G.R. No. 133823 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. RAMIL VELEZ RAYOS, ACCUSED-.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the Court finds accused Ramil Velez Rayos guilty of raping and killing Mebelyn Ganzan and so hereby sentences him to the supreme penalty of death, and to indemnify the heirs of the deceased in the sum of P50,000.00, and pay them moral damages of P30,000.00 and exemplary damages in the sum of P20,000.00, and to pay the costs of this case. "The bolo, exhibit B, is hereby forfeited in favor of the State. "The custodian of the accused is hereby ordered to ship the accused to the National Penitentiary the soonest after the promulgation of this judgment." [2] The facts could be culled from the individual testimony of the witnesses presented, respectively, by the prosecution and the defense in the course of the trial. Levisito Gansan Levisito Gansan, the father of the victim, testified that on 09 April 1997, about 4:30 in the afternoon, while attending a barangay seminar on "aids," his daughter, Mebelyn, came by his side and told him to hold for her a bag of peanuts given by her "uncle Ramil." Mebelyn then hurriedly left. It was to be the last time that he would see his little girl, his only child, so vibrant with life. Shortly after the seminar, he started to look for his daughter who strangely had not as yet come back. She was nowhere in sight. Worried, he chanced upon Dolfo Sabit, who suggested that perhaps he should see "Tilo" Malapad. Levisito did. Malapad said that he saw his daughter traversing the barangay road with accused-appellant trailing after her. Malapad volunteered to accompany Levisito to the place. Night fell and still Mebelyn could not be found. Now extremely apprehensive, he went to the authorities for help. At the police station, he saw accused-appellant being confined, he later learned, for unruly behavior earlier on. It did not take long before somebody called up the station by hand radio to report the discovery of a dead child. He and a neighbor, Cleceria Bedro, rushed to the place an there, with unbelieving eyes, he saw his daughter Mebelyn, lifeless, her dress raised up, and with blood teeming from wounds all over her body. Wenitilo Malapad A 35-year old resident of Binitinan, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, Wenitilo Malapad testified that on 09 April 1997, between 5:30 and 6:00 in the afternoon, he was in the house of his brother-in-law, Cris Bustamante, enjoying some tuba in the company of Bonifacio Sabit, Richard Ki-i, and the Bustamante spouses, when he happened to see accused-appellant walking along the barangay road. Treading close by was a little girl, about nine years old, in short pants and blouse. Back home, Malapad was informed by his father-in-law that Levisito Gansan showed up earlier asking for him. He immediately left to see Gansan. Eduardo Cailing A farmer, Eduardo Cailing said that in the morning of 09 April 1997, about eleven o'clock, accused-appellant, who had developed the habit of dropping by right after work in Claveria, arrived and partook of lunch. A little later, accused-appellant proceeded to