SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 221474. June 22, 2016.]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. JORGE A. SORIANO, accused-appellant.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated 22 June 2016 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 221474 — (People of the Philippines v. Jorge A. Soriano)
The records of this case were elevated to this Court on December 4, 2015, pursuant to the Court of Appeals (CA) Resolution, dated May 6, 2015, which gave due course to the notice of appeal filed by accused-appellant Jorge A. Soriano (accused-appellant).
On January 27, 2016, the Court issued a Resolution 1 notifying the parties that they could file their respective supplemental briefs, if they so desired, within thirty (30) days from notice.
On March 10, 2016, the Office of the Solicitor General filed its Manifestation, 2 dated March 8, 2016, stating that it would no longer file a supplemental brief. On April 15, 2015, accused-appellant filed his Manifestation in Lieu of Supplemental Brief, 3 stating that he was adopting his Appellant's Brief filed before the CA as his supplemental brief.
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 imposed by the CA for the two (2) counts of qualified rape in Criminal Cases Nos. 07-614 and 07-615 should be modified. In People v. Jugueta, 4 the Court set the minimum indemnity and damages where death is the penalty warranted by the facts but is 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 is assumed to have suffered and thus needs no proof; and
3. P100,000.00 as exemplary damages to set an example for the public good.
WHEREFORE, the February 17, 2015 Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR HC No. 05283 is AFFIRMED with the following MODIFICATIONS:
WHEREFORE, the Court finds accused Jorge A. Soriano guilty beyond reasonable doubt,
(i) in Criminal Cases Nos. 07-612 and 07-613, of two (2) counts of Acts of Lasciviousness, and hereby sentences him to suffer an indeterminate penalty of Fourteen (14) Years and Eight (8) Months of reclusion temporal, as minimum, to Twenty (20) Years of reclusion temporal, as maximum, for each count; and to indemnify the private complainant in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) for each count;
(ii) in Criminal Cases Nos. 07-614 and 07-615, of two (2) counts of Qualified Rape of a minor by the common-law spouse of the victim's parent and sentences him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole, for each count; and to indemnify the private complainant in the amount of One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00) for each count, as well as One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00) as moral damages, and One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00), as exemplary damages, for each count; and, AHDacC
(iii) In Criminal Cases Nos. 07-616 to 07-620, of five (5) counts of Rape committed under paragraph 2, Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, in relation to paragraph 1, Article 266-B, of the same code, and hereby sentences him to suffer the indeterminate penalty of Eight (8) Years of prision mayor, as minimum, to Sixteen (16) Years of reclusion temporal, as maximum; and to indemnify the private complainant in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) for each count, as well as Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) as moral damages, and Thirty Thousand Pesos (P30,000.00) as exemplary damages, for each count.
SO ORDERED. (Del Castillo, J., on official leave)"
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Rollo, p. 21.
2. Id. at 23-24.
3. Id. at 27-29.
4. G.R. No. 202124, April 5, 2016.