Title
People vs. Fabro y Arquiza
Case
G.R. No. 104954
Decision Date
Dec 13, 1994
Appellant convicted of rape after forcibly assaulting complainant, corroborated by physical evidence and his own admissions; penalty affirmed as reclusion perpetua.
rape
conviction
acquittal

Case Summary (G.R. No. 104954)

Factual Background

At the time of the incident, private complainant worked for Reyval Lopez as one of his five full-time, live-in maids. Among her co-workers was Janet Fabro, the appellant’s wife. The appellant previously worked for Lopez but was no longer in Lopez’s employ when the alleged rape occurred. Private complainant testified that her ordeal began around nine o’clock in the evening of May 14, 1989 when Lopez sent her to buy band-aids. Unable to purchase them, she proceeded to the Alicia store within the Tayug public market premises. On her way, she saw the appellant and he began trailing her without speaking. When she asked him to stop, he ignored her.

After she found the Alicia store already closed, she returned toward Lopez’s house. The appellant suggested they go to his cousin to buy band-aid. She disregarded the suggestion. Suddenly, the appellant grabbed her left hand and dragged her about eight to ten meters to a dark, deserted area. He kissed her on the lips. Private complainant struggled and, at some point, managed to bite the appellant’s hand. She attempted to escape but he pulled her back. He wrapped his hands around her neck as if to strangle her, and she lost consciousness. She did not know how long she passed out. She later regained consciousness when she heard a gunshot of unknown origin. She then found herself lying on the ground with the appellant by her side as the latter was zipping up his pants. She reported pain on her back and in her private parts, and she observed sticky matter on her sexual organ. She also realized that her pants were no longer on her, and she silently located and returned them. When a good samaritan, Jeffrey Cabrales, arrived, the appellant fled. Private complainant, together with Cabrales, reached Lopez’s residence at around ten o’clock that same night. She promptly and tearfully reported the incident to Lopez. That night, Lopez brought her to the police station, where she filed her complaint.

Medical and Physical Evidence

The following medical steps were taken at the Eastern Pangasinan District Hospital (EDPH). Dr. Leo Gerardo Bautista examined and conducted internal examination in connection with the complaint. The medical certificate recorded findings including a linear abrasion measuring about five centimeters on the anterior aspect of the elbow, and speculum/internal examination showing that the vaginal orifice admitted one finger with resistance, with contusions at the lateral aspects of the labia minora (one on each side), and no fresh hymenal lacerations and no vaginal lacerations. The hospital also conducted a vaginal smear for spermatozoa, which returned negative for spermatozoa (Exh. 2). The records reflected that the patient would need medical attendance and/or incapacitation for a specified number of days barring complications. Private complainant surrendered to authorities the denim pants and an orange t-shirt she wore during the attack after she returned to the police station the next day.

Appellant’s Version and Defense

Appellant presented a different narrative. He stated that on the night of May 14, 1989, he was visiting his wife at Lopez’s store when private complainant approached and asked him to accompany her to the public market. He claimed he initially hesitated but complied when his wife told him to go. According to appellant, they travelled along the road leading to the Ihaw-ihaw restaurant. Once they reached the market, private complainant allegedly told him to go home because there was nothing more to buy. Appellant claimed he proposed they go to his Ninong Jesus Divia, and she agreed. Appellant testified that on the way he kissed private complainant and began to undress her, and she allegedly did not stop him. He claimed private complainant embraced him and that he believed she was willing to fully give herself to him. He asserted that they did not consummate their love-making and only spent the night kissing each other.

Appellant admitted that a gunshot was fired that night while he was lying with private complainant on the ground. He testified that when they heard the shot, they stood up, and private complainant looked for her slippers. Cabrales allegedly appeared and accompanied private complainant home. Appellant also went home. On cross-examination, appellant admitted he sent a letter to Lopez and his common-law wife after he was charged with rape, asking for forgiveness. Appellant denied that he had a romantic relationship with private complainant, asserting they were merely friends.

Trial Court Proceedings

After trial, the RTC convicted appellant of rape. The decision found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced him to suffer Reclusion Temporal in its maximum period, from seventeen years, four months and one day to twenty years, and then applied the Indeterminate Sentence Law by imposing Prision Mayor as minimum and Reclusion Temporal as maximum. The RTC likewise ordered appellant to pay private complainant P20,000.00 as moral damages, with costs de oficio. The RTC also credited appellant for preventive imprisonment, accounting for the period from his arrest on August 17, 1989 until the decision’s rendition.

Court of Appeals Disposition

On April 24, 1992, the Court of Appeals affirmed appellant’s conviction but modified the penalty. Instead of the RTC’s imposed penalty structure, the Court of Appeals imposed reclusion perpetua. The modification reflected the appellate view of the proper penalty for the offense.

Issues Raised on Appeal

Appellant assailed the conviction on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. He also argued that the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the trial court’s judgment of conviction. Lastly, he contended that the Court of Appeals erred in increasing the penalty to reclusion perpetua from the RTC’s indeterminate prison term.

Appellate Court and Supreme Court Reasoning on Guilt

The Supreme Court held that appellant could not be exculpated and that the evidence established rape beyond reasonable doubt. Under Article 335(1) of the Revised Penal Code, rape required proof of two elements: first, that the accused had carnal knowledge of the offended party; and second, that sexual intercourse was achieved through the use of force or intimidation. The Court found these elements present.

On force or intimidation, the Supreme Court relied principally on private complainant’s testimony. She stated that the appellant grabbed her left hand, dragged her several meters, held her by the neck as if to strangle her, and caused her to faint. The Court also treated appellant’s own admissions as corroborative. During appellant’s testimony, the Court quoted exchanges in which appellant acknowledged that private complainant lost consciousness and that this timing coincided with his acts involving her clothing. The Court also noted the testimony of Reyval Lopez, who corroborated that private complainant arrived with disarrayed hair and bruises on her arms. The medical findings further supported the use of physical violence, including the linear abrasion on the left elbow and the contusions at the labia minora.

On carnal knowledge and the sufficiency of proof of sexual intercourse, the Supreme Court rejected appellant’s claim that the prosecution failed because private complainant did not directly testify on the act of sexual intercourse and because spermatozoa were not found and no fresh hymenal lacerations or vaginal lacerations were recorded. The Court treated private complainant’s inability to recount the act directly as consistent with the complainant’s unconsciousness during the assault, invoking People v. Palapal, and later reasoning in People v. San Pedro, which emphasized that adopting the defense theory would make it impossible to convict a person who rapes an unconscious victim. The Court reasoned that identity and the fact of violation may be inferred from events before and after loss of consciousness.

Applying that rule, the Court held that private complainant’s struggle with appellant until she fainted, and the circumstances upon regaining consciousness—she was aching, partially naked from the waist down, lying next to the appellant who was zipping up his pants, with her t-shirt soiled and sticky matter on the sexual organ—provided indirect but compelling proof of sexual assault during the period she was unconscious. The medical results did not negate rape. The Court reiterated the doctrine that complete penetration and ejaculation were not indispensable to constitute rape. It held that what mattered was penetration of the female organ, even if slight, and found support in the medico-legal findings of contusions on each side of the labia minora indicating an object was forced into the vaginal orifice.

The Court further treated appellant’s own testimony as an admission of sexual intercourse. It quoted portions of appellant’s direct examination where, after being asked what he did when private complainant surrendered, appellant responded that he “used” her, and when asked what “used” meant, he replied that “it will not enter.” The Court interpreted this in context to mean appellant acknowledged coitus but claimed incomplete penetration. It concluded that this confirmed sexual intercourse through the use of force and thus satisfied the element of carnal knowledge under the statute.

Additional Evidence of Guilt from Appellant’s Letter

The Supreme

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