PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. ROMEO GERON, ACCUSED-APPELLANT.

Before this Court for automatic review is the decision of the
Regional Trial
Court of Caloocan City, Branch 128, finding Romeo Geron guilty beyond
reasonable
doubt of the crime of rape and imposing upon him the penalty of
death.

The case originated from an Information that read:

That on or about the month of July 1996 in Caloocan City, Metro
Manila, and
within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named
accused, with
lewd designs, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously
repeatedly
lie and have sexual intercourse with the undersigned complainant EMILY
GERON y
TORENTE, a minor of 15 years of age, against the latter’s will and
without her
consent, and said accused being then the father of said minor.

Contrary to law.^[1]

On March 3, 1997, Geron was arraigned and pleaded Not Guilty to
the
accusation.^[2]
However, on July 29, 1997,
the accused was re-arraigned. This time, he entered a plea of
Guilty.^[3] The
accused confirmed before the court
that the plea of guilty was entered freely and voluntarily and that he
was aware
of the consequences of his plea.

The accused admitted before the court that Emily is his
daughter.^[4] When
his wife, Emily’s mother, died, he
took care of their four (4) children.^[5]
He stated that he raped Emily because she looked so much like her
mother.^[6]He was
deeply sorry for what he did and
would like to ask forgiveness from his daughter.^[7] However, he denied that he used any
bladed
weapon during the incident.^[8] He
likewise stated that Emily neither fought back nor resisted his
advances.^[9]

When called to the witness stand, Emily Geron testified that
she was born on
May 12, 1981.^[10]
She recalled that
sometime in the evening of July 1996, she was fast asleep when she felt
somebody
pulling her blanket. She was surprised to see her father lying beside
her.^[11] The
accused ordered her to face him and
he started kissing her. She tried to resist his advances by pushing him
but her
father shouted and scolded her and because he was stronger, he was able
to
remove her clothes.^[12] He next lied on
top of her and he succeeded in inserting his penis inside her
vagina.^[13] She
pleaded for her father to stop but to
no avail.^[14] His
father raped her on
several other occasions until she got pregnant.^[15]

The victim remained silent about her ordeal until January 10,
1997, when her
grandmother, Amparo Torente, visited her. Amparo noticed that Emily was
pregnant
and she prevailed upon her granddaughter to reveal what happened to
her.^[16] Upon
learning that it was Emily’s father
who raped her, Amparo brought Emily to the Department of Social Welfare
and
Development (DSWD). At the DSWD, they were assisted in bringing the
matter to
the authorities and the accused was finally apprehended.^[17] Emily gave birth on
March 16, 1997, but
her daughter died three (3) days after birth.^[18]

Dr. Amparo Annabelle Soliman, who conducted a medical
examination of the
victim, confirmed before the court^[19]
the following findings:

GENERAL PHYSICAL EXAMINATION:

Height: 140 Weight: 78 lbs.

Fairly nourished, conscious, coherent, cooperative, ambulatory
subject.

Breasts engorged, with prominent veins, with colostrum.
Areolae, dark brown,
4.5 cms. in diameter. Nipples, dark brown, protruding, 1.2 cms. in
diameter.

No extragenital physical injury noted.

GENITAL EXAMINATION:

Pubic hair, fully grown, scanty. Labia majora, coaptated. Labia
minora,
coaptated. Fourchette, lax. Vestibular mucosa, violaceous. Hymen,
moderately
thick, moderately wide, intact but distensible. Hymenal orifice admits a
tube
2.5 cms. in diameter. Vaginal walls, lax. Rugosities, shallow.

Bimanual examination reveals a soft, closed cervix attached to
an enlarge
mass which is the uterus, size of which is compatible to 4th months
gestation.
Fundie height is 12 cms.

CONCLUSIONS:

1. No evident sign of extragenital physical injury
   noted on the body of the
   subject at the time of examination.

2. Probable signs of pregnancy present corresponding
   on or about the first week
   of the second trimester.^[20]

After trial, the court ruled, as follows:

WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, the accused ROMEO
GERON is hereby
sentenced to death by lethal injection.

The accused is also ordered to pay Emily Geron the amount of
P50,000.00 as
moral and P75,000.00 as actual or compensatory damages.

Further, he shall suffer all the accessory penalties attached
to the penalty
provided for by law.

Cost against the accused.

SO ORDERED.^[21]

In assailing the accused’s conviction, the defense argued
before this Court
that:

THE COURT A QUO COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR IN CONVICTING THE
ACCUSED-APPELLANT OF THE CRIME OF RAPE NOTWITHSTANDING THAT THE
PROSECUTION
FAILED TO ESTABLISH HIS GUILT BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT.

THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN CONVICTING THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT OF
THE CRIME
CHARGED DESPITE HIS IMPROVIDENT PLEA OF NOT GUILTY.^[22]

After a careful review of the records of this case, the Court
finds no reason
to reverse the decision of the trial court.

It should be stressed that accused-appellant pleaded Guilty to
the crime of
rape. He declared before the trial court that his plea was made freely
and
voluntarily and that he was aware of the consequences thereof. He
testified:

Atty. Ibañez

Q Earlier you were arraigned before this Court of an offense of
rape against
your own daughter, and you entered a plea of guilty?
A Yes,
sir.

Q Did anybody forced, coerced or promise (sic) you something in
order for you
to enter a plea of guilty?
A No, sir, because I want to save
the complainant
from the trouble of coming to this Court.

Q Did this representation advised (sic) you to plead
guilty?
A No,
sir.

Q So, it was your free and voluntary decision to enter a plea
of guilty?
A
Yes, sir.

Q You are aware of the consequence of your pleading
guilty?
A Yes,
sir.

Q And that the Court may impose a penalty of death or life
sentence?
A
Yes, sir.^[23]

The defense would like to impress upon the Court that when
accused-appellant
entered a plea of guilty, he was not fully aware that he would be
imposed the
penalty of death. The defense cited accused-appellant’s testimony
whereby he
stated that he would ask the court to give him the penalty of life
imprisonment.^[24]

The Court is not convinced. While accused-appellant stated that
he would ask
for the imposition of life imprisonment, there was nothing in the
records that
would show that he was solely motivated by his erroneous assumption that
he
would be spared the penalty of death.

In any event, even without the admission by accused-appellant,
the
prosecution was able to duly establish the rape committed against the
victim.
The candid and straightforward testimony of Emily certainly deserves
credence.
She testified:

Q While you were sleeping, do you know if there was an unusual
incident that
occurred?

A Yes, sir.

Q Will you tell us what happened while you were
sleeping?
A I felt that
someone was pulling my blanket.

Q And did you come to know who was the one pulling your blanket
while you
were sleeping?
A Yes, sir.

Q Who was the one pulling your blanket?
A My father,
sir.

Q And what did your father do next after he pulled your blanket
while you
were sleeping?
A He laid beside me.

Q What was your position when your father pulled your
blanket?
A He was
laying by my side.

Q You said that your father laid beside you, what did you do
when your father
laid beside you?
A He made me face him.

Q And what happened next after your father made you face
him?
A When I was
already facing him, he kissed me.

Q And what did you do when he kissed you?
A I was
removing his face from
my face.

Q And what else did he do when you refused his
kisses?
A He scolded
me.

Q How did he scold you?
A He shouted at me and told me
to agree with
him.

Q And did you fight back?
A Yes, sir.

Q How did you fight your father?
A I pushed him away
from me.

Q And did you succeed in pushing away your father?
A
No, sir.

Q Why not?
A Because the place where we were laying
down is too small.

Q And was your father strong?
A Yes, sir.

Q How did you fight back?
A When he was removing my
clothes, I pushed so
that my clothes will not be removed.

Q And were you able to prevent your father from removing your
clothes?
A
Yes, sir.

Q And then, what happened next?
A When he was finally
able to remove my
clothings, he raped me.

Q Now, you said that your father raped you, how did your father
rape
you?
A He inserted his penis on my vagina, sir.

Q When your father inserted his penis inside your vagina, did
you fight
back?
A Yes, sir.

Q Before he inserted his penis to your vagina, did you fight
back?
A Yes,
sir.

Q How did you fight your father?
A I pushed him,
sir.

Q Did you succeed in fighting your father?
A No,
sir.

Fiscal Ralar:

At this juncture, may we manifest that the witness is already
crying and she
could hardly speak.

Court:

Ask her if she could testify further.

Fiscal Ralar: (To the witness)

: Can you still continue with your testimony?

A Yes, sir.

Q Now, when your father inserted his penis into your vagina,
how did you
feel?
A It was painful, sir.

Q And did you fight back when you felt pain in your
vagina?
A Yes,
sir.

Q And then, what happened next after your father inserted his
penis into your
vagina?
A I was crying, sir.

Q And did your father stop from sexually assaulting you when
you were
crying?
A No, sir.

Q And what did he do while he was on top of you?
A He
just continued on
his desire even I told him to stop on what he was doing.

Q Did he stop when you told him to stop?
A No,
sir.

Q And then, what happened next when he did not stop?
A
He just continued
to sexually molest me.

Q And then, what happened next?
A He would not like to
stop, sir.

Q And then, did he finally stop from sexually assaulting
you?
A When he
was already through with his acts, sir.

Q Now, tell us how many times did your father sexually molest
you?
A Many
times, sir.

Q When was the first time when your father sexually abused
you?
A That was
on July, 1996.

Q And when was the second time when your father sexually abused
you?
A
After a week, sir,

Q How many times in a week do your father sexually molest you
after July,
1996?
A Sometimes twice a week, sir.

Q Up to when did the accused last sexually abuse
you?
A I cannot remember
anymore, sir.

Q Do you know when was your father finally arrested?
A
Yes, sir.

Q Tell us when?
A That was January 11, 1997.

Q Could you approximate to us how many times your father
sexually molest you
from July 1996 up to the time he was finally arrested in January 11,
1997?
A
I cannot remember but that was many times, sir.

Q Now, you said that you were sexually molested many times by
your father, do
you recall if you got pregnant?
A Yes, sir.

Q And what happened to the child you were bearing?
A
The child died.

Q Tell us when was the child delivered?
A On March 16,
1997, sir.^[25]

Accused-appellant denied that he used any weapon to subdue the
victim. He
likewise stated before the trial court that Emily did not resist his
advances.
On this score, we find the testimony of Emily more believable. Further,
it
should be remembered that accused-appellant is the father of the victim.

Accused-appellant’s physical and moral ascendancy are enough to cower
the victim
into submission to his sexual desires.^[26]

Although it was established beyond reasonable doubt that Emily
was raped by
accused-appellant, the Court finds that the lower court erred in
imposing the
supreme penalty of death upon him. Republic Act No. 7659 (the Death
Penalty
Law), which was already in force at that time the rape was committed in
July
1996,^[27] requires
that the circumstances
of the minority of the victim and her relationship with the offender
must concur
for the death penalty to be imposable. Article 335 of the Revised Penal
Code, as
amended by R.A. No. 7659 provides:

x x x

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 degree, or the common-law
spouse of
the parent of the victim.

x x x

The Court has previously explained that the circumstances of
minority and
relationship are considered as special qualifying circumstances because
they
alter the nature of the crime of rape and thus warrant the imposition of
the
death penalty. These two circumstances must be alleged in the
information and
established during trial for the court to be able to impose the death
penalty.^[28] It
was, therefore, incumbent
upon the prosecution to satisfactorily prove both circumstances of
minority and
relationship.

In the case at bar, the prosecution did not present Emily’s
birth certificate
to prove her minority at the time of the rape. Instead, it presented the
birth
certificate of Raquel Geron, the child born out of the incestuous rape,
which
certificate indicated that Emily was fifteen (15) years old at the time
of her
child’s birth.^[29]
However, such proof is
merely equivalent to a bare declaration on the part of Emily as to her
age
because it was she who furnished the data contained therein.^[30] Further, while
accused-appellant also
stated that Emily was fifteen (15) years old when the rape was committed
in July
1996,^[31] the
Court notes that he merely
replied “yes” to the questions propounded to him on cross-examination,
thus:

Court to Witness –

Q Do you also know that when you committed rape against your
daughter, she
was a minor?
A Yes, your Honor.

Q That she was only fifteen (15) years old?
A Yes,
your Honor.^[32]

To our mind therefore, the foregoing do not prove Emily’s
minority beyond
reasonable doubt.

In the absence of proof of Emily’s minority, the penalty
imposable for the
offense is reclusion perpetua. It is therefore
necessary to reduce the
civil indemnity awarded by the lower court from P75,000.00 to
P50,000.00.

WHEREFORE, the decision of the
trial court is hereby
AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION. Accused-appellant Romeo Geron is convicted
of rape
and sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion
perpetua and is
directed to indemnify Emily Geron the amount of P50,000.00 as civil
indemnity
and P50,000.00 as moral damages.

SO ORDERED.

Puno, Vitug, Mendoza,
Panganiban, Quisumbing,
Ynares-Santiago, Sandoval-Gutierrez, Carpio,
Austria-Martinez, and
Corona, JJ., concur.
Davide,
Jr., C.J., on official
leave.
Bellosillo, J., no part. Did not
take part in deliberations.

^[2]
Records, p. 7.

^[3] Id.,
at 26.

^[4] TSN,
July 29, 1997, p. 2.

^[5]
Id.

^[6] Id.,
at 3.

^[7] Id.,
at 4.

^[8]
Id.

^[9] id.,
at 3.

^[10] TSN,
January 26, 1998, p. 4.

^[11] Id.,
at 9.

^[12] Id.,
at 10-12.

^[13] Id.,
at 13.

^[14] Id.,
at 16.

^[15] Id.,
at 16-18.

^[16] TSN,
May 19, 1998, p. 3.

^[17] Id.,
at 4.

^[18] The
death certificate indicated
that the baby died of Cardiorespiratory Arrest, Severe Sepsis
Neonatorium and
Prematurity, Records, p. 76.

^[19] TSN,
May 19, 1998.

^[20]
Records, p. 78.

^[21]
Rollo, p. 12-13.

^[22] Id.,
at 35.

^[23] TSN,
July 29, 1997, at 3.

^[24] TSN,
August 9, 1999, at 4.

^[25] TSN,
January 26, 1998, at
9-19.

^[26]
People vs. Lor, G.R. No. 133190,
July 19, 2001.

^[27] R.A.
No. 7659 took effect on
December 31, 1993.

^[28]
People vs. Baniqued, G.R. Nos.
130653 and 139384, December 11, 2001; People vs. Gabon, G.R. No. 127003,

November 16, 2001; People vs. Ferolino, G.R. Nos. 131730-31, April 5,
2000.

^[29]
Records, p. 75.

^[30] See
Exhibit “A,” Records, p.
75.

^[31] TSN,
August 9, 1999, p. 4.

^[32]
Ibid.