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People vs. Invencion Y Soriano (2003) PDF
People vs. Invencion Y Soriano (2003) PDF
SYLLABUS
10. ID.; ID.; ID.; DEATH PENALTY CANNOT BE IMPOSED ABSENT SUFFICIENT
PROOF OF VICTIM'S MINORITY; CASE AT BAR. — In the present case, no birth certi cate or
any similar authentic document was presented and offered in evidence to prove Cynthia's
age. The statement in the medical certi cate showing Cynthia's age is not proof thereof,
since a medical certi cate does not authenticate the date of birth of the victim. Moreover,
pursuant to Pruna, Gloria's testimony regarding Cynthia's age was insu cient, since
Cynthia was alleged to be 16 years old already at the time of the rape and what is sought
to be proved is that she was then 18 years old. Moreover, the trial court did not even make
a categorical nding on Cynthia's minority. Finally, the silence of Artemio or his failure to
object to the testimonial evidence regarding Cynthia's age could not be taken against him.
It must be stressed that the severity of death penalty, especially its irreversible and nal
nature once carried out, makes the decision-making process in capital offenses aptly
subject to the most exacting rules of procedure and evidence. Accordingly, in the absence
of su cient proof of Cynthia's minority. Artemio cannot be convicted of quali ed rape and
sentenced to suffer the death penalty. He should only be convicted of simple rape and
meted the penalty of reclusion perpetua.
11. ID.; ID.; CIVIL INDEMNITY; AWARD THEREOF IS MANDATORY UPON
FINDING OF THE FACT OF RAPE; MORAL AND EXEMPLARY DAMAGES; AWARDED IN
CASE AT BAR. — As regards the civil liability of Artemio, the awards of moral damages in
the amount of P50,000 and exemplary damages in the amount of P25,000 are insu cient.
Civil indemnity, which is mandatory upon the nding of the fact of rape, should also be
awarded. In simple rape, the civil indemnity for the victim shall not be less than P50,000.
DECISION
DAVIDE , JR ., C.J : p
Before us for automatic review 1 is the Decision 2 dated 22 September 1997 of the
Regional Trial Court of Tarlac, Tarlac, Branch 65, in Criminal Case No. 9375, nding
accused-appellant Artemio Invencion y Soriano guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the
crime of rape committed against his 16 year-old daughter Cynthia P. Invencion, and
sentencing him to suffer the penalty of death and to pay Cynthia the sum of P50,000 as
moral damages and P25,000 as exemplary damages, as well as the costs of suit. TAacHE
Artemio was charged before the Regional Trial Court of Tarlac with thirteen counts
of rape in separate complaints docketed as Criminal Cases Nos. 9363 to 9375, all dated
17 October 1996. The cases were consolidated and jointly tried. At his arraignment
Artemio entered a plea of not guilty in each case.
The witnesses presented by the prosecution in its evidence in chief were Elven
Invencion, Eddie Sicat, Gloria Pagala, Dr. Rosario Fider, and Atty. Florencio Canlas.
Presented as rebuttal witnesses were Gloria Pagala and Celestino Navarro.
Elven Invencion, an 8-year-old grade two pupil of Sapang Tagalog Elementary School
in Tarlac, Tarlac, testi ed that he is a half-brother of Cynthia and son of Artemio with his
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second common-law wife. Sometime before the end of the school year in 1996, while he
was sleeping in one room with his father Artemio, Cynthia, and two other younger brothers,
he was awakened by Cynthia's loud cries. Looking towards her, he saw his father on top of
Cynthia, doing a pumping motion. After about two minutes, his father put on his short
pants. 3
Elven further declared that Artemio was a very strict and cruel father and a drunkard.
He angrily prohibited Cynthia from entertaining any of her suitors. Whenever he was drunk,
he would maul Elven and quarrel with his stepfather, Celestino Navarro. 4
Eddie Sicat, a 40-year-old farmer and neighbor of Artemio in Barangay Sapang
Tagalog, Tarlac, Tarlac, testi ed that on the second week of March 1996, between 6:00
and 7:00 a.m., while he was passing by the house of Artemio on his way to the eld to
catch sh, he heard somebody crying. He then peeped through a small opening in the
destroyed, portion of the sawali wall of Artemio's house. He saw Cynthia lying on her back
and crying, while her father was on top of her, doing a pumping motion. Eddie observed
them for about fteen seconds, and then he left and proceeded to the eld to catch sh. 5
He reported what he had witnessed to Artemio's stepfather, Celestino, later that morning. 6
Gloria Pagala, the mother of Cynthia and former common-law wife of Artemio,
testi ed that she and Artemio started living together in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, in February
1969. Out of their common-law relationship, they had six children, one of whom was
Cynthia. In March 1982, she and Artemio parted ways permanently. Later, Gloria and her
children lived in Pura, Tarlac. When Artemio's mother died sometime in 1996, Cynthia lived
with Artemio in a small one-room dwelling owned by Celestino and located in Barangay
Sapang Tagalog, Tarlac, Tarlac. 7 On 30 August 1996, her son Novelito told her that Cynthia
was pregnant. Gloria then went to the house of Artemio and asked Cynthia about her
condition. The latter confessed that she had been sexually abused by her father. Gloria
then went to the o ce of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Tarlac and reported
what Artemio had done to their daughter Cynthia. 8
Dr. Rosario Fider of Tarlac Provincial Hospital testi ed that she examined Cynthia on
16 September 1996. She found Cynthia to be ve to six months pregnant and to have
incomplete, healed hymenal lacerations at 3, 5, 8 o'clock positions, which could have been
caused by sexual intercourse or any foreign body inserted in her private part. 9
Atty. Florencio Canlas, an NBI agent, testi ed that on 18 September 1996, Cynthia,
accompanied by her mother, complained before him and NBI Supervising Agent Rolando
Vergara that she was raped by her father Artemio. She then executed a written statement,
1 0 which she subscribed and sworn to before Atty. Canlas. 1 1
The defense did not present Artemio as a witness. Instead, his counsel de parte,
Atty. Isabelo Salamida, took the witness stand and testi ed for the defense. He declared
that on 24 June 1997 (the same day when he testi ed before the court), between 10:45
and 11:00 a.m., he and his secretary went to the house of Artemio in Barangay Sapang
Tagalog, The hut was made of sawali. Its door was padlocked, and its windows were shut.
When he went around the house and tried to peep through the old sawali walls on the front
and left and right sides of the hut, he could not see anything inside the room where
Artemio and his children used to sleep. Although it was then about noontime, it was dark
inside. 1 2 Atty. Salamida then concluded that prosecution witness Eddie Sicat was not
telling the truth when he declared having seen what Artemio did to Cynthia when he peeped
through a small opening in the sawali wall of the house in the early morning sometime on
the second week of March 1996.
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On rebuttal, Gloria Pagala testi ed that the house where Artemio used to live was a
small hut with some destroyed portions in its sawali walls. When she went there to visit her
children sometime in December 1995, there was a hole in front and at the sidewall of the
hut facing a vacant lot where people passed by to sh in a nearby brook. 1 3 When she went
to the place again sometime in September 1996 after she was informed of Cynthia's
pregnancy, she noticed that the destroyed portions of the hut's sawali walls were not yet
repaired. 1 4
The second rebuttal witness Celestino Navarro, stepfather of Artemio, testi ed that
he is the owner of the small house where Artemio and his children used to reside. At the
time that Artemio and his children, including Cynthia, were living in that house, the hut's old
sawali walls had some small holes in them, thus con rming the testimony of Eddie Sicat.
After Artemio was arrested on the basis of Cynthia's complaint before the NBI, Celestino
made some repairs in the hut by, among other things, placing galvanized iron sheets to
cover the holes at the destroyed portions of the sawali walls. Thereafter, a person named
Alvin occupied the house. 1 5
In its Decision of 22 September 1997, the trial court convicted Artemio in Criminal
Case No. 9375. It, however, acquitted him in all the other twelve cases for lack of evidence.
In his Appellant's Brief, Artemio contends that the trial court erred in
I
. . . BELIEVING THE TESTIMONIES OF THE PROSECUTION WITNESSES;
II
. . . NOT DISMISSING THIS CASE FOR FAILURE OF THE PROSECUTION TO
PROVE [HIS] GUILT . . . BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT. CETDHA
Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by R.A. No. 7659, which is the
governing law in this case, pertinently reads:
Article 335. When and how rape is committed. —
The crime of rape shall be punished by reclusion perpetua.
The death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed
with any of the following circumstances:
1. when the victim is under eighteen (18) years of age and the offender
is a parent, ascendant, step-parent, guardian, relative by
consanguinity or affinity within the third civil degree, or the
common-law spouse of the parent of the victim.
Although the relationship of Cynthia with her father Artemio was alleged in the complaint
and duly established by evidence during trial, the allegation in the complaint regarding her
age was not clearly proved.
In the very recent case of People v. Pruna, 3 1 we set the guidelines in appreciating
age either as an element of the crime or as a qualifying circumstance:
1. The best evidence to prove the age of the offended party is an original or
certified true copy of the certificate of live birth of such party.
2. In the absence of a certi cate of live birth; similar authentic documents
such as baptismal certi cate and school records which show the date of
birth of the victim would suffice to prove age.
3. If the certi cate of live birth or authentic document is shown to have been
lost or destroyed or otherwise unavailable, the testimony, if clear and
credible, of the victim's mother or a member of the family either by a nity
or consanguinity who is quali ed to testify on matters respecting pedigree
such as the exact age or date of birth of the offended party pursuant to
Section 40, Rule 130 of the Rules on Evidence shall be su cient under the
following circumstances:
a. If the victim is alleged to be below 3 years of age and what is
sought to be proved is that she is less than 7 years old;
b. If the victim is alleged to be below 7 years of age and what is
sought to be proved is that she is less than 12 years old;
c. If the victim is alleged to be below 12 years of age and what is
sought to be proved is that she is less than 18 years old.
4. In the absence of a certi cate of live birth, authentic document, or the
testimony of the victim's mother or relatives concerning the victim's age,
the complainant's testimony will su ce provided that it is expressly and
clearly admitted by the accused.
5. It is the prosecution that has the burden of proving the age of the offended
party. The failure of the accused to object to the testimonial evidence
regarding age shall not be taken against him.
6. The trial court should always make a categorical nding as to the age of
the victim.
In the present case, no birth certi cate or any similar authentic document was
presented and offered in evidence to prove Cynthia's age. The statement in the medical
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certi cate showing Cynthia's age is not proof thereof, since a medical certi cate does not
authenticate the date of birth of the victim. Moreover, pursuant to Pruna, Gloria's testimony
regarding Cynthia's age was insu cient, since Cynthia was alleged to be 16 years old
already at the time of the rape and what is sought to be proved is that she was then 18
years old. Moreover, the trial court did not even make a categorical nding on Cynthia's
minority. Finally, the silence of Artemio or his failure to object to the testimonial evidence
regarding Cynthia's age could not be taken against him.
It must be stressed that the severity of death penalty, especially its irreversible and
nal nature once carried out, makes the decision-making process in capital offenses aptly
subject to the most exacting rules of procedure and evidence. 3 2 Accordingly, in the
absence of su cient proof of Cynthia's minority, Artemio cannot be convicted of quali ed
rape and sentenced to suffer the death penalty. He should only be convicted of simple
rape and meted the penalty of reclusion perpetua.
As regards the civil liability of Artemio, the awards of moral damages in the amount
of P50,000 and exemplary damages in the amount of P25,000 are insu cient. Civil
indemnity, which is mandatory upon the nding of the fact of rape, 3 3 should also be
awarded. In simple rape, the civil indemnity for the victim shall not be less than P50,000.
WHEREFORE, the decision of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 65, Tarlac, Tarlac, in
Criminal Case No. 9375 is hereby AFFIRMED with the modi cation that that accused
Artemio Invencion y Soriano is held guilty beyond reasonable doubt as principal of the
crime of simple rape, and is sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua and to
pay the victim Cynthia Invencion the sums of P50,000 as indemnity; P50,000 as moral
damages; and P25,000 as exemplary damages. AEDISC
Costs de oficio.
SO ORDERED.
Bellosillo, Puno, Vitug, Mendoza, Panganiban, Quisumbing, Sandoval-Gutierrez,
Carpio, Austria-Martinez, Carpio-Morales, Callejo, Sr. and Azcuna, JJ., concur.
Ynares-Santiago and Corona, JJ., are on leave.
Footnotes
1. Pursuant to Article 47 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by R.A. No. 7659.
2. Per Judge Angel J. Parazo. Original Record (OR), 147-156; Rollo, 29-38.
22. SEC. 10. Leading and misleading questions. — A question which suggests to the
witness the answer which the examining party desires is a leading question. It is not
allowed, except:
xxx xxx xxx
(c) When there is difficulty in getting direct and intelligible answers from a witness
who is ignorant, or a child of tender years, or is a feeble mind, or a deaf-mute. . .
.
32. People v. Pruna, supra, citing People v. Liban, 345 SCRA 453 [2000].
33. People v. Rebato, 358 SCRA 230, 238 [2001]; People v. Panganiban, 359 SCRA 509, 524
[2001].
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