MANILA, Philippines—Four men were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Manila Regional Trial Court for the killing of a University of the Philippines nursing student inside an FX taxi in 2004.

RTC Branch 53 Judge Reynaldo Alhambra convicted Herbert Malubay, William Sudayao, Amador Ablana III and Michael Llaneta Jr. on the charge of attempted robbery with homicide for the death of 20-year-old Jim Carlo Calub.

The court also ordered the men to pay P325,000 in damages to the victim’s family for destroying his promising nursing career.

The court gave weight to the testimonies of FX driver Renato Bumanglag and passenger James Renan Montano, who both positively identified the suspects.

In its ruling, the court said the suspects’ denial and alibi that they were somewhere else when the crime was committed “did not deserve merit.”

Alhambra said the prosecution witnesses had no reason or motive to give a false testimony. He also found the witnesses’ statements’ “clear, positive, straightforward and devoid of signs of artificiality.”

Bumanglag told the court that at around 9 p.m. of June 24, 2004, Malubay and Llaneta rode in the back of the taxi where the victim was seated.

Two more men, identified as Sudayao and Ablana, also boarded the vehicle. Ablana, Bumanglag said, sat beside him while Sudayao moved to the middle row.

When the vehicle reached Remedios Street at the corner of Taft Avenue, the victim began shouting for help as Malubay, Llaneta and Sudayao ganged up on him and stabbed him several times.

Bumanglag said he stopped his vehicle to try to help the victim. The suspects fled, dropping Calub’s wallet. The student was brought to a hospital where he died later of multiple stab wounds.

Montano, an employee of Casino Filipino, supported the driver’s statement and also identified the four from a police lineup one month after the killing.

Though the suspects did not get Calub’s belongings, the judge said the use of “superior strength” in killing the victim was an aggravating circumstance, deserving a higher penalty under Article 297 of the Revised Penal Code.

In ordering the four to pay damages, Alhambra said if Calub was able to finish his course, “he would have been assured of employment and would have earned money for him and his family.”

In their defense, the convicted killers claimed they met each other for the first time at the police lineup.

Sudayao, a welder, said he was home in Tondo from 5:30 p.m. onwards on June 24, while Malubay said he was in his aunt’s house in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, the whole day.

Ablana said he was at the Villa Fiesta Hotel on Rizal Avenue with his girlfriend from 9 p.m. onwards. Llaneta did not offer an explanation.