Case Summary (G.R. No. 110524)
Petitioner and Respondent
Petitioner (in intervention): Filipinas Investment & Finance Corporation (seeks to recover the car).
Respondent: The People of the Philippines (criminal prosecution of the four appellants).
Key Dates
June 26, 1967 – Abduction and successive rapes of the complainant.
June 29, 1967 – Formal complaint filed; first medical examination.
July 1967 – Arrests and extrajudicial statements of the appellants.
October 2, 1967 – Trial court conviction and car confiscation order.
February 6, 1971 – Supreme Court decision.
Applicable Law
1935 Philippine Constitution (Bill of Rights, right to counsel).
Revised Penal Code, Articles 45 (forfeiture of instruments), 48 (penalty for complex crime), 63, 70.
RA 4111 (amendment to Article 335, provision on rape; penalty uplifted to reclusion perpetua or death when multiple assailants or deadly weapon).
Rules of Court, Rules 112–115 (preliminary investigation, arraignment, rights to counsel).
Procedural History
• July 1967 – Basilio Pineda pleads guilty to abduction with rape; judgment reserved pending proof of aggravating circumstances.
• October 1967 – Trial court finds all four guilty of forcible abduction with rape and sentences each to death; dismisses accomplices; orders car confiscation.
• Appeal by Jaime Jose, Pineda, Aquino and automatic review for Canal.
• Intervention by financier seeking to recover the mortgaged car.
Facts of the Case
• At 4:30 a.m., De la Riva was driving home in Quezon City when a convertible with four men tried to bump her Bantam car.
• The driver (Pineda) blocked her gate, dragged her out, and all four men forced her into their car by violence and threats with a Thompson.
• They blindfolded her, drove to Pasay City’s Swanky Hotel, and successively raped her, threatening acid disfigurement.
• After the assault, they ordered her to redress, warned her not to report, and released her near the Free Press Building.
• She reported the crime on June 29, identified each appellant from photographs and in person, and underwent a medico-legal examination revealing multiple bruises and genital injuries.
Evidence Presented
• Complainant’s sworn statements and live testimony—detailed account of abduction, threats, strip-and-rape acts by all four.
• Medico-legal report by Dr. Ernesto Brion—contusions on limbs and genital injuries consistent with violent rape; absence of spermatozoa explained by delay and self-douching.
• Extrajudicial confessions/statements of Jose, Aquino, Canal—admissions of participation and conspiracy, though each attempted partial exculpation.
• Identification by complainant in police custody of each accused.
Defense Theories
• Strip-tease for hire: appellants claimed De la Riva consented to perform for P1,000, with P100 down, thereby negating lewd design and rape.
• Voluntary sexual intercourse: each appellant asserted consensual relations or limited participation.
• Self-infliction or isolation: bruises and injuries attributed to complainant or brief solo encounters.
• Coercion in statements: Jose and Canal alleged police force and supplied details.
Trial Court Decision
• Rejected defense strip-tease theory as “utterly inverisimilar,” undermined by medical findings and commonsense.
• Held complainant’s uncorroborated testimony credible, corroborated by physical evidence and admissions.
• Sentenced all four appellants to death for forcible abduction with rape (complex crime) and ordered confiscation of their car as instrument of the crime.
Issues on Appeal
- Sufficiency of evidence on abduction and successive rapes.
- Validity of extra-judicial confessions; claim of coercion and lack of counsel.
- Applicability of multiple death penalties versus single death penalty.
- Lawfulness of car confiscation given registered ownership and intervenor’s chattel mortgage.
- Alleged prejudice due to pretrial publicity.
Supreme Court Analysis
• Abduction and rape: unanimous finding of conspiracy and felonious intent by all four; complainant’s detailed testimony and medico-legal report fully establish both crimes.
• Extrajudicial statements: held voluntary, taken in presence of witnesses, sworn before a fiscal; partial exculpations within statements support authenticity.
• Right to counsel: under the 1935 Constitution and Rules 112–115, counsel is guaranteed from arraignment onward; exclusion before arraignment does not render statements inadmissible.
• Multiple death penalties: uph
Case Syllabus (G.R. No. 110524)
Facts of the Case
- On June 26, 1967 at about 4:30 AM, movie actress Magdalena “Maggie” de la Riva was driving home in Quezon City with her maid, Helen Calderon, when a Pontiac convertible with four men aboard (later identified as appellants) tried to force her car off the road twice.
- Basilio Pineda, Jr. emerged from the Pontiac, grabbed Maggie by the arm, dragged her out of her car despite her screams and her maid’s attempts to help, and shoved her into the Pontiac where the other three men assisted.
- The four men—Pineda (driver), Jaime Jose, Edgardo Aquino, and Rogelio Canal—threatened Maggie with a Thompson submachine gun and acid to keep her silent, then transported her to Swanky Hotel in Pasay City.
- At the hotel, Maggie was blindfolded briefly, led to a second‐floor room, compelled to disrobe and exposed, and then successively raped by each of the four men under threats and physical violence.
- After the ordeal, the men dressed Maggie, blindfolded her again, and abandoned her near the Free Press Building at about 6:00 AM, warning her not to report them or they would disfigure her with acid.
Criminal Complaint and Charges
- An amended complaint charged the four as principals in the crime of forcible abduction with rape, and three others as accomplices, citing five aggravating circumstances: use of a motor vehicle, nighttime commission, abuse of superior strength, added ignominy, and deliberate augmentation of wrongs.
- Basilio Pineda, Jr. pleaded guilty; the trial judge reserved judgment on aggravating circumstances until after the prosecution’s evidence.
- Jaime Jose, Edgardo Aquino, and Rogelio Canal pleaded not guilty and were arraigned for trial.
Trial Court Proceedings
- After pretrial and presentation of evidence, on October 2, 1967, the trial court found all four principals guilty beyond reasonable doubt of forcible abduction with rape (Art. 335, Revised Penal Code, as amended).
- Each principal was sentenced to death and ordered to indemnify the complainant ₱10,000; the three alleged accomplices were acquitted for lack of prima facie evidence.
- The court ordered confiscation of the Pontiac used in the commission of the crime pursuant to Art. 45 of the Revised Penal Code.
Evidence Presented
- Complainant’s uncontradicted testimony, supported by her immediate outcry to her mother and multiple sworn extrajudicial statements identifying each appellant.
- Medico‐legal report and photographs by Dr. Ernesto Brion documenting multiple contusions (chest, shoulders, arms, thighs, knee, legs), genital injuries, and testimony that such injuries were consistent with violent rape on June 26, 1967.
- Appellants’ own signed statements (Exhs. G, I, J) admitting knowledge of the plan, participation in the abduction, presence at the hotel room, but attempting to minimize or recharacterize their role.
Defense Theory
- Appellants maintained that the complainant agreed to