G.R. No. 144595 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. DANTE ILAGAN.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, ALL PREMISES CONSIDERED, this Court resolves that the prosecution has successfully undertaken his burden to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly, accused Dante Ilagan is hereby found GUILTY of the crime of RAPE from having violated the provisions of Article 266-B in relation to Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended. Considering the presence of aggravating circumstances that the victim is under eighteen (18) years of age and the offender is a parent of the victim in this case, he is hereby sentenced to suffer the Supreme Penalty of DEATH by lethal injection. One final word. The Court treats the imposition of the capital punishment upon the hereby accused as an unpleasant, if not an unenviable task. Nonetheless, the burden becomes lighter as we ponder on what the Supreme Court stated with regard to a case of Rape of this nature. Thus: "incestuous relations are abhorrent to the nature of man, not only to civilized men, but also to semi-civilized and barbarous people x x x and when a man perpetrates his lascivious desires on his own direct relative, he descends to a level lower than that of a beast. (People vs. Mandap, 244 SCRA 457) Lastly, the accused is also ordered to indemnify AAA the sum of P75,000.00 and further amount of P100,000.00 as moral damages. With costs against the accused. SO ORDERED.