The appeal lacks merit. The allegation of improper motives on the part of the prosecution witnesses has not been satisfactorily shown in evidence. Appellant merely hypothesizes, in effect, that the non-inclusion of a certain Alberto Maclang, whom the trial court described as having had a significant role in the deception played on the complainants, has only been to "force appellant to convince Maclang to refund the money"vii[7] to the Jugos. Aside from being a conjecture, the proposition advanced is, to say the least, much too strained and hard to follow. It does not seem to make any sense for the complainants to go through an elaborate and circuitous scheme, such as by initiating and prosecuting these cases against appellant, merely to pin ultimate liability on Maclang. The fact alone that Maclang is a "kumpadre" of one of the complainants could scarcely be reason enough for complainants not to directly and promptly implicate Maclang. Equating appellant's culpability to that of Maclang, in any event, will not necessarily either tie up the guilt or dictate the innocence of appellant. Neither does the affidavit of desistance by Reynaldo Jugo subvert the testimony given by the witnesses. Not only did Reynaldo Jugo repudiate the affidavit viii[8] but that also affidavits of desistance are best ignored when pitted against positive evidence given at the witness stand. The matter of assessing credibility, most of all, is a function that lies with the trial court more than an appellate court. Nor has the trial court been here inattentive to details; thus, it has observed: "There is no reason to doubt the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution who are simple barrio folks, one a farmer from Nueva Ecija and the other one a fisherman. From their appearances and manner of testifying in Court, pervision of the truth is far and remote. The Court could see that they are not the type of persons who would fabricate and concoct stories only to prosecute the accused. Reynaldo Jugo will not come all the way from Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija to follow up his case and attend the trial on several occasions had it not been for the assurance of accused to deploy them to Japan for a consideration. They would not take the trouble of coming to Court on several occasions if they have no other motive, except to seek for justice for themselves. "On the other hand, accused have resorted to trickeries, even feigning illness for herself with the connivance of some jail personnel if only to escape from the clutches of the law. And finally thru the evil doings of Alberto Maclang, he coerced and threatened complainant Reynaldo Jugo into signing an Affidavit of Desistance hoping that the Court would dismiss these cases against accused Lourdes Bautista Guiang." ix[9] Be that, such as it may, the Court itself has gone over the testimony of each of the complainants, and the credence of their declarations is quite evident. Thus Testimony of Jose Jugo -