FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 240476. October 3, 2018.]
MA. CHRISTINA ADOLFO y DE VEGA, petitioner,vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution datedOctober 3, 2018which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 240476 (Ma. Christina Adolfo y De Vega v. People of the Philippines). — The petitioner's motion for an extension of thirty (30) days within which to file a petition for review on certiorari is GRANTED, counted from the expiration of the reglementary period.
After a review of the record, the Court resolves to DENY the petition for failure to satisfactorily show that the Court of Appeals (CA) committed reversible error in upholding the conviction of petitioner Ma. Christina Adolfo y De Vega for violation of Section 10 (a) of Republic Act No. (R.A.) No. 7610 or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
The issues raised in the petition call for a re-examination of the factual findings by the courts below. It is settled that factual questions are not the proper subject of an appeal by certiorari. This Court will not review facts, as it is not our function to analyze or weigh all over again evidence already considered in the proceedings below. While the rule limiting review to errors of law admits of exceptions, none of them applies in this case. As such, the Court is bound by the findings of fact by the CA, which affirmed the findings of fact of the Regional Trial Court (RTC). CAIHTE
Granting that exceptional circumstances exist that warrant a review, the merits of the case still fail to convince. As the CA observed, private complainant's positive and straightforward testimony is more than sufficient to convict petitioner. 1 A minor's testimony will suffice to convict a person accused of a crime so long as it is credible. 2 Petitioner also cannot successfully invoke the case of Bongalon v. People, 3 as it is not on all fours with this case. In Bongalon, the laying of hands on the minor was done at the spur of the moment, in anger and out of therein petitioner's fatherly concern for the personal safety of his minor daughters. There was no intention on his part to humiliate or embarrass the minor. It is different in this case, where the record shows that petitioner uttered demeaning and threatening remarks towards private complainant before she boxed her at the left breast when they met along the street, without any provocation at all on the part of private complainant and causing her pain and humiliation. This is nothing else but physical abuse that was intended to debase, degrade and demean the intrinsic worth and dignity of private complainant as a child.
WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED. The March 15, 2018 Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR No. 39758 is AFFIRMED. Petitioner Ma. Christina Adolfo y De Vega is found GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of child abuse punishable under Section 10 (a) of R.A. No. 7610 and is sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of four (4) years, nine (9) months and eleven (11) days of prision correccional as minimum to six (6) years, eight (8) months and one (1) day of prision mayor as maximum.
SO ORDERED." Bersamin, J., on official travel.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, p. 39.
2.Id., citing People v. Delpino, G.R. No. 171453, June 18, 2009, 589 SCRA 515.
3. G.R. No. 169533, March 20, 2013, 694 SCRA 12.