GR 186469; (June, 2012) (Digest)
G.R. No. 186469 ; June 13, 2012
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-appellee, vs. JOVER MATIAS y DELA FUENTE, Accused-appellant.
FACTS
The accused-appellant, Jover Matias, was convicted by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of rape under Section 5(b) of Republic Act No. 7610 (the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act). The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals (CA). The case stemmed from an incident on June 6, 2004, where Matias, a neighbor, forcibly pulled the minor victim, AAA, into a house under construction. There, he made her lie on a bamboo bed, removed her clothing, and sexually assaulted her, threatening to kill her if she reported it. AAA, born on April 23, 1991, was 13 years old at the time. She immediately reported the assault to her family and authorities. A medical examination confirmed injuries consistent with sexual intercourse. Matias denied the accusation, proffering an alibi that he was working at a nearby house.
ISSUE
The sole issue is whether the CA committed reversible error in affirming the RTC’s conviction of the accused-appellant for “rape” under Section 5(b) of R.A. No. 7610 .
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the legal designation of the crime and the penalty. The Court clarified the applicable law based on the victim’s age. Citing People v. Pangilinan, the Court held that when a victim of sexual abuse is below 12 years old, the proper charge is statutory rape under Article 266-A(1)(d) of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). However, if the victim is 12 years or older, as AAA was at age 13, the offender may be prosecuted either for sexual abuse under Section 5(b) of R.A. No. 7610 or for rape under Article 266-A of the RPC (except its statutory rape provision), but not for both, to avoid double jeopardy. The RTC and CA erroneously used the term “rape” under the special law. The correct designation for the conviction is “sexual abuse” under Section 5(b) of R.A. No. 7610 .
Regarding the penalty, Section 5(b) of R.A. No. 7610 prescribes reclusion temporal medium to reclusion perpetua. Since no aggravating or mitigating circumstances were present, the penalty was imposed in its medium period. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum term is taken from the penalty next lower in degree (prision mayor medium to reclusion temporal minimum), and the maximum is the medium period of reclusion temporal. The Court thus imposed an indeterminate sentence of 12 years of prision mayor as minimum to 17 years, 4 months, and 1 day of reclusion temporal as maximum. Moral damages were also increased to ₱50,000.00 in line with prevailing jurisprudence.