Title
People vs. Bernaldez y Lamagan
Case
G.R. No. 132779-82
Decision Date
Jan 19, 2000
Father repeatedly raped daughter, threatening harm; court upheld conviction, reduced penalties, and awarded damages due to lack of filial relationship allegation.
rape
sexual abuse
testimony
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 132779-82)

Factual Background

Mary Jane testified that she was raped by accused-appellant four times when she was seventeen years old, all inside their house. She first narrated that on December 23, 1996, at two o’clock in the morning, accused-appellant returned from work, told her to clean his room immediately, and, while she was picking up litter inside, closed the door. He allegedly took her into his arms, kissed her, began disrobing her, and proceeded to sexual intercourse with her. After the act, accused-appellant allegedly warned her not to tell anyone or he would kill her and her siblings.

For the second incident, Mary Jane stated that on January 11, 1997, while she was asleep on a bench inside the house, she felt herself being lowered to the floor as accused-appellant began kissing her. He allegedly removed her shorts and panty and told her he was doing it because she looked like her mother and he wanted her to “have experience,” despite her protest that he was her father.

As to the third incident, Mary Jane testified that after those rapes she began sleeping downstairs while her siblings slept on the floor and she used the papag. On January 30, 1997, she claimed that she felt accused-appellant touching her thighs, confronted him, and received the answer that he was abusing her because she was “a good girl” and the only one who looked like her mother. She said he undressed her and had sexual intercourse with her while she cried.

Her fourth narration placed the last rape near midnight on February 24, 1997. She testified that she was sleeping on the papag and her siblings were lying on the floor. Accused-appellant allegedly told her to let him sleep beside her (“tabi tayo”), which she refused. She turned her back, but accused-appellant embraced her, made her face him, kissed her, removed her shorts and panty, and then had sexual intercourse. After the act, she said accused-appellant went to sleep. She added that her sister Marivic Bernaldez saw accused-appellant sleeping beside her with only his briefs, and Marivic reported the incident to their aunt Jonalyn Ramos. According to Mary Jane, after Jonalyn confronted her, she broke down and told her aunt “everything from the start” what accused-appellant did to her. With Jonalyn’s support, Mary Jane filed a complaint-affidavit.

Medico-Legal and Corroborative Testimonies

A medical examination was conducted on February 24, 1997 by Dr. Anthony Joselito R. Llamas, the medico-legal officer of the PNP, who issued a report. The doctor found that findings were compatible with recent sexual intercourse. He testified that Mary Jane tested positive for spermatozoa, indicating intercourse within less than 24 hours before the examination. He also testified that his examination showed evidence characterized as unculae myrtiformis, described as destruction of the vestigial portion of the complainant’s hymen, which he related to prior childbirth, and he noted that he did not see external signs of violence.

Marivic testified that at about two o’clock in the morning of February 24, 1997, she arrived from a party, spoke with Jonalyn for about fifteen minutes outside the house, and then saw accused-appellant and Mary Jane lying on the papag with accused-appellant embracing Mary Jane. Marivic then told Jonalyn what she saw, and Jonalyn accompanied her back to confirm. Jonalyn stated that she saw the father still embracing Mary Jane. She waited until Mary Jane woke up, asked what happened, and, after Mary Jane initially remained silent and then cried, Mary Jane allegedly told her that accused-appellant had just raped her for the fourth time. Jonalyn then supported Mary Jane in bringing the complaint to the police station.

Police Investigation and the Defense

SPO2 Elpidio M. Cahanding testified that upon receipt of Mary Jane’s complaint, they invited accused-appellant for questioning.

Accused-appellant testified as the sole witness for the defense. He asserted that he was at work overtime and thus could not have gone home on the night of December 23, 1996, and that he was also out working on the night of January 11, 1997. He denied raping Mary Jane on January 30, 1997 and on February 23, 1997. He also claimed that he could not have been found by Marivic sleeping beside Mary Jane on the papag on February 24, 1997, because, according to him, the papag was “my bed.” He further denied that Mary Jane looked like his wife and suggested that Jonalyn and Mary Jane filed the rape charges to seize his assets, including the P120,000.00 benefits he received for the death of his wife and certain appliances transferred to his mother-in-law’s house while he was in jail.

Trial Court Findings and Automatic Review

On November 25, 1997, the RTC found accused-appellant guilty beyond reasonable doubt of four counts of rape, imposing the death penalty for each count and ordering him to pay Mary Jane P500,000.00 as moral damages. The cases then reached the Supreme Court on automatic review.

Accused-appellant assigned as errors that the trial court allegedly erred in finding his guilt beyond reasonable doubt and in according full weight to Mary Jane’s testimony. He argued that Mary Jane’s testimony failed to show that he used force and intimidation and that her behavior after the rapes, including staying in the same house and keeping quiet, did not show dishonor or lack of consent. He emphasized that Mary Jane was allegedly not an “innocent and inexperienced girl,” citing that she had run away from home at thirteen and had been impregnated by her boyfriend at fifteen, and he insisted that any sexual relations were “consensual.”

The Parties’ Contentions and the Court’s Evaluation of Credibility

The Court held that accused-appellant’s arguments lacked merit. It found that Mary Jane’s narration showed intimidation and fear. Specifically, she testified that although she would have liked to fight back, she could not because she was afraid of accused-appellant. The Court also considered Mary Jane’s testimony that after the first rape, accused-appellant warned her that he would kill her and her siblings if she reported the matter. It stressed that, in rape by a father, the father’s moral ascendancy and influence over his daughter takes the place of violence or intimidation.

The Court also rejected the assertion that Mary Jane kept quiet. It noted that she asked a coworker for help after the December 23, 1996 rape but nothing resulted. It also held that her failure to disclose the matter to relatives earlier was not inconsistent with her fear. She allegedly did not tell her relatives because she wanted to avoid destroying the family and preferred to solve her “problem” by herself. The Court further found that she did not try to run away because she did not want to leave her siblings, who by that time had no mother to take care of them.

As to the claim that Mary Jane had “loose morals” because of her past, the Court ruled that even assuming she had engaged in sexual relations before, she could still be the victim of rape. It reiterated that rape consists of carnal knowledge against the victim’s consent. Thus, where intimidation is shown to have forced the victim to submit, her moral character becomes immaterial. The Court likened the rationale to People v. Malagar, which held that the accused’s attempt to impugn the complainant’s moral character, even if true, did not help him when evidence showed the use of intimidation to force sex with the accused.

By contrast, the Court considered accused-appellant’s defense to be doubtful. It found his claim that the filing of the charges was motivated by an intent to take his assets difficult to accept. It reasoned that a daughter would not accuse her father of a grave offense like rape if she were not truly aggrieved. The Court also found inconsistencies in his testimony, including that even as he denied being home on December 23, 1996 by claiming he worked overtime, he admitted that he asked Mary Jane to clean his room that night and even slapped her when she requested permission to clean the room the next day. It further found that his alibi and denials could not prevail over the clear and convincing testimony of his daughter. The Court therefore affirmed the RTC’s finding of guilt for all four counts of rape.

Legal Basis for Modification of Penalty

While sustaining conviction, the Court modified the penalty. It held that the death penalty could not be imposed because the informations failed to allege an essential qualifying circumstance: the filial relationship between accused-appellant and complainant. Although the informations alleged that complainant was a minor and seventeen years old, the Court held that the allegation of the relationship was essential because, together with minority, it constituted a special qualifying circumstance that increased the penalty by degree. The Court reasoned that this

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