G.R. No. L-11196; March 8, 1916
THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. EUSTAQUIO YUMUL, defendant-appellant.

FACTS:
On the night of June 30, 1914, the defendant Eustaquio Yumul, a municipal policeman, entered a house in Bacolor, Pampanga, where Donata Infante, a girl of about 15 years of age, was sleeping. He had sexual intercourse with her. The girl’s grandfather, Lino Infante, discovered them and took both to the house of the barrio lieutenant, Feliciano Mendoza. The lieutenant ordered them to remain there until the next day for reporting to authorities. After the grandfather left and while the lieutenant and others were asleep, Yumul took the girl from the lieutenant’s house. He brought her to a rice field where he again lay with her, and then to the house of Tomasa Sangalang. Yumul left the girl there on a pretext and did not return. The next day, Sangalang brought the girl to town, where she and her grandfather filed a complaint. The defendant claimed the intercourse was consensual and that the girl willingly accompanied him. The trial court convicted Yumul of abduction with violence and sentenced him to reclusion temporal.

ISSUE:
Whether the defendant is guilty of abduction with violence under Article 446 of the Penal Code, or of the lesser offense of abduction with consent.

RULING:
The Supreme Court modified the conviction. It found that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the abduction was effected with violence or intimidation. The circumstances, particularly the lack of disturbance when the girl was taken from the barrio lieutenant’s house, suggested her consent. However, the Court upheld that an abduction did occur, as the girl was taken from the lieutenant’s house without the latter’s knowledge. The offense was therefore abduction with the consent of the offended party and with lewd designs, under Article 446 of the Penal Code. The age of the offended party was established to be about 15, not over 18 as suggested by a disputed baptismal certificate. The aggravating circumstances of abuse of public position (as a policeman) and nocturnity were present, with no mitigating circumstances. Applying the penalty in its maximum period, the Court sentenced Yumul to four years of prision correccional, with corresponding accessory penalties, an indemnity of P300 to the offended party, and the obligation to maintain any offspring.