SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 227314. March 22, 2017.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,vs. JOEL CORTEZ, accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated22 March 2017which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 227314 (People of the Philippines v. Joel Cortez)
The records of this case were elevated to this Court on October 18, 2016, pursuant to the Court of Appeals (CA) Resolution, 1 dated September 30, 2015, which gave due course to the notice of appeal filed by Joel Cortez (accused-appellant).
On December 5, 2016, the Court issued a Resolution 2 notifying the parties that they could file their respective supplemental briefs, if they so desired, within thirty (30) days from notice.
On February 3, 2017, accused-appellant filed his Manifestation (in Lieu of Supplemental Brief) 3 stating that he would be adopting his appellant's brief as his supplemental brief because no new material issues were discovered. On February 6, 2017, the Office of the Solicitor General filed its Manifestation in Lieu of Supplemental Brief 4 stating that it would no longer file a supplemental brief considering that no new transactions, occurrences or events had occurred since it filed its appellee's brief before the CA.
After a perusal of the records of the case, the Court resolves to dismiss the appeal for failure of accused-appellant to sufficiently show reversible error in the challenged decision to warrant the exercise of the Court's appellate jurisdiction.
The Court, however, finds that the award of damages by the CA should be modified to conform to recent jurisprudence. 5 The civil indemnity, moral damages, and exemplary damages should be increased to P75,000.00 each.
WHEREFORE, the July 16, 2015 Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 06437 is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION, in that, accused-appellant Joel Cortez should also pay AAA the amounts of P75,000.00 as civil indemnity, P75,000.00 as moral damages and P75,000.00 as exemplary damages. The amounts of damages awarded shall have an interest of six percent (6%) per annum computed from the date of finality of judgment until fully paid. CAIHTE
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
By:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. CA rollo, p. 149.
2.Rollo, pp. 21-22.
3.Id. at 23-25.
4.Id. at 28-30.
5.People v. Jugueta, G.R. No. 202124, April 5, 2016.