G.R. No. 142566 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. SALVADOR MIRANDA Y CAPE, ACCUSED-.

Ruling

WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing, this Court finds the accused, SALVADOR MIRANDA, GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Rape, as defined and punished under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code as amended, and hereby sentences him to the supreme penalty of DEATH. He is likewise directed to pay his daughter damages of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00), exemplary damages of Thirty Thousand Pesos (P30,000.00) and to pay the costs of this suit. Considering his old age, however, this Court hereby recommends that the penalty be commuted to Reclusion Perpetua . Let the record of this case be forwarded to the Supreme Court on automatic review. [2] The facts as found by the trial court are as follows: Sometime in February 1998, Teresita (Tessie) did not go to school. Her other siblings were in school, while the older ones who were already married lived in their respective houses. Her mother was washing clothes near her brothers place, while her father was engaged in a drinking bout with four men. At about 12:00 noon, her father, smelling a gin, went inside their house, and pulled her towards the room. Tessie was not able to shout or make any sound, afraid that her father might hurt her. Her father removed her T-shirt and shorts and then undressed himself. He made her lie down on the floor, then he laid down also and inserted his penis into her vagina. The initial, unwelcome and detestable experience was excruciating that Tessie cried. She was still naked when her mother Rosella arrived. His father stood up, wore his shorts and did not answer his wifes query what he did to their child. Rosella got angry and asked her husband why did he do it, but the latter did not speak and just went away as if nothing happened. Tessie, in tears, told her mother about her carnal defilement in the hands of her father that day. The following day Tessie, together with her aunt, Casiana Miranda, went to Daet where she stayed with the latters daughter for a month, until her mother fetched her. Her elder sister Hilda Navarro, who came to learn of her fate from her mother, brought her to the police authorities. She executed a sworn statement before police at Ragay, Camarines Sur (Exhibit B, p. 4, Record). Dr. Marilyn Folloso, Municipal Health Officer of Ragay, examined Tessie Miranda on March 24, 1998. The medical certificate (Exhibit A, p.5, Record) indicated the following: Pertinent PE findings: Healed, Complete, Hymenal Laceration at 4:00 oclock x x x [3] The accused-appellant denied the accusations and claimed that he was in the farm busy plowing the field in February, 1998. He denied that he was drunk that noon of February and asserted that he goes to the farm everyday, in February, or even before that month and also in March until he was arrested by the police. [4] In this appeal, the accused-appellant raised the lone assignment of error that: THE TRIAL COURT GRAVELY ERRED IN CONVICTING ACCUSED-APPELLANT OF RAPE DESPITE FAILURE OF THE PROSECUTION TO STATE