THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. CELEDONIO DE LA CRUZ, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

This
is an appeal taken by Celedonio de la Cruz from a judgment of the Court
of First Instance of Iloilo, finding him guilty, as principal, of the
crime of abduction with rape, for having taken direct part in the
commission thereof, and sentencing him to suffer seventeen years, four
months and one day, reclusion temporal, and to acknowledge and support the offspring, if any, with the accessory penalties of the law, and the costs of the action.

The appellant assigns three errors to the judgment of the lower court, which will be discussed hereinafter.

There is no question that the offended part, Toribia Minaos, a maiden
14 years old, when she went out in the evening to buy bread, spent the
time chatting with the chauffeurs of the automobiles for hire that
stopped at Gay Square in Iloilo. On the evening in question, the
defendant Celedonio de la Cruz took her in his car, together with other
passengers, the municipality of San Miguel. After said other passengers
had alighted, the defendant had a ride with the offended party in his
car. At about 7 o’clock in the evening, the defendant stopped his
automobile in an uninhabited place, and had sexual intercourse with her
there. After the penetration of the act, the defendant returned with
her to Iloilo and took her to the Eagle Cinematograph Theatre where he
left her. Upon coming out, she was seen by the policeman Pedro Mallo,
who was looking for her, and taken to the police station to which her
absence had been reported.

The only question of fact to be
decided in this appeal is whether the complainant was taken away
through force and raped by the defendant, or he merely had a ride with
her in his automobile wherein sexual intercourse took place with the
consent of the girl. The testimony of the supposed abducted girl upon
the first point is unworthy of belief. Gay Square is a public place,
and it was impossible for the defendant to place her by force in his
automobile without attracting the attention of the passerby and without
the passengers of the car intervening, it not appearing that the latter
were in connivance with the defendant. On the other hand, we find more
credible the testimony of the defendant that there was an agreement
between him and the complainant to ride in the car, as they did,
thereafter getting back to Iloilo and entering the cinematograph
theatre where they separated. As to the supposed rape, with the
exception of the testimony of the offended party, there is nothing in
the record to show that she did not consent to the carnal act, and
taking into account all the circumstances of the case her
uncorroborated testimony alone is not sufficient to convince the mind
that she was raped. Our conclusion, therefore, is that the defendant
and the offended party having agreed to ride in his automobile, the
defendant took her, together with other passengers, to the municipality
of San Miguel, where they had been riding around and had sexual
intercourse, after which they returned to Iloilo and entered the Eagle
Cinematograph Theatre where they separated.

This conclusion
of fact being established, we proceed to determine the conclusion of
law arising therefrom. Of course it is idle to inquire if the facts, as
above found by us, may in law constitute the crime of abduction through
force, with rape. Now then, may said facts constitute the crime of
abduction with consent, defined and punished in article 446 of the
Penal Code? “By abduction is meant,” says Viada, “the taking away of a
woman from her house, or the place where she may be found, to another,
for the purpose of marrying, or corrupting her (libidinis causa).”
The essential elements of the crime of abduction with consent are
three: (1) The taking away of a maiden over 12 and below 18 years of
age; (2) that the girl shall have consented to being taken away; and
(3) that the act shall have committed with lewd designs. In order that
the taking away should constitute abduction with consent, it is
necessary that the girl over 12 and below 18 years be taken away with
her consent from the possession of the person having her under his
authority and custody, in order to conceal her whereabouts for an
appreciable period of time with lewd designs. The fact of the accused
having taken Toribia Minaos in his automobile with her consent, and
with intention to return her, after riding, the place where she had
taken her, does not show any intention to take her away from the
authority of her master and substitute himself in lieu of the latter at
least for a short period of time. The legislator well knows the frailty
of the flesh and the ease with which a man, whose sense of dignity,
honor and morality is not well cultivated, falls into temptation when
alone with one of the fair sex toward whom he feels himself attracted.
An occasion is so inducive to sin or crime that the saying “A fair
booty makes many a thief” or “An open door may tempt a saint” has
become general. Moralists constantly advise to avoid occasion to sin;
and crimino-sociologists consider it as one of the causes of crime.
Offenses of this nature may, and in fact do, constitute a sin against
morality, whether religious or social, but not a crime under the
sanction of criminal law. A mere riding in an automobile with a girl
over 12 and below 18 years without intent to take her away from the
authority of those who have her under their control and custody, nor to
conceal her whereabouts, is not sufficient to constitute the crime of
abduction with consent, whatever its consequences in morals may be.
Criminal law does not punish mere amorous oppointments, and in
interpreting the laws, we cannot extend their effect beyond the limits
fixed by their letter and spirit.

For the foregoing reasons,
we find that the facts proven at the trial are not sufficient to
constitute the crime of abduction with consent, and the judgment
appealed from is hereby reversed, and the defendant acquitted with the
costs de oficio. So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Street, Malcolm, Ostrand, Johns, and Romualdez, JJ., concur.