SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 259106. August 3, 2022.]
SHERWIN MORILLO y MENDOZA, petitioner, vs.PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES,respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution datedAugust 3, 2022 which reads as follows: HTcADC
"G.R. No. 259106 (Sherwin Morillo y Mendoza v. People of the Philippines). — This is a Petition for Review on Certiorari assailing the Court of Appeals' (CA) Decision 1 dated March 11, 2021 in CA-G.R. CR No. 43511 finding Sherwin Morillo y Mendoza guilty of Lascivious Conduct under Section 5 (b) of Republic Act (RA) No. 7610. 2
After review of the records, the Court resolves to DENY the petition for failure to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error as to warrant the exercise of the Court's appellate jurisdiction. As correctly ruled by the CA, all the elements of the offense were proven by the prosecution. However, the Court finds it proper to modify the penalty. Under Section 5 (b) of RA No. 7610, the prescribed penalty for Lascivious Conduct is reclusion temporal in its medium period to reclusion perpetua. Absent any modifying circumstance, the maximum term of the indeterminate sentence must be within the medium period of the prescribed penalty which has a range of seventeen (17) years, four (4) months, and one (1) day to twenty (20) years. On the other hand, the CA correctly imposed the minimum term of the indeterminate sentence which must be within the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed or prision mayor medium to reclusion temporal minimum ranging from eight (8) years and one (1) day to fourteen (14) years and eight (8) months.
FOR THESE REASONS, the petition is DENIED. The Court of Appeals' Decision dated March 11, 2021 in CA-G.R. CR No. 43511 is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION. Petitioner Sherwin Morillo y Mendoza is found guilty of Lascivious Conduct under Section 5 (b) of Republic Act No. 7610 and is sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of twelve (12) years and one (1) day of reclusion temporal, as minimum, to seventeen (17) years, four (4) months, and one (1) day of reclusion temporal, as maximum. The petitioner is ordered to pay the victim P50,000.00 civil indemnity, P50,000.00 moral damages, and P50,000.00 exemplary damages, which shall all earn interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum from the date of finality of this judgment until fully paid.
SO ORDERED." (J. Kho, Jr., on leave.)
By authority of the Court:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 41-58. Penned by Associate Justice Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Apolinario D. Bruselas, Jr. and Angelene Mary W. Quimpo-Sale.
2. Also known as the "Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act."