People v. Alvarez y Germones

FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. 223523. October 16, 2019.]

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs.MARIO ALVAREZ y GERMONES, accused-appellant.

NOTICE

Sirs/Mesdames :

Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution datedOctober 16, 2019which reads as follows:

"G.R. No. 223523 (PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MARIO ALVAREZ y GERMONES, Accused-Appellant) — We dismiss this appeal from the October 29, 2014 1 decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR-H.C. No. 06378, whereby the CA affirmed the joint decision dated August 14, 2013 2 by the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 172, Valenzuela City, finding the accused-appellant guilty of two counts of rape through sexual assault and one count of rape.

The CA held that the testimony of the victim, AAA passed the test of credibility; and that the RTC validly rejected Mario's alibi which remained uncorroborated.

We agree.

The imputation of ill-motives against AAA and her family remained unsubstantiated and cannot be accorded any credence. Further, the allegations that AAA's claim of Rape because she loves Mario and only wanted to prevent him from marrying his live-in partner, are unacceptable. Testimonies of victims given in a categorical, straightforward, spontaneous, and frank manner are considered worthy of belief, for no woman would concoct a story of defloration, consent to an examination of her private parts and thereafter allow herself to be perverted in a public trial if she was not motivated solely by the desire to have the culprit apprehended and punished. 3 Hence, the positive identification by AAA that Mario abused her prevails over his claim that someone else had done it.

Indeed, the elements of Rape under par. 1 (a) of Art. 266-A of the Revised Penal Code and that of rape through sexual assault have been established beyond reasonable doubt. AAA recounted the three instances when the accused-appellant abused her, two of which, he inserted his finger inside her vagina and attended by force and intimidation. On their third encounter, she was forced into having carnal knowledge with him. The fact of carnal knowledge is punishable by reclusionperpetua while rape by sexual assault is punishable by reclusiontemporal medium to reclusionperpetua.

Following Article 64 (1) of the Revised Penal Code, since there was neither aggravating nor mitigating circumstances present, the penalty to be imposed should be in the medium period. Hence, Mario is sentenced to suffer the penalty of 2 years, 4 months, and 1 day of prisioncorreccional medium as minimum, to 8 years and 1 day of prisionmayor medium as maximum for each count of rape by sexual assault.

Further, following Our ruling in People v. Jugueta, 4 We shall modify the award of monetary damages as follows: for the charge of rape, the awards of civil indemnity, moral and exemplary damages shall be increased to P75,000.00 each; and for the charge of rape by sexual assault, the civil indemnity, moral damages and exemplary damages shall also be increased to P75,000.00 each. All these amounts shall be subject to interest of six percent (6%) per annum from the finality of the decision until fully paid.

WHEREFORE, the Court DISMISSES the appeal; and AFFIRMS the decision dated October 29, 2014 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 06378 with the following MODIFICATIONS:

(1) For Criminal Case Nos. 276-V-09 and 278-V-09, the accused Mario Alvarez y Germones is GUILTY of two counts of rape by sexual assault and is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of 2 years, 4 months and 1 day of prisioncorreccional medium as minimum to 8 years and 1 day of prisionmayor medium as maximum for each count of rape by sexual assault. He is also ordered to pay in favor of the victim P75,000.00 as civil indemnity, P75,000.00 as moral damages and P75,000.00 as exemplary damages plus interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum from the finality of the decision until fully paid imposed on the said amounts.

(2) For Criminal Case No. 277-V-09, the accused Mario Alvarez y Germones is found guilty of rape and is sentenced to reclusionperpetua. He is also ORDERED to pay P75,000.00 as civil indemnity, P75,000.00 as moral damages and P75,000.00 as exemplary damages plus interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum from the finality of the decision until fully paid imposed on the said amounts.

SO ORDERED."Perlas-Bernabe, J.,on official business;Gesmundo, J.,designated as Acting WorkingChairperson per Special Order No. 2717 dated October 10, 2019;Zalameda, J.,designated as Additional Member per Special OrderNo. 2712 datedSeptember 27, 2019.

Very truly yours,

(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADivision Clerk of Court

 

Footnotes

1.Rollo, pp. 2-21; penned by Associate Justice Carmelita Salandanan Manahan with the concurrence of Associate Justice Japar B. Dimaampao and Associate Justice Elihu A. Ybañez.

2. CA rollo, pp. 47-51; penned by Judge Nancy Rivas-Palmones.

3.People v. De Guzman, G.R. No. 188352, September 1, 2010, 629 SCRA 784, 796.

4. G.R. No. 202124, April 5, 2016, 788 SCRA 331, 382.