PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. ROMEO SANTOS Y LABAY, ACCUSED-APPELLANT.

People versus Santos

The Case

This is the People of the Philippines against Romeo Santos y Labay, a criminal prosecution for rape, decided by the Supreme Court en banc in April 2002. The accused was the maternal grandfather of the victim, a six-year-old girl, and the information charged that he had carnal knowledge of her in December 1997, with the relationship alleged as an aggravating circumstance. The case matters to a reviewee for three reasons: it shows how the Court treats the credibility of a child witness and the defense of denial, it confirms the concurrence of minority and relationship as a qualifying circumstance that carries the death penalty, and it applies the rule on increased civil indemnity where the death penalty is authorized.

Procedural History

An information for rape was filed in January 1998 with the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City, Branch 265. When arraigned, the accused pleaded not guilty, and trial followed. In January 1999, the trial court rendered its decision finding him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of rape, aggravated by the fact that the victim was his minor granddaughter, sentencing him to death, and ordering him to pay 50,000 pesos as indemnity and 30,000 pesos as moral damages, plus costs. Because the penalty imposed was death, the case was elevated to the Supreme Court for automatic review. The accused filed his appellant's brief assigning errors against the trial court's appreciation of the evidence.

Facts

Julie Ann Gutierrez was born in September 1991, the third child of Julio and Josephine Gutierrez. The accused, Romeo Santos y Labay, a tricycle driver, was her maternal grandfather. One early evening in December 1997, the accused brought the six-year-old girl to his house behind the family home in Pasig City. He laid her on the bed, undressed her and himself, and inserted his penis into her vagina. She shouted because of the pain, but he did not stop. Her mother was then fetching water, her father was driving his jeep, and the accused's wife was not in the house.

Later, the mother noticed that the child complained of pain in her vagina, and while bathing her saw blood and white secretion near her genital area. For a week the child suffered nightmares, screaming that she did not want to continue. A psychiatrist at the Philippine General Hospital attributed the nightmares to a traumatic experience and certified three lacerations in the genital area. In January 1998, a certain Rolando Macasinag told the mother that the accused had previously molested the child, and upon inquiry the child revealed that the accused had raped her four times. The mother confronted the accused, who denied it.

The next day, the mother took the child to the police, where she was referred to the Philippine General Hospital. Dr. Bernadette Madrid examined her and indicated in her medical certificate that the vagina had in fact been penetrated. The accused was apprehended that same evening while driving his tricycle. At trial, he denied the charge and claimed that his daughter Josephine was angry with him and had concocted the accusation, and that he had twice reprimanded Rolando Macasinag for drinking.

Issues

• Whether or not the trial court erred in giving full credence to the testimony of the child victim and the other prosecution witnesses despite alleged inconsistencies.
• Whether or not the accused's defense of denial can prevail over the positive testimony of the victim.
• Whether or not the concurrence of the victim's minority and her relationship to the offender justifies the imposition of the death penalty.
• Whether or not the amounts of civil indemnity and moral damages should be increased.

Applicable Provisions

Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, provides:

Article 335. When and how rape is committed. — Rape is committed by having carnal knowledge of a woman under any of the following circumstances: 1. By using force or intimidation; 2. When the woman is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; and 3. When the woman is under twelve years of age or is demented. The crime of rape shall be punished by reclusion perpetua. Whenever the crime of rape is committed with the use of a deadly weapon or by two or more persons, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua to death. When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has become insane, the penalty shall be death. When the rape is attempted or frustrated and a homicide is committed by reason or on the occasion thereof, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua to death. When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, homicide is committed, the penalty shall be death. The death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with any of the following attendant 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.

This is the provision under which the Court found the accused guilty and imposed the death penalty, because the victim was under eighteen and the offender was her relative by consanguinity within the third civil degree.

Article 83 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Section 25 of Republic Act Number 7659, provides:

Article 83. Suspension of the execution of the death sentence. — The death sentence shall be suspended in the following cases: 1. When the accused is a woman and she is pregnant; 2. When the accused is a woman and she is within one year after childbirth; 3. When the accused is a person over seventy years of age; 4. When the accused has been sentenced to death for a crime committed while he was a minor.

The Court invoked this provision in directing that the records be forwarded to the Office of the President for possible exercise of the pardoning power upon finality of the decision.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court held that the findings of the trial court on the credibility of witnesses are entitled to great weight on appeal, absent cogent reasons to disturb them, because the trial judge is in a better position to hear the witnesses first hand and observe their deportment. The Court found no reason to depart from those findings. The child testified in a clear, spontaneous and straightforward manner, unflinchingly identified her grandfather, and declared that she felt pain and screamed when he inserted his penis into her vagina. The Court also held that no woman, especially one of tender age, would concoct a rape complaint, submit to a gynecologic examination and a public trial unless motivated solely by the desire to have the culprit punished. On the alleged inconsistencies about the whereabouts of her family members, the Court found them more apparent than real, since the child was only six when raped and seven when she testified, and the inconsistencies pertained to trivial details unrelated to the essential fact of carnal knowledge. The medical certificate showing that the hymen was reduced or almost absent, concluding penetration, corroborated her testimony.

On the second issue, the Court held that the defense of denial is inherently weak and cannot prevail over the positive and candid testimony of the victim, whose credibility the trial court upheld. The claim that the child was coached by her mother and by Rolando Macasinag was found highly implausible, and the Court noted that no member of a rape victim's family would dare encourage her to publicly expose the family's dishonor unless the crime was in fact committed.

On the third issue, the Court held that the prosecution adequately established that the victim was only six years old at the time of the rape, and that her minority and the fact that the appellant is her grandfather were properly alleged in the information. The concurrence of both circumstances constrained the Court to affirm the death penalty imposed by the trial court.

On the fourth issue, the Court applied recent jurisprudence prescribing that the indemnification of the victim shall be 75,000 pesos if rape is committed or effectively qualified by any of the circumstances under which the death penalty is authorized. It increased the civil indemnity to 75,000 pesos, and, finding that the victim suffered mental, physical and psychological trauma, increased the moral damages to 50,000 pesos.

Doctrine

First, the findings of the trial court on the credibility of witnesses are entitled to great weight on appeal, and the appellate court will not disturb them absent a showing that the trial judge overlooked, misunderstood or misapplied facts of weight that would affect the result. Second, the defense of denial is inherently weak and cannot prevail over the positive and candid testimony of the victim. Third, where the victim's testimony of the violation is corroborated by the physician's findings of penetration, there is sufficient foundation to conclude the existence of the essential requisite of carnal knowledge. Fourth, under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, the death penalty shall be imposed when the victim is under eighteen 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, and both circumstances must be alleged in the information. Fifth, the civil indemnity is 75,000 pesos where rape is committed or effectively qualified by any circumstance authorizing the death penalty, and moral damages of 50,000 pesos are proper where the victim suffered mental, physical and psychological trauma.

Disposition

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and the death sentence, modified only the damages by ordering the accused to pay 75,000 pesos as civil indemnity and 50,000 pesos as moral damages, and directed that the records be forwarded to the Office of the President for possible exercise of the pardoning power.

Remember This

Memorize this line: denial is inherently weak and cannot prevail over the positive and candid testimony of the victim, especially a child of tender age corroborated by medical findings of penetration. Examiners use this case to test the concurrence of minority and relationship under Article 335 as a qualifying circumstance carrying the death penalty, and the rule on increased civil indemnity of 75,000 pesos where the death penalty is authorized.