 1992, Provincial Prosecutor Francisco G. Rivero charged the five accused with murder under Article 248 of the Revised Penal...