THIRD DIVISION
[G.R. No. 232075. January 28, 2019.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,vs. GERARDO S. RICO, JR., accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Third Division, issued a Resolution dated January 28, 2019, which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 232075 (PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee v. GERARDO S. RICO, JR., accused-appellant). — The Court NOTES the letter [in vernacular] dated June 12, 2018 of accused-appellant [N213-1902 of DORM-3D-2], requesting assistance in relation to his Motion for Reduce (sic) of Sentence in the Court of Appeals, Cebu City.
This resolves the Appeal 1 of the Court of Appeals February 23, 2017 Decision, 2 which affirmed with modification the Regional Trial Court December 17, 2012 Decision 3 convicting Gerardo S. Rico, Jr. (Rico) of rape under Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended.
In its April 17, 2017 Resolution, 4 the Court of Appeals gave due course to accused-appellant Rico's Notice of Appeal and elevated the case records to this Court on April 26, 2017. 5
In its September 11, 2017 Resolution, 6 this Court informed the parties that they may submit their respective supplemental briefs. Both accused-appellant and plaintiff-appellee People of the Philippines, through the Office of the Solicitor General, filed their respective Manifestations on November 28, 2017 7 and December 5, 2017. 8
After considering the parties' arguments and the records of this case, this Court resolves to DISMISS accused-appellant's appeal for failing to show any reversible error in the assailed Court of Appeals Decision, warranting this Court's appellate jurisdiction.
As to the penalties imposed on accused-appellant, this Court affirms the penalty of reclusion perpetua for rape under Article 266-A, Paragraph (1), but modifies the indeterminate penalty for rape under Article 266-A, Paragraph (2) of the Revised Penal Code, as amended.
Rape by sexual assault, when committed with the use of a deadly weapon, is punishable by prision mayor to reclusion temporal9 or a duration of six (6) years and one (1) day to 20 years. As there was no attendant aggravating or mitigating circumstance, the imposable penalty is in the medium period, or from 10 years, eight (8) months, and one (1) day to 15 years and four (4) months, under Articles 64 and 65 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, 10 the maximum penalty should be within the imposable penalty stated above, while the minimum shall be taken from the penalty lower in degree, i.e., prision correccional, or from six (6) months and one (1) day to six (6) years. Thus, the indeterminate penalty of six (6) years of prision correccional, as minimum, to 12 years and one (1) day of reclusion temporal, as maximum, imposed by the Regional Trial Court is appropriate.
WHEREFORE, the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Court of Appeals are ADOPTED. The assailed February 23, 2017 Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR HC No. 01634 is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATIONS, to read as follows:
IN LIGHT OF ALL THE FOREGOING, the assailed Decision dated December 17, 2012 of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 22, Iloilo City, in Criminal Case Nos. 08-65042 and 08-65043, is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION. Accused-Appellant GERARDO S. RICO, JR. is found GUILTY of the crimes of rape and rape through sexual assault against AAA.
For the crime of rape through sexual intercourse, under Criminal Case No. 08-65042, accused-appellant is sentenced to the penalty of reclusion perpetua. He is ordered to pay AAA the amounts of: (1) Seventy-Five Thousand Pesos (P75,000.00) as civil indemnity; (2) Seventy-Five Thousand Pesos (P75,000.00) as moral damages; and (3) Seventy-Five Thousand Pesos (P75,000.00) as exemplary damages.
For the crime of rape through sexual assault, under Criminal Case No. 08-65043, accused-appellant is sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of six (6) years of prision correccional, as minimum, to twelve (12) years and one (1) day of reclusion temporal, as maximum. He is likewise ordered to pay AAA the amounts of: (1) Thirty Thousand Pesos (P30,000.00) as civil indemnity; (2) Thirty Thousand Pesos (P30,000.00) as moral damages; and (3) Thirty Thousand Pesos (P30,000.00) as exemplary damages. 11
All awards of damages are subjected to legal interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum from the date of finality of this decision until fully paid. 12
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) WILFREDO V. LAPITANDivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 20-22. The Appeal was filed under Rule 124, Section 13, Paragraph (c) of the Rules of Court, as amended by A.M. No. 00-5-03-SC or the Amendments to the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure to Govern Death Penalty Cases (2004).
2.Id. at 4-19. The Decision was penned by Associate Justice Pamela Ann Abella Maxino and concurred in by Associate Justices Pablito A. Perez and Gabriel T. Robeniol of the Twentieth Division, Court of Appeals, Manila.
3. CA rollo, pp. 45-59. The Decision in the case, docketed as Crim. Case No. 08-65042 and 08-65043, was penned by Presiding Judge Guilljie D. Delfin-Lim of Branch 22, Regional Trial Court, Iloilo City.
4.Rollo, p. 23.
5.Id. at 1.
6.Id. at 26-27.
7.Id. at 32-35.
8.Id. at 28-31.
9. REV. PEN. CODE, art. 266-B, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353 (1997).
10. Act No. 4103 (1933).
11.People v. Jugueta, 783 Phil. 806 (2016) [Per J. Peralta, En Banc].
12.Nacar v. Gallery Frames, 716 Phil. 267 (2013) [Per J. Peralta, En Banc].