04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly highway where jeepneys pass by on their way to Baguio City, which means, it was not impossible for Bangcado to have left the house earlier than 11:00 p.m. and be in Baguio City at the time of the incident. The defense failed to establish with credible evidence that SPO1 Jose Bangcado was on duty from 11:00 o'clock in the evening to 8:30 the following morning. SPO4 Lilia Pascual, Records Custodian of the PNP at La Trinidad, Benguet, testified that there was no record of the attendance of PNP officers from June to December 1993. SPO4 Carlos Layagan, Bangcado's Patrol Section Supervisor, testified that on that day, Bangcado was present for his regular tour of duty from 12:00 o'clock midnight to 8:00 o'clock the following morning and conducted routine patrol by mobile,[13] but the incident occurred at around 9:00 o'clock in the evening according to the police who responded when the crime was reported to them. Thus, Bangcado had plenty of time to do what he did and still go on his tour of duty. More damaging was the admission of Layagan in his cross-examination that before 12:00 o'clock midnight of 27 June 1993 he was not in the company of SPO1 Jose Bangcado.[14] The alibi of PO3 Cesar Banisa was even more incredible. He admitted being at the Skyview Restaurant when Cogasi and his friends were there, but claimed that he left with his brother to eat mami and siopao at the Baguio First Hotel, which is only about a hundred (100) to a hundred and fifty (150) meters away from Skyview Restaurant and could be reached in five (5) minutes of walking.[15] He explained however that "this bold admission x x x placing him within the vicinity of the crime scene shows his clear conscience. For, if he was involved in the crime, he would naturally put himself in other places."[16] His testimony was corroborated by Abelardo Lucas who testified that he, along with Arsenio Palileng and Raymund Banisa, accused-appellant's brother, was with Banisa that night. While flight of an accused is competent evidence to establish prima facie his guilt, there is no law or principle that non-flight per se is proof, let alone conclusive proof, of innocence. Much like the defense of alibi, non-flight cannot prevail against the weight of positive identification of the accused.[17] It is more credible to believe that Banisa had no choice but to tell the truth regarding his presence at the Skyview Restaurant because four (4) policemen who knew him well saw him there while they were conducting Operation Kapkap. PO3 Banisa further claims that his group stayed at the Baguio First Hotel Restaurant for only ten (10) minutes and then went down the road to the jeepney station where they boarded a jeepney at 9:00 o'clock in the evening bound for La Trinidad and got home after twenty-five (25) to thirty-five (35) minutes. Yet he also testified that the boarding station for jeepneys bound for La Trinidad was only across the road from Skyview Restaurant. SPO1 Jose Bangcado and PO3 Cesar Banisa could have accosted their victims, gone back to Skyview Restaurant and joined their companions who may have thought that they (Bangcado and Banisa) just went to the comfort room or stepped out for some fresh air. Abelardo Lucas himself testified that while they were at the Skyview Restaurant his companions would frequently stand up and leave, purportedly to go to the restroom. The defense bewails the fact that nothing seemed to have been done to the elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/37955 5/16