THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. TELESFORO APIADO, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

The appellant was sentenced to sixteen years reclusion temporal with
the accessories of law, by the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija
for the crime of rape with slight physical injuries; to endow the
offended party, Pantaleona Nool, in the sum of P200, without subsidiary
imprisonment in case of insolvency, considering the gravity of the
principal penalty; to support the offspring if any, and to pay the
costs; ordering that in serving the sentence, one-half the time during
which the defendant has been confined preventively shall be deducted
therefrom.

From this sentence, the defendant appealed.

The fact which the trial court found in its judgment, and which this
court finds as clearly proved in the proceedings, is, briefly, that the
defendant violated the offended party, aged fifteen, against her will
and through violence and intimidation on the night of the incident,
which act produced slight physical injuries which were cured in five
days without medical assistance, and without preventing her from
following her customary occupation; the injuries referred to consisting
in the inflammation of the upper lips of the girl’s genital organ, a
part of her vagina, and the rupture of the hymen.

No modifying circumstance was present in the commission of the crime.

Counsel for the defendant in this instance, after examining the
record and conferring with the defendant, states that he finds no
sufficient ground for an assignment of error, and limits himself to a
petition that the penalty imposed be reduced to fourteen years, eight
months and one day reclusion temporal, in view of the defendant’s lack of education.

The Attorney-General agrees with the qualification of the crime charged and with the penalty of reclusion temporal in
its medium degree, there being no modifying circumstance in the
commission of the crime of rape, but he recommends that, in addition to
the penalty for the crime of rape in accordance with article 438 of the
Penal Code, the penalty of arresto for not less than five and
not more than fifteen days and censure, be imposed upon the defendant,
in accordance with article 588 of said Code.

It is a well-established doctrine of law, according to both the
jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Spain and that of this court
that, when in the commission of the crime of rape, there should result
homicide, or serious or less serious physical injuries, pursuant to the
provisions of article 89 of the Penal Code the penalty corresponding to
the more serious crime shall be imposed on the offender in its maximum
degree. (Decisions of the Supreme Court of Spain of March 23, 1885,
February 18, 1889, March 31, 1891, April 29, 1897, and February 22,
1902; and U. S. vs. Andaya, 34 Phil., 690.) However, said
article of the Penal Code is not applicable to the case at bar, of rape
with slight physical injuries, for this legal provision must be
strictly interpreted. It is clear that when a person is found guilty of
two or more felonies or misdemeanors, all the penalties corresponding
to the several violations of law should be imposed, the same to be
simultaneously served, if possible, according to the nature and effects
of such penalties (article 87, Penal Code). But in this case, taking
into account the nature of the injuries caused to the girl’s genital
organ by the violence with which the act was consummated, which
injuries were constituting the misdemeanor of slight physical injuries
are a necessary consequence of the rape, we believe the facts so
obviously inherent in the rape, that no additional penalty for such
misdemeanor should be imposed upon the defendant.

Wherefore, the sentence appealed from, being in conformity with law,
must be, as it is hereby, affirmed, with costs against the appellant.
So ordered.

Johnson, Street, Johns, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.

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DISSENTING

AVANCEÑA, C. J.:

I think he should also be sentenced for slight physical injuries.