This Court has held in a number of cases that denial and alibi are weak defenses, which cannot prevail against positive identification.[5] People v. Caisip[6] thus held:
Positive identification where categorical and consistent and without any showing of ill motive on the part of the eyewitness testifying on the matter prevails over a denial which, if not substantiated by clear and convincing evidence is negative and self-serving evidence undeserving of weight in law. They cannot be given greater evidentiary value over the testimony of credible witnesses who testify on affirmative matters.
Beatriz Raguirag positively identified the accused as the one who had shot her husband. She was firm and consistent throughout her testimony. This Court does not see any ill motive on her part in testifying against her own relative regarding the death of her husband. Thus, there is no reason to question her credibility as a witness.
On the other hand, the accused miserably failed to satisfy the requirements for an alibi to be considered plausible. For the defense of alibi to prosper, the accused must prove not only that he was at some other place at the time the crime was committed, but that it was likewise impossible for him to be at the locus criminis at the time of the alleged crime.[7]
The accused testified that he was attending the birthday celebration of his brother, Alejandro Agcanas, at the time of the incident. However, the trial court pointed out several inconsistencies in the testimony of the accused.
First, while he testified that the birthday celebration of Alejandro was on 4 May 2000, the latter was actually born on 22 July 1950. The accused also testified that the celebration ended around midnight, but Alejandro testified that the former left the house between 9:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. after the party. Meanwhile, the arresting officers said that upon reaching the house of Alejandro Agcanas, the lights were off and there was no celebration going on. The trial court further reasoned that the house of Alejandro Agcanas was only 45 minutes away from the scene of the crime; therefore, it was not physically impossible for him to travel from the victim’s house to Alejandro Agcanas’ house where he was arrested by the police officers. Finally, another witness, Liwliwa Agcanas, a relative of the accused by affinity, likewise testified that her house was twenty (20) meters away from the victim’s house. On the night of the shooting incident, around nine o’clock, she saw the accused drinking with some others five meters from where she stood in front of her house.
Thus, the trial court correctly ruled that the alibi of the accused deserved scant consideration.
