CONSPIRACY: 7 accused chase down victim, limit attack to one fatal wound

Lydia Zilmar's testimony that the appellants deliberately avoided inflicting more stab or hack wounds on the hapless victim in order to cover up their actuations as a group is resonant with truthfulness especially when taken together with the number and extent of the injuries sustained by the victim, which indicate that the killing could not have been perpetrated by only one assailant. Hence, the community of purpose and common design of the seven accused-assailants is made evident by their having chased down the victim as a group, their having each participated in the physical assault in pursuit of their murderous intent, and finally, their collective effort in hiding their guilt by limiting their attack to only one fatal wound and playing innocent thereafter. Their foregoing conduct during and after the commission of the felony sufficiently proves their conspiracy beyond the scintilla of a doubt. Hence, in the determination of their criminal liability, the rule that the act of one is the act of all applies four-square. [G.R. No. 92153. December 16, 1996]