Witness credibility NOT destroyed by minor disparity between prosecution witnesses testimony on crime site, weapons used
Appellants lay stress on the apparent contradiction between the testimony of the prosecution witnesses Aries Almazan and Anita Almazan as to the location of the incident and the weapons used on the assault. Thus, they point out that while Anita testified that she saw appellants meet Crispin at the latters house, and the weapon used was a spear, Aries, on the other hand, claimed that Crispin was met by appellants at the ricefield and the weapon used was a bolo. We are not persuaded. Prosecution witnesses Aries and Anita viewed the incident from different locations and angles, hence the variation in their perceptions. The discrepancy as to the place where the appellants met the victim is negligible considering that Crispins yard was part of the rice field. Similarly, the disparity as to the kind of the weapon used is insignificant in the face of the declaration of Aries that Bonifacio stabbed Crispin with a bolo and Dalmacio with a spear, while Bonifacio admitted using a spear and chisel. Furthermore, the autopsy report is emphatic that the injuries suffered by Crispin resulting to his death were caused by sharp edged object with pointed tip and pointed sharp edge instrument. Both a spear and a bolo fall under the description pointed sharp edged instrument. In the whole, the alleged inconsistencies are inconsequential. The witnesses testifying on the same event do not have to be consistent in every detail as differences in recollection or viewpoints or impressions are inevitable. Total recall or perfect symmetry is not required for as long as the witnesses concur on material points, slight differences in their remembrance of the details do not reflect on the essential veracity of their testimony. Indeed, if rights were to be lost merely because witnesses, while agreeing on the essential fact, fail to testify harmoniously to all the particulars, in a very large proportion of cases involving wrongs to be redressed the law would fail to furnish a remedy. Hence, variations in the testimony of witnesses on the same side in respect of minor, collateral, or incidental matters do not usually impair the weight of their united testimony to the prominent facts. [G.R. No. 112984. November 14, 1996]