Professional Documents
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People V Jose 37 SCRA 450
People V Jose 37 SCRA 450
46
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451
452
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453
PER CURIAM:
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454
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“CONTRARY TO LAW.”
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now pulling Miss De la Riva inside the car. Before she was
completely in, appellant Pineda jumped unto the driver’s
seat and sped away in the direction of Broadway Street.
The maid was left behind.
The complainant was made to sit between Jaime Jose
and Edgardo Aquino at the back seat; Basilio Pineda,
457
458
459
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The other three took their turns. Aquino entered the room
next. A struggle ensued between him and Miss De la Riva,
during which he hit her on different parts of the body. Like
Jose, Aquino succeeded in abusing the complainant. The
girl was now in a state of shock. Aquino called the others
into the room. They poured water on her face and slapped
her to revive her. Afterwards, three of the accused left the
room, leaving Pineda and the complainant. After some
struggle during which Pineda hit her, the former succeeded
in forcing his carnal desire on the latter. When the
complainant went into a state of shock for the second time,
the three other men went into the room, again poured
water on the complainant’s face and slapped her several
times. The complainant heard them say that they had to
revive her so she would know what was happening. Jose,
Aquino and Pineda then left the room. It was now
appellant Cañal’s turn. There was a struggle between him
and Miss De la Riva. Like the other three appellants before
him, he hit the complainant on different parts of the body
and succeeded in forcing his carnal lust on her.
Mention must be made of the fact that while each of the
four appellants was struggling with the complainant, the
other three were outside the room, just behind the door,
threatening the complainant with acid and telling her to
give in because she could not, after all, escape, what with
their presence.
After the appellants had been through with the sexual
carnage, they gave Miss De la Riva her clothes, told her to
get dressed and put on her stockings, and to wash her face
and comb her hair, to give the impression that nothing had
happened to her. They told her to tell her mother that she
was mistaken by a group of men for a hostess, and that
when the group found out that she was a movie actress, she
was released without being harmed. She was wanted not to
inform the police; for if she did and they were apprehended,
they would simply post bail and later hunt her up and
disfigure her face with acid. The appellants then
blindfolded Miss De la Riva again and led
460
her down from the hotel room. Because she was stumbling,
she had to be carried into the car. Inside the car, appellant
Jose held her head down on his lap, and kept it in that
position during the trip, to prevent her from being seen by
others.
Meanwhile, the four appellants were discussing the
question of where to drop Miss De la Riva. They finally
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461
462
she was being raped. It was the doctor’s opinion that they
could have been sustained on or about June 26, 1967. In
connection with the genital examination, the doctor
declared that he found injuries on the subject’s genitalia
which could have been produced by sexual intercourse
committed on June 26, 1967. He said that he failed to find
spermatozoa. He explained, however, that spermatozoa are
not usually found in the vagina after the lapse of three
days from the last intercourse, not to mention the
possibility that the subject might have douched herself.
The three appellants who pleaded not guilty (Jose,
Aquino and Cañal) took the witness stand. We quote
hereunder the portions of the decision under review
relative to the theory of the defense:
464
“Their story is that they and their co-accused Pineda had gone to
the Ulog Cocktail Lounge somewhere in Mabini street in Manila,
and there killed time from 9:30 in the evening of June 25 until
closing time, which was about 3:30 in the early morning of the
next day. At the cocktail lounge they had listened to the music
while enjoying some drinks. Between them they had consumed a
whole bottte of whisky, so much so that at least Aquino became
drunk, according to his own testimony. They had been joined at
their table by a certain Frankie whom they met only that night.
Come time to go home, their new acquaintance asked to be
dropped at his home in Cubao. The five men piled into the red-
bodied, black topped two-door convertible Plymouth (Pontiac) car
of Jaime Jose, and with Pineda at the wheel repaired to Cubao.
After dislodging their new friend, Pineda steered the car to
España Extension to bring Aquino to his home in Mayon Street.
But somewhere in España Extension before the Rotonda a small
car whizzed past them almost hitting them. They saw that the
driver was a woman. Pineda gave chase and coming abreast of the
small car he shouted, ‘Putang ina mo, kamuntik na kaming
mamatay.’ The woman continued on her way. Now Pineda saying,
‘let us teach her a lesson,’ sped after her and when she swerved
ostensibly to enter a gate, Pineda stopped his car behind hers,
hurriedly got down, striding to the small car, opened the door and
started dragging the girl out. Both Jose and Aquino confirm the
presence of another woman inside the girl’s car, who helped the
girl struggle to get free from Pineda’s grip; and that the struggle
lasted about ten minutes before Pineda finally succeeded in
pushing the girl into the red convertible. All the three accused
insist they did nothing to aid Pineda; but they also admit that
they did nothing to stop him.
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465
she went up the Hotel. The three followed, and when they saw the
pair enter a room, they quickly caught up. All the three accused
testify that as soon as they got into the room, Maggie de la Riva
asked the boys to close the windows before she undressed in front
of them. They themselves also removed their clothing. Two of
them removed their pants retaining their briefs, while Boy Pineda
and Cañal stripped to the skin ‘because it was hot.’ The three
accused declared that they saw Boy Pineda hand P100.00 to
Maggie and they heard him promise her that he would pay the
balance of P900.00 later. Whereupon, the show which lasted
about 10 minutes began with the naked girl walking back and
forth the room about 4 to 5 times. This accomplished. all of them
dressed up once more and the three accused (Jaime Jose, Eduardo
Aquino and Rogelio Cañal) left the room to wait in the car for Boy
Pineda and Maggie de la Riva who were apparently still
discussing the mode of payment of the balance. Three minutes
later Maggie de la Riva and Boy Pineda joined them. Now, the
question of how and where to drop Maggie came up and it is
testified to by the accused that it was Maggie’s idea that they
should drop her near the ABS Studio so that it would appear as if
she had just come from her work.
“Jaime Jose was picked by the police on the morning of June 29
along Buendia Avenue. Aquino testifies how, on June 29 Pineda
went to him with a problem. He did not have the P900.00 with
which to pay Maggie the balance of her ‘show’ and he was afraid
that if he did not pay, Maggie would have her goons after him. He
wanted Aquino to go with him to Lipa City where he had relatives
and where he could help raise the money. Aquino readily obliged,
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466
“As main defense in the charge of rape, the three accused advance
the proposition that nothing happened in Swanky Hotel except a
strip-tease exhibition which the complainant agreed to do for
them for a fee of Pl,000.00, P100.00 down and the balance to be
paid ‘later.’ The flaw in this contention lies in its utter
inverisimilitude. The Court cannot believe that any woman exists,
even one habitually engaged in this kind of entertainment (which
Maggie de la Riva has not been proven to be) who would consent
(and as easily and promptly as defense claims) to do a
performance, not even for all money in the world after the rough
handling she experienced from these wolves in men’s clothing who
now hungered for a show. There is no fury to match a woman
stirred to indignation. A woman’s pride is far stronger than her
yen for money, and her revenge much more keen. The Court
cannot believe that after the rudeness and meanness of these men
to her, Maggie would in so short an interval of time forget her
indignation and so readily consent to satisfy their immoral
curiosity about her. The woman in her would urge her to turn the
men’s hankering as a weapon of revenge by denying them their
pleasure.
“Besides, the manner of payment offered for the performance is
again something beyond even the wildest expectations. Assuming
that the woman whom the accused had abducted was in this kind
of trade and assuming that the price offered was to her
satisfaction, what woman would be willing to perform first and be
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467
their counsel. One cannot escape the very strong suspicion that
this story is a last ditch, desperate attempt to save the day for the
accused. It truly underscores the hopelessness of their stand and
projects all the more clearly their guilt.
“Then there is the incident of the men’s stripping themselves.
Why was there need for this? The Court realizes that in its
desperate need of an explanation for Maggie’s positive
identification of Cañal as the man with a tatoo mark on his right
buttock, the defense concocted the sickeningly indecent story that
the four men removed their underclothing in the presence of a
woman simply ‘because it was hot.’ What kind of men were these
who were so devoid of any sense of decency that they thought
nothing of adding insult to injury by not only inducing a woman to
strip before them, but of forcing her to perform before a naked
audience? And then they have the gall to argue that ‘nothing’
happened. For males of cold and phlegmatic blood and disposition
it could be credible, but not for men of the torrid regions like ours
where quick passions and hot tempers are the rule rather than
the exception!
“All of these considerations set aside, notwithstanding, it is
quite obvious that the version of the defense has not been able to
explain away a very vital piece of evidence of the prosecution
which, if unexplained, cannot but reduce any defense unavailing.
The result of the physical (external and internal) examination
conducted on the person of Maggie de la Riva in the afternoon of
June 29, the pertinent findings of which are o noted earlier in this
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468
“A woman does not easily trump up rape charges for she has
much more to lose in the notoriety the case will reap for her, her
honor and that of her family, than in the redress she demands
(Canastre, 82-480; Medina, C.A. 1943 O.G. 151; Medina y Puno,
CA O.G. 338; CA 55 O.G. 7666; Galamiton, L-6302, August 25,
1954); (3) it could also be argued that the contusions and bruises
could have been inflicted on Maggie during her struggle with
Pineda when the latter pulled and pushed her into the red
convertible car. The telltale injuries, however, discount this
possibility, for the location in which many of the bruises and
traumas were located (particularly on the inner portion of her
thighs) could not have been caused by any struggle save by those
of a woman trying to resist the brutal and bestial attack on her
honor.
“In their Memorandum the accused contend that Maggie’s sole
and uncorroborated testimony should not be rated any credence at
all as against the concerted declaration of the three accused. In
the first place, it is not correct to say that Maggie’s declaration
was uncorroborated—she has for corroboration nothing less than
the written extra-judicial statements of Jose and Cañal. But even
assuming that Maggie stood alone in her statements, the cases
cited by the accused in their Memorandum notwithstanding
which the Court does not consider in point anyway, jurisprudence
Ms confirmed the ruling that numbers is the least vital element in
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469
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470
471
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473
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for a fact that the accused, who had pleaded guilty, “did not
intend to admit that he committed the offense with the
aggravating circumstances” mentioned in the information.
We are not in a position to make a similar finding here.
The transcript of the proceedings during the arraignment
shows that Pineda’s counsel, Atty. Lota, prefaced his
client’s plea of guilty with the statement that
477
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479
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of the crime; that the chattel mortgage on the car and its
assignment in favor of the intervenor were made several
months before the date of the commission of the crimes
charged, which circumstance forecloses the possibility of
collusion to prevent the State from confiscating the car;
that the final judgment in the replevin case can only be
executed by delivering the possession of the car to the
intervenor for
482
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Judgment modified.
ANNOTATION
MULTIPLE FORCIBLE ABDUCTION WITH RAPE
The case of People vs. Jaime Jose, Basilio Pineda, Jr. alias
Boy, Edgardo Aquino and Rogelio Cañal (G.R. No. L-28232,
promulgated on February 6, 1971, supra), reiterates and
clarifies the previous rulings on the complex crimes of
forcible abduction with rape committed by several persons.
This case was elevated to the Supreme Court for
automatic review in view of the death penalty imposed.
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