SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 217029. October 14, 2015.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. NESTOR GOZON, JR., a.k.a ERNESTO GOSON), accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated14 October 2015which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 217029(People of the Philippines v. Nestor Gozon, Jr., a.k.a Ernesto Goson)
The records of this case were elevated to this Court on March 19, 2015, pursuant to the Court of Appeals (CA) Resolution, dated October 1, 2014, which gave due course to the notice of appeal filed by accused-appellant Nestor Gozon, Jr.(accused-appellant). 1
On July 6, 2015, the Court issued a resolution notifying the parties that they could file their respective supplemental briefs, if they so desired, within thirty (30) days from notice.
In its Manifestation, 2 dated August 28, 2015, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) stated that it would dispense with the filing of a supplemental brief considering that the issues were already fully and exhaustively discussed in its Appellee's Brief filed on June 27, 2013 before the CA. Accused-appellant in his Manifestation (In Lieu of Supplemental Brief), 3 dated September 10, 2015, stated that he would no longer file a supplemental brief as he had exhaustively discussed the issues in his Brief for the Accused-Appellant 4 filed with 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 lower courts should be modified pursuant to recent jurisprudence. In People v. Gambao, 5 the Court set the minimum indemnity and damages in cases where death should be the penalty as warranted by the facts, but not imposable under the present law, as follows:
1. P100,000.00 as civil indemnity;
2. P100,000.00 as moral damages which the victim was assumed to have suffered and thus needed no proof; and
3. P100,000.00 as exemplary damages to set an example for the public good. 6
The CA, nonetheless, appropriately held that an interest at the rate of 6% per annum shall be imposed on all damages awarded from the date of finality of this judgment until fully paid pursuant to prevailing jurisprudence.
WHEREFORE, the appeal is DISMISSED. The August 22, 2012 Decision of the Regional Trial Court, Quezon City, Branch 94, in Criminal Case No. Q-08-153480, however, is MODIFIED to read as follows:
WHEREFORE, finding accused Nestor Gozon, Jr., also known as Ernesto Gozon, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Qualified Rape, defined and penalized under Article 266-A paragraph l, in relation to Article 266 B(1), of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353, the Court sentences him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua without the possibility of parole; and to pay AAA the amounts of P100,000.00 as civil indemnity, P100,000.00 as moral damages, P100,000.00 as exemplary damages, and to pay the costs of suit. The amounts of damages awarded shall have an interest of 6% per annum from the date of finality of judgment until fully paid. (Carpio, J., on official leave; Brion, J., designated Acting Chairperson, per Special Order No. 2222, and Peralta, J., designated Acting Member, per Special Order No. 2223, both dated September 29, 2015)
SOORDERED."
Very truly yours,
MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
By:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Rollo, pp. 16-17.
2. Id. at 18-19.
3. Id. at 23-24.
4. CA rollo, pp. 15-26.
5. G.R. No. 172707, October 1, 2013, 706 SCRA, 508.
6. Id. at 535.