Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions


Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions > Year 2012 > March 2012 Resolutions > [G.R. No. 176063 : March 14, 2012] PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. RENATO MIA Y IFSOR:




FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. 176063 : March 14, 2012]

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. RENATO MIA Y IFSOR

Sirs/Mesdames:

Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated 14 March 2012 which reads as follows:

"G.R. No. 176063 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES v. RENATO MIA y IFSOR. 

On February 19, 2002, the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 170, in Malabon City convicted Renato Mia y Ifsor (Mia) for two counts of rape as defined by Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353, committed against AAA,[1] the 11-year old illegitimate daughter of BBB, his wife, decreeing in its joint decision,[2] viz

WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered as follows: 

  1. In Criminal Case No. 20637-MN, the Court finds accused Renato Mia y Ifsor guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Rape under the second paragraph of Republic Act 8353, and being the stepfather of AAA hereby sentences him to suffer the indeterminate imprisonment of nine (9) years of prision mayor as minimum to seventeen (17) years of reclusion temporal as maximum, to pay the victim the amount of P75,000.00 by way of civil indemnity, P50,000.00 by way of moral damages and another P50,000.00 by way of exemplary damages plus cost of the suit.
     
    Let the accused be credited for whatever preventive imprisonment he had undergone by reason of this case; and
     
  2. In Criminal Case No. 20638-MN, the Court finds accused Renato Mia y Ifsor guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Statutory Rape under the first paragraph of Republic Act 8353 and being the stepfather of AAA, hereby impose upon him the penalty of DEATH, to pay the victim the amount of P75,000.00 by way of civil indemnity, P50,000./00 by way of moral damages and another P50,000.00 by way of exemplary damages, plus the cost of the suit.

SO ORDERED.[3]

Mia appealed the conviction, assigning the following errors, namely:[4] 

  1. The trial court gravely erred in convicting accused-appellant of the crime of statutory rape and imposing the supreme penalty of death in Criminal Case No. 20638-MN, despite the prosecution's failure to present the birth certificate of the victim and the marriage certificate between the latter's mother and the accused.
     
  2. The trial court gravel erred in not imposing the proper penalty in Criminal Case No. 20637-MN.

On September 19, 2006, the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the RTC with modification,[5] to wit: 

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the assailed Joint Decision dated February 19, 2002 of the RTC of Malabon City, Branch 170 is hereby MODIFIED as follows: 

  1. Finding accused-appellant GUILTY beyond reasonable of two (2) counts of Simple Rape as defined and penalized under the first paragraph of Art. 266-A (as amended by RA 8353) and sentencing him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua for each count.
     
  2. Ordering the accused-appellant to pay the victim AAA in each of the two (2) cases, P50,000.00 as civil indemnity plus P50,000.00 as moral damages and P25,000.00 as exemplary damages, plus the cost of suit. 

SO ORDERED.

The CA found Mia's submission as to Criminal Case No. 20638-MN partly meritorious, ruling that the RTC erred in holding him liable for qualified rape by relying on his admission as being married to AAA's mother and on the photocopy of the baptismal certificate of AAA. It held that such evidentiary bases did not suffice to establish beyond reasonable doubt the qualifying circumstances of minority and relationship; and that the crime committed was simple rape.

In Criminal Case No. 20637-MN, Mia argued that the penalty was only prision mayor due to the absence of any aggravating circumstances attendant in the commission of the crime. The CA decreed that reclusion perpetua was properly imposed because the crime committed was simple rape. It concluded that AAA's testimony showing that Mia had inserted his penis into her vagina on March 6, 1999 was credible, being even corroborated by the findings of the medico-legal officer.

In this appeal, Mia merely rehashes his submissions in his appellant's brief in the CA. He presents no new issues to challenge the affirmance by the CA, contenting himself with the assigned errors he had unsuccessfully argued before the CA. Although it may be summarily justified to deny his final plea for exoneration, the burden of the Court is to review the conviction in order to stifle his unfounded apprehension that his appeal was not heretofore exhaustively considered and resolved.

The milieu in which the rapes were committed by Mia is not disputed. BBB, AAA's mother, had run away with another man about the second week of January 1999, abandoning Mia, her second partner, and six minor children, including AAA, aged from 11 to two years. AAA was a child of BBB from a prior relationship. Only the children younger than AAA were the natural offsprings of Mia and BBB. All the children lived with Mia in a small shanty located in a squatter's area in Navotas, Metro Manila.

AAA twice underwent the harrowing ordeal of rape at the hands of Mia. The first rape occurred in the middle of February, 1999, a few weeks after BBB's abandonment. In the dead of the night, when the rest of the children soundly slept in his shanty, Mia stripped off AAA's shorts and panties, took off his lower garment, and placed himself between AAA's thighs. He firmly gripped AAA's hands over her head and penetrated her with his hard penis. The penetration brought her much pain. The second rape took place on March 6, 1999, also at nighttime and in similar fashion. On the latter occasion, three neighbors, namely: Islaw Baliton, Roberto Rundon and one Leonardo, passed by Mia's shanty and one of them stopped to urinate. While urinating, the man accidentally peered through a hole in the door of Mia's shanty, and saw Mia gratifying himself on AAA. The three immediately roused their neighbor Liberty Ade, a kumare of AAA's mother, from sleep and reported what they had witnessed Mia committing against AAA. Alarmed by their report, Ade requested them to forthwith seek the help of Barangay Kagawad Alejandro Dela Cruz who responded shortly afterwards with his tanods in tow. All of them, Ade included, went to Mia's shanty and forced its door open. They came upon Mia just as he was putting his pants on. Ade saw AAA with her clothes on, but the child remained sprawled on the floor unable to get up. Ade had to assist the child to get up and brought her outside the shanty. AAA, apparently in shock, remained silent and ignored the prodding of Ade for her to talk. AAA opened up only at the police station after the police investigator requested her to give her statement. She then revealed everything that Mia had done to her.

On March 8, 1999, Dr. Bernadette J. Madrid, a physician of the Child Protection Unit of the Philippine General Hospital, physically examined AAA and then reduced her findings into writing,[6] as follows:                                                                 

GENITAL EXAMINATION
External Genitalia : normal findings
Hymen: annular in shape with beginning estrogenization
 Healed laceration at the 5 o'clock position
 Contusion at the 11 o'clock position
Fossa Navicularis: Fresh superficial laceration
Anus: edematous folds
 Erythmatous from the 6 o'clock to the 11 o'clock position
  
IMPRESSION
Patient with disclosure of sexual abuse. Physical findings show definitive evidence of new and old findings consistent with penetration.

Dr. Madrid testified on her findings in court. Also, she presented AAA's interview sheet, which contained AAA's statements during the physical and medical examination, including the following:

Naramdaman ko hindi ako makahinga noon, nagpipiglas ako nuon nakapatong siya, xxx hinubaran ako ng panty at shorts. Hindi hinubad ang sando. Hinalay po ako nuon. Yung ari niya, pinasok sa ari ko. Ginamit niya ako. Pinakita niya ang ari niya sa akin matapos akong hinalay. 

Yung ari niya pinasok sa puwit ko. Likewise, she was told "huwag kang maingay dyan, baka papaluin ka diyan. Huwag kang maingay, papatayin kita."

We sustain Mia's conviction for two counts of rape.

In Criminal Case No. 20638-MN, relating to the rape committed on February 1999, we have AAA's sole testimony as evidence of the crime. It does not matter. The lone testimony of the victim of rape, if credible, is sufficient to sustain a conviction, considering that rape, by its very nature, is normally committed away from public view without witnesses save for the perpetrator and the victim themselves.[8] Accordingly, trial courts have been oftentimes reminded to pay special attention to each and every single detail of the testimony of the victim, dissecting and rigidly scrutinizing every phase, never reticent to expound on each spoken word and giving no opportunity for false impressions. We hold that AAA passed the rigorous test. Her simple answers might have revealed her naivete, but she nonetheless appeared to be both spontaneous and unwavering in declaring that Mia had raped her on two different occasions. We are not about to disbelieve her, because the trial and appellate courts accorded her full faith and credence. Indeed, her incrimination of Mia could only be true, for she would gain nothing from concocting her double ordeal. After all, he was to her a father-figure and sole provider.

In Criminal Case No. 20638-MN (the rape committed on March 6, 1999), AAA's testimony, as corroborated by the physical findings of Dr. Madrid on AAA's vaginal injuries (i.e., contusions at 11 o'clock position of AAA's hymen) being consistent with penile penetration and by her statements at the time of the physical examination by Dr. Madrid on March 8, 1999 contained in her interview sheet, established beyond reasonable doubt the commission of rape.[9]

We affirm the civil damages granted to AAA because they were based on current jurisprudence.[10] However, we need to increase the exemplary damages to P30,000,00 for each count of rape to accord with pertinent jurisprudence.[11]  We further need to impose interest of 6% per annum on all awards reckoned from the finality of this decision.

WHEREFORE, the Court AFFIRMS  the decision promulgated on September 19, 2006 by the Court of Appeals, subject to the MODIFICATION that the amount of exemplary damages is increased to P30,000.00 for each count. All awards shall bear interest of 6% per annum reckoned from the finality of this decision. The accused shall pay the costs of suit.

SO ORDERED." DEL CASTILLO, J., on leave; CARPIO, J., acting member per S.O. No. 1207-B dated 23 February 2012.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) EDGAR O. ARICHETA
Division Clerk of Court

Endnotes:


[1] The real names of the victim and the members of her immediate family are withheld pursuant to Republic Act No. 7610 [Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act) and Republic Act No. 9262 (Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004). See People v. Cabalquinto, G.R. No. 167693, September 19, 2006, 502 SCRA 419.

[2] Records, pp. 158-162. 

[3] Records, pp. 161-162.

[4] CA rollo, p. 31.  

[5] Id., pp. 94-104; penned by Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe (now a Member of the Court), with Associate Justice Renato C. Dacudao (retired) and Associate Justice Rosmari D. Carandang concurring. 

[6] Records, p. 92 (Provisional Medical Certificate). 

[7] TSN, July 20, 2000, p. 5: records, p. 114 (Summary of interview). 

[8] People v. Pontilar, Jr., G.R. No. 104865, July 11, 1997, 275 SCRA 338, 351. 

[9] See People v. Bation, G.R. No. 123160, March 25, 1999, 305 SCRA 253, 269. 

[10] People v. Ofemiano, G.R. No. 187155, February 1, 2010, 611 SCRA 250, 260. 

[11] People v. Pabol, G.R. No. 187084, October 12, 2009, 603 SCRA 522, 532-533.




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