GR 133191; (July, 2000) (Digest)
G.R. No. 133191 -93; July 11, 2000
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. WILFREDO ALARCON, EDDIE TOMPONG and EDUARDO GUMAWA, accused. EDDIE TOMPONG and EDUARDO GUMAWA, accused-appellants.
FACTS
On May 26, 1995, in Bugasong, Antique, eleven-year-old Aisha Dava was tending a carabao. Accused Wilfredo Alarcon, Eddie Tompong, and Eduardo Gumawa, after earlier teasing the victim, followed her. Tompong pushed Alarcon onto Aisha, and the three accused then subdued her. Eyewitness Melita Cancer, who was nearby, saw the three men holding and undressing the struggling and crying victim. Frightened, Cancer ran away. The victim was raped by the three accused and subsequently killed by a slashed neck.
The Regional Trial Court convicted all three accused as co-conspirators. In Criminal Case No. 5630 for rape with homicide, Tompong and Gumawa were sentenced to death, while the minor Alarcon received reclusion perpetua. Separate death penalties were also imposed for two counts of rape (Criminal Cases Nos. 5631 and 5632). The accused appealed, with Tompong and Gumawa assailing the credibility of the eyewitness and denying their presence at the crime scene.
ISSUE
The core issue is whether the guilt of accused-appellants Eddie Tompong and Eduardo Gumawa for the crimes of rape and rape with homicide was proven beyond reasonable doubt.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions but modified the penalties and damages. The Court found the testimony of eyewitness Melita Cancer credible, natural, and consistent. Her account was corroborated by the dying declaration of the victim, who identified her assailants before her death, and by the physical evidence and Alarcon’s own extrajudicial confession. The defense of denial and alibi by Tompong and Gumawa was weak and could not prevail over the positive identification by a credible witness.
Regarding penalties, the Court modified the trial court’s decision. For the complex crime of rape with homicide under Criminal Case No. 5630, the penalty of death imposed on Tompong and Gumawa was affirmed, as the crime was committed by more than two persons and the victim was a minor. However, for the two separate counts of rape (Criminal Cases Nos. 5631 and 5632), the Court reduced the penalty from death to reclusion perpetua. The Court held that the victim’s death resulted from a single killing incident, which was already integrated into and penalized under the complex crime of rape with homicide. To impose death for the separate rapes would constitute improper double jeopardy for the same homicidal act. The Court also adjusted the awards of civil indemnity and damages to conform with prevailing jurisprudence.