G.R. No. 93029 August 10, 1993
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. VILLAMOR ACZON alias “Amor,” accused-appellant.

FACTS

On December 26, 1987, Emily Miranda and her cousin Jocelyn Calderon, after arriving in Roxas, Isabela, went with Emily’s boyfriend Freddie Simtioco and his friend Albert Diaz to watch a movie and later to the Roxas Central School. At the school, two men, later identified as Diosdado Aczon (at large) and accused-appellant Villamor Aczon, accosted them. Diosdado, pretending to be a PC soldier, accused the boys of smoking marijuana. When the group suggested going to the police station, the two men instead brought them to a school room where Freddie and Albert were robbed. The men then brought the two girls at gunpoint and knifepoint to a banana grove about a kilometer away. There, Villamor Aczon raped Emily Miranda. About thirty minutes later, Diosdado Aczon also raped her. Both girls were threatened not to report the incident. They reported the crime the next morning, and a medical examination was conducted on Emily. Villamor Aczon was charged with kidnapping with rape. At trial, his defense was alibi, claiming he was arrested by police between 7:00-7:30 PM and was in jail by 8:10 PM on the same evening, making it impossible for him to have committed the crimes, which the victim stated occurred past 10:00 PM. To support his alibi, he presented the police blotter. The trial court found him guilty and sentenced him to reclusion perpetua.

ISSUE

The main issue is whether the defense of alibi, supported by the police blotter, can prevail over the positive identification of the accused by the victim, Emily Miranda, for the crimes of kidnapping and rape.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the crime from kidnapping with rape to forcible abduction with rape. The Court ruled that the defense of alibi failed. The police blotter, instead of corroborating the alibi, established that the accused-appellant was arrested only after the robbery was reported and after the policemen, responding to the scene, found the robbers and the girls gone. The blotter entry for 8:15 PM showed that policemen chanced upon Villamor Aczon walking hurriedly with knives, and upon being brought to the station, he himself revealed that he and his cousin had robbed the victims and raped the girls. The Court noted that in rape cases, the exact time of the crime is not always precise due to the traumatic nature of the event, and minor inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony regarding the time do not undermine her credibility. The positive identification by the victim, who had ample opportunity to see her assailant during the ordeal, was given full credence. The Court found the defense counsel’s attempt to mislead by fabricating a fact in the brief regarding the blotter entry to be reprehensible. The penalty was modified because the information and evidence proved the crime of forcible abduction (taking the woman against her will for lewd purposes) with rape, not kidnapping. The more serious crime of rape carries the penalty of reclusion perpetua, which was imposed. The accused-appellant was sentenced to reclusion perpetua and ordered to indemnify Emily Miranda in the amount of P50,000.00.