THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. JOSE PON-AN, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

People versus Pon-an

The Case

This is the People of the Philippines against Jose Pon-an, a criminal appeal from a conviction for rape. The victim was a child of seven years, Josie Tayam, and the charge was that the accused had carnal knowledge of her in the nipa swamps of their barrio in Bugasong, Antique. The case matters for the bar candidate because it is a compact lesson in the weight of a child's testimony, the deference owed to the trial court's assessment of credibility, and the rule that the rupture of the hymen need not be explained with certainty where the rest of the evidence points to the accused.

Procedural History

The accused was tried in the Court of First Instance of Antique. The trial judge, Judge Noli Ma. Cortes, found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of rape as defined and penalized in paragraph 3 of Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua, to indemnify the victim and her family in the sum of eight thousand pesos as actual and moral damages, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to pay the costs. The accused appealed to the Supreme Court, assigning as error that the findings of the trial court were contrary to law and to the evidence.

Facts

On the afternoon of April 6, 1975, at about two o'clock, the seven-year-old Josie Tayam was playing near the house of her grandmother, Julia Tatoy, in Guija, Bugasong, Antique. The accused, Jose Pon-an, approached her and asked her to buy cigarettes from the store of her aunt Letty. He gave her fifty centavos, and she bought Champion cigarettes and handed them to him.

Immediately after, the accused held the child by the hand and brought her to the nipa swamps about one hundred meters from the store. There he kissed her, took off her panty and his pants, and while both were squatting, inserted his penis into her vagina. The child cried in pain, and a white substance, most likely semen, dropped on her thigh and legs. He then allowed her to go to the river to wash, and she went home.

Before reaching their house, the child removed her panty, folded it, and went up. Her mother, Angelina Tayam, and her grandmother were there, and she immediately told her grandmother that the accused had abused her. The grandmother examined her and found the panty with bloodstains and the vagina swollen. That same day the mother took her to town, where Dr. Evelyn Rivero examined her at about seven in the evening. The medical certificate recorded slight swelling and tenderness of the vulva, a ruptured hymen, and a vaginal opening quite big for a seven-year-old child, with no laceration, blood, semen, or foreign body. The physician testified that the swelling could have been caused by slight penetration by the male organ, and that the rupture could have been caused by sexual intercourse, though also by a fall or contact with a hard object. The accused denied the crime, admitted asking the child to buy cigarettes and embracing and kissing her because he was lonely and reminded of his own daughter, and claimed that the charge was extortion.

Issues

• Whether or not the trial court erred in giving full credence to the testimony of the seven-year-old victim and the other prosecution witnesses.
• Whether or not the non-presentation in court of the victim's panty rendered the evidence of the prosecution insufficient.
• Whether or not the uncertainty as to the cause of the rupture of the hymen, and the absence of semen, negate the commission of rape.

Applicable Provisions

Paragraph 3 of Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as it then stood, provides:

When the woman is under twelve years of age or is demented, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua.

This is the provision under which the accused was charged and convicted, since the victim was only seven years old and the crime was committed with carnal knowledge of a child under twelve.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court affirmed the trial court's assessment of credibility. The trial judge had the opportunity to see, hear, and observe the witnesses, and his findings are accorded the highest degree of respect. The Court noted that the child told her story clearly and weathered cross-examination, that she related the same account to her mother, her grandmother, and the physician within hours of the event, and that no motive was shown for the family to fabricate so serious a charge. The claim of extortion was rejected as illogical, since the accused himself testified that the family knew he had neither money nor land.

On the second issue, the Court held that the non-presentation of the panty did not render the People's evidence inadequate. At most, the panty was merely corroborative.

On the third issue, the Court held that there need not be much fuss over how the rupture of the hymen occurred. Whether the cause was a fall, contact with a hard object, a bicycle, horse-riding, or sexual contact, the liability of the appellant for rape, in the light of the other evidence, was unavoidable.

Doctrine

First, the findings of the trial court on the credibility of witnesses, it having observed their demeanor on the stand, are accorded the highest degree of respect on appeal. Second, the testimony of a child victim of tender age, when clear, positive, and consistent, and corroborated by her prompt report to her family and to the examining physician, is sufficient to sustain a conviction for rape. Third, the non-presentation of corroborative physical evidence, such as the victim's panty, does not weaken the prosecution's case where the testimony and medical findings already establish the crime. Fourth, the precise cause of the rupture of the hymen need not be established with certainty, because the crime of rape is proved by the totality of the evidence, and under paragraph 3 of Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, carnal knowledge of a woman under twelve years of age is rape regardless of the circumstances.

Disposition

The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the trial court in all respects, with costs against the appellant.

Remember This

The single line to memorize is that the trial court's findings on credibility command the highest respect, and that the cause of the rupture of the hymen need not be settled where the other evidence makes the liability for rape unavoidable. Examiners use this case to test the weight of a child's testimony and the sufficiency of medical evidence in rape prosecutions.