PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. SATURNINO ILUIS Y JANDOC, ACCUSED-APPELLANT.

People versus Iluis

The Case

This is People versus Iluis, an automatic review by the Supreme Court of a conviction for qualified rape. The accused, Saturnino Iluis, was found guilty by the Regional Trial Court of Pangasinan of raping a child below seven years of age and was sentenced to death. The case matters for two reasons. First, it restates the settled rule that the briefest contact of the pudendum by the phallus consummates rape, and that a child victim's testimony, though lacking in detail, may be credible. Second, and more importantly for the Bar, it holds that the qualifying circumstance of the victim being below seven years of age must be alleged in the Information; if it is not, the death penalty cannot be imposed even if the age is proved at trial.

Procedural History

The Information was filed on 23 June 1998 in the Regional Trial Court of Pangasinan, Branch 50. The accused entered a plea of not guilty at arraignment. After trial, the court found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of rape defined and penalized under Item Number 4 of the last paragraph of Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, sentenced him to death, and ordered him to pay fifty thousand pesos as civil indemnity. Because the penalty imposed was death, the case went to the Supreme Court on automatic review. The accused assigned two errors: that the trial court erred in convicting him despite the weakness of the prosecution evidence, and that, assuming guilt, the death penalty was wrongly imposed because the victim's true age of six years was neither alleged in the Information nor proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Facts

AAA was born on 23 September 1991. Her mother died when she was barely four years old, and she was eventually entrusted to the care of a woman who treated her as an adopted child. When that woman traveled to the United States in August 1997, she left AAA in the custody of Saturnino Iluis, his sister-in-law Teresita, and his mother. Iluis worked in the household from 1 April 1995 until 24 November 1997.

According to AAA, during the months of August to October 1997, Iluis let her smoke, took off her panty, and put his penis into her vagina inside a small nipa hut near the house. She felt pain but kept silent because she was afraid, and he warned her not to tell anyone. She said this happened three times on different dates.

When the grandmother returned from the United States on 18 November 1997, AAA pressed the middle of the grandmother's palm with her forefinger, a gesture the child had been taught. Asked what it meant, AAA at first refused, then named Uncle Masong. She later told her kindergarten teacher that Masong had molested her. A first physician found an intact hymen but redness between the urethral and vaginal openings, which he admitted could have been caused by an erect penis coming into contact with the vaginal opening. A second physician found deep healed lacerations of the hymen and testified to the possibility of penetration. The defense was denial, claiming the charge arose from a dispute over a household allowance of five thousand eight hundred fifty pesos.

Issues

• Whether or not the trial court erred in convicting the accused of rape despite the alleged weakness of the prosecution evidence, particularly the victim's failure to give details of the crime.
• Whether or not the death penalty was properly imposed, given that the Information alleged only that the victim was below twelve years old and did not allege that she was below seven years old.

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: x x x x x x x x x. 3. When the woman is under twelve years of age or is demented. The crime of rape shall be punished by reclusion perpetua. x x x x x x x x x. The death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with any of the following attendant circumstances: x x x x x x x x x. 4. when the victim is a religious or a child below seven (7) years old.

This provision fixes the penalty: reclusion perpetua for rape of a woman under twelve, and death only when the victim is below seven years old, a circumstance that must be alleged.

Section 8 of Rule 110 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure provides:

Section 8. Designation of the offense. – The complaint or information shall state the designation of the offense given by the statute, aver the acts or omissions constituting the offense, and specify its qualifying and aggravating circumstances. If there is no designation of the offense, reference shall be made to the section or subsection of the statute punishing it.

This provision requires that qualifying circumstances be specified in the Information.

Section 9 of Rule 110 provides:

Section 9. Cause of accusation. – The acts or omissions complained of as constituting the offense and the qualifying and aggravating circumstances must be stated in ordinary and concise language and not necessarily in the language used in the statute but in terms sufficient to enable a person of common understanding to know what offense is being charged as well as its qualifying and aggravating circumstances and for the court to pronounce judgment.

This provision ties the pleading requirement to the accused's constitutional right to be informed of the charge.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court affirmed the conviction. Credibility is a function properly lodged with the trial court, whose findings are entitled to great weight, and the trial court observed that AAA remained consistent even under rigorous cross-examination. Her failure to give gory details was understandable and typical of an innocent child. Even the briefest contact of the pudendum by the phallus consummates rape, and a medical examination is merely corroborative; what matters is the clear, unequivocal, and credible testimony of the victim. There is no standard form of behavior for a rape victim, and no plausible reason was shown why the child would fabricate the charge.

On the second issue, the Court ruled for the accused. Although the Certificate of Live Birth showed AAA was born on 23 September 1991 and was thus below seven years old at the time of the rape, the qualifying circumstance must be alleged in the Information. The Court quoted itself:

Qualifying circumstances, which would increase the penalty by a higher degree, must be properly pleaded in the information consistent with the constitutional right of the accused to be informed of the charges against him.

The allegation that the victim was below twelve years old supports only reclusion perpetua, not death.

Doctrine

First, rape is consummated by the briefest contact of the pudendum by the phallus; full penetration is not required. Second, a medical examination is not indispensable in a rape prosecution; the victim's clear and credible testimony suffices. Third, and decisively, a qualifying circumstance that raises the penalty to death, such as the victim being below seven years of age under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, must be alleged in the Information; if only the victim's age of being below twelve is alleged, the penalty is reclusion perpetua. This flows from Sections 8 and 9 of Rule 110 and the constitutional right of the accused to be informed of the charge.

Disposition

The Court affirmed the conviction but modified the judgment, reducing the death penalty to reclusion perpetua and awarding an additional fifty thousand pesos in moral damages on top of the fifty thousand pesos civil indemnity, with costs de oficio.

Remember This

Memorize this line: a qualifying circumstance that raises the penalty to death must be alleged in the Information, and proof at trial cannot cure its omission. Examiners use this case to test the distinction between an Information alleging a victim below twelve years old and one alleging a victim below seven years old, and to test the rule that the slightest contact consummates rape.