EN BANC
[G.R. No. 129164. July 24, 2000]
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. ALEJANDRO
SURILLA y AYENG, accused-appellant.
D E C I S I O N
DE LEON, JR., J.:
Before us for
automatic review is a decision rendered by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of
Quezon City, Branch 103 sentencing accused-appellant Alejandro Surilla y Ayeng
to the supreme penalty of death for the crime of rape committed against his 14
year-old daughter, Maricel Surilla y Gonzaga.
The facts of the
case are as follows:
Maricel Surilla was
born on July 3, 1981 to Gigi Gonzaga and herein accused-appellant Alejandro
Surilla y Ayeng, who is a bus driver by profession. In 1983, when Maricel was
two (2) years old, Gigi and Alejandro separated. Thereafter, Alejandro lived
with Renilda Saludes. Maricel went to live with Alejandro and Renilda when she
was nine (9) years old.
Alejandro begot
three (3) children with Renilda namely, Marivic (who was then 5 years old in
1996), Malou, four (4) years old and Marlon seven (7) months old. Alejandro,
Renilda, Maricel and the three (3) children lived in Laguna before they
transferred to Renilda’s home province in Lipata Buenavista, Marinduque. On
January 6, 1996, however, the entire family transferred to a one room house in
No. 769 Kalayaan-C, Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City.
On the evening of
March 16, 1996, while Maricel was sleeping in their house with her three
siblings and herein accused-appellant Alejandro, she awoke to find the latter
on top of her. Accused-appellant who was wearing shorts at that time, removed
Maricel’s skirt and shirt including her underwear. He then kissed her and
mashed her breast and proceeded to do the same with her private part. He
threatened to kill the hapless girl should she report the incident to anyone.
Then he inserted his penis in her genitals.[1] Renilda was not around at the time because she went
home to Marinduque.[2]
Maricel testified
that it was not the first time that she was raped by herein accused-appellant.
She declared that he had forced himself on her on various occasions even before
March 16, 1996. However, except for May 22, 1995, she could not recall the
exact dates when the other incidents occurred.[3]
Renilda Saludes
testified that she has been living with accused-appellant Alejandro Surilla
since January 1990. Renilda said Alejandro had two children by his previous
relationship with Gigi Gonzaga. One of the children died while complainant
Maricel came to live with them when she turned nine years old. Renilda, Alejandro,
Maricel and her siblings lived in Laguna but they subsequently transferred to
the home province of Renilda in Marinduque. The entire family, however,
relocated to no. 769 Kalayaan Street in Commonwealth, Quezon City on January 6,
1996.[4]
On April 21, 1996,
Renilda asked Maricel to buy gas. Since Maricel was gone for a considerable
period of time, accused-appellant became impatient and asked Renilda to fetch
Maricel. Renilda found Maricel talking to a playmate ("kalaro") at
that time. When Renilda recounted to accused-appellant that she saw Maricel
talking to a playmate, accused-appellant got mad and boxed Renilda. Renilda
then left their house and proceeded to her cousin’s residence a few meters away
to avoid accused-appellant’s fury but he followed her and boxed her thrice,
prompting Renilda’s relatives to intervene. Renilda reported the matter to the
police but they took her complaint lightly saying that it was just a petty
domestic quarrel.[5]
When Renilda
finally decided to go home, she found their house locked, so she had no
alternative but to return to her cousin’s house. A few minutes after Renilda
arrived at her cousin’s home, Maricel herself arrived with some personal
belongings and disclosed that accused-appellant forced himself on her while Renilda
was in Marinduque. In the morning of April 22, 1996, Renilda accompanied
Maricel to the police station to file a complaint against accused-appellant.
After going to the police station, they proceeded to the Philippine National
Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory Service in Kamuning, Quezon City for medical
examination.[6]
The medical
examination conducted on Maricel Surilla by Rosaline O. Cosidon, MD revealed
the following findings:
GENERAL AND
EXTRAGENITAL:
Fairly developed,
fairly nourished and coherent female subject. Breasts are conical with pale
brown areola and nipples from which no secretion can be pressed out. Abdomen is
flat and soft.
GENITAL:
There is scanty
growth of pubic hair. Labia majora are full, convex, and gaping with the
pinkish brown labia minora presenting in between. On separating the same is
disclosed an elastic, fleshy type hymen with deep healed laceration at 6
o’clock position. External vaginal orifice offers moderate resistance to the
introduction of the examining index finger and virgin sized vaginal speculum.
Vaginal canal is narrow with prominent rugosities. Cervix is normal in size,
color and consistency with moderate amount of menstrual blood oozing from the
external os.
CONCLUSION:
Subject is in
non-virgin state physically.
There are no
external signs of recent application of any form of trauma.
REMARKS:
Vaginal and
peri-urethral smears are negative for gram-negative diplococci and for
spermatozoa.[7]
On the same day,
accused-appellant was arrested and brought to the Philippine National Police
(PNP) Central Police District Command, Batasan Hills, Police Station 06 for
investigation.
On April 24, 1996,
a complaint was filed against accused-appellant before the Regional Trial Court
of Quezon City which reads as follows:
The undersigned
accuses ALEJANDRO SURILLA Y AYENG of the crime of RAPE, committed as follows:
That on or
about the 16th day of March 1996 in Quezon City, Philippines, the said accused,
with lewd design, by means of force, violence and intimidation, did there and
then, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously have carnal knowledge with the
complainant, MARICEL SURILLA Y GONZAGA, 14 years of age, all done against her
will and consent, to the damage and prejudice of said Maricel Surilla y
Gonzaga.
CONTRARY TO LAW.[8]
Accused-appellant
pleaded not guilty upon arraignment[9] and instead offered the following version of the
story:
Accused-appellant
is a bus driver by profession. Complainant is his daughter with Gigi Gonzaga
who now resides in Butuan. On March 16, 1996, accused-appellant was assigned to
ply a route in Tacloban. He stayed there for four (4) days.[10] When he returned home, he brought with him two young
women, namely, Tata and Anjanette, who were reportedly passengers in the bus he
was driving in Tacloban. The two girls, however, were in dire need of money and
had nowhere else to stay so accused-appellant generously offered the ladies to
stay at his house in Commonwealth, Quezon City for the time being.[11] On April 19, 1996, which was a Sunday,
accused-appellant just got his salary so he decided to have a drinking spree
with his friends. His daughter, Maricel, was then outside of their house when
he saw a man touch her belly. Accused-appellant asked Maricel who the man was
but Maricel refused to divulge the man’s identity, thus catching
accused-appellant’s ire and prompting him to spank her with a leather belt.[12]
In the evening of
the same day, accused-appellant indulged in a drinking spree with his friends
including Tata and Anjanette. The nephew of Renilda was also around at that
time and was exchanging jokes with the two women. Renilda, however, got jealous
of the two women. Although accused-appellant requested her to just stay inside
their house, Renilda did not take heed. Renilda later decided to go to the house
of her cousin so accused-appellant followed her and asked her to come home.
When Renilda refused, he boxed her twice.[13]
Accused-appellant
averred that, except for the aforesaid incidents when he hit his live-in
partner, Renilda, and his daughter Maricel, he could think of no reason why
they would impute so grave crime as the rape of his own daughter to him.
The trial court,
however, did not give credence to his testimony and on March 20, 1997 rendered
its decision, the dispositive portion of which reads as follows:
ACCORDINGLY,
judgment is hereby rendered finding the accused ALEJANDRO SURILLA Y AYENG,
GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of RAPE as a principal and he is
hereby sentenced to the supreme penalty of DEATH, the accused being the father
of the victim.
The accused is
also ordered to pay Maricel Surilla the sum of P50,000.00 as damages.
Costs vs. the accused.
SO ORDERED.[14]
Accused-appellant
now contends that the trial court erred in not acquitting him of the crime of
rape on the ground of reasonable doubt.
Accused-appellant
maintains that the charge of rape against him was merely fabricated by Renilda
and Maricel to get back at him for maltreating them. Accused-appellant avers
that had there been no quarrel between him and Renilda, and had he not spanked
Maricel, Renilda and Maricel would not have filed the complaint of rape against
him.
We are not
convinced.
This Court has set
three guiding principles in reviewing rape cases, viz.: (1) an accusation for
rape can be made with facility; it is difficult to prove but more difficult for
the person accused, though innocent to disprove; (2) in view of the intrinsic
nature of the crime of rape where only two persons are usually involved, the
testimony of the complainant must be scrutinized with extreme caution; and (3)
the evidence for the prosecution must stand or fall on its own merits and
cannot be allowed to draw strength from the weakness of the evidence for the
defense.[15]
Accused-appellant
would have this court believe that his live-in partner Renilda, and his
daughter, Maricel, are so consumed with feelings of hatred and revenge that
they filed the present complaint for rape against him for physically
manhandling them. Accused-appellant, in his peculiar brand of logic, points out
that Maricel and her stepmother are city dwellers who have been exposed to
television, movies, tabloid and printed matters. Hence, they are aware that a
complaint for rape could be made with facility and could be used against him
for his stern treatment towards them. Accused-appellant even goes so far as to
imply that his own daughter, Maricel, at the tender age of fourteen (14), is
not as innocent in the ways of the world since she often comes home late and
was even seen allowing a man to hold her belly.
Accused-appellant’s
bare and uncorroborated allegations are self-serving to say the least. Despite
his testimony that it was while he was having a drinking spree with his friends
that he had a quarrel with his live-in partner, Renilda, and spanked his
daughter, Maricel,[16] he failed to present any of his so-called friends to
testify for him during trial. Moreover, despite his claim that on March 16,
1996, he was in Tacloban plying a route for Ciudad Transport, the bus company
he was working for,[17] he could not present any evidence to corroborate his
claim that he was indeed assigned to work in Tacloban on the particular date
that the alleged rape occurred. He could have even presented the two women who
were his alleged passengers in Tacloban and who, according to him, were the
recipients of his magnanimous offer of free board and lodging in Quezon City to
bolster his claim that he was indeed in Tacloban on the aforesaid date but he
chose not to do so.
We find
complainant’s testimony, as well as the testimony of her stepmother, Renilda,
more credible than that of accused-appellant’s. As noted by the Solicitor
General, if Renilda and Maricel merely fabricated the charge of rape against
the accused-appellant, it would have been easier for Renilda to just say that
she witnessed the entire incident of rape on the fateful night on March 16,
1996. Renilda, however, like Maricel , was steadfast in her testimony that she
was in Marinduque at the time the incident happened. While it has taken some
time for Maricel to come out in the open and divulge the sexual abuses that she
had been receiving from her father even prior to March 16, 1996, this does not
detract from the credibility of her testimony that she was ravished by her
father. It was but natural for her to fear the fury of her father should she
disclose that he had been sexually assaulting her considering that
accused-appellant appears to have no qualms in using physical force against
members of his family. We note that during trial, the hapless girl broke down
and cried while narrating to the court how she was abused by her father.[18] The crying of the victim during her testimony is
evidence of the credibility of the rape charge with the verity born out of
human nature and experience.[19]
Contrary to the
claim of the accused-appellant, we find it most unnatural for a fourteen (14)
year old to concoct a tale of defloration against her very own father just to
get back at him for having physically manhandled her. Certainly, an unmarried
teenage lass would not ordinarily file a complaint for rape against anyone,
much less, her own father, undergo a medical examination of her private parts,
submit herself to public trial and tarnish her family’s honor and reputation,
unless she was motivated by a potent desire to seek justice for the wrong committed
against her. That complainant and her stepmother are city dwellers who have
been exposed to television, movies, tabloid and printed matters is completely
irrelevant. No woman in her right mind would publicly disclose that she is the
victim of the odious crime of rape, committed by her own father at that, which
debases her dignity, leaving a stigma on her honor and scarring her psyche for
life. Even when consumed with revenge, it takes a certain amount of
psychological depravity for a young woman to concoct a story which would send
her father to the gallows and drag herself and her family to a lifetime of
shame.
There is another
factor which militates against accused-appellant’s claim of innocence. As noted
by the trial court, accused-appellant escaped with three other inmates, from
the Quezon City Jail on September 23, 1996[20]and was recaptured only on November 5, 1996. The fact
that he was recaptured in Cabuyao, Laguna[21] belies his claim that he escaped because he merely
wanted to see his children who were at that time living in Quezon City. As
enunciated in the case of People vs. Villanueva, flight is indeed, an implied
admission of guilt and accused-appellant’s escape cannot but betray his guilt,
and his desire to evade responsibility therefor.[22]
We cannot, however,
impose the death penalty on accused-appellant for the simple reason that his
relationship to complainant Maricel Surilla was not alleged in the information
filed against him. Under Section 11 of Republic Act No. 7659 , otherwise known
as "An Act to Impose the Death Penalty on Certain Heinous Crimes Amending
for that Purpose the Revised Penal Code as Amended, Other Special Penal Laws,
and for Other Purposes," which amended Article 335 of the Revised Penal
Code, the death penalty shall be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with
any of the following attendant circumstances:
1.....When
the victim is under eighteen (18) years of age and the offender is a parent,
ascendant, step-parent, guardian, relative by consanguinity or affinity within
the third civil degree, or the common law spouse of the parent or victim
2.....When
the victim is under the custody of the police or military authorities
3.....When
the rape is committed in full view of the husband, parent, any of the children
or other relatives within the third degree of consanguinity
4.....When
the victim is a religious or a child below seven (7) years old
5.....When
the offender knows that he is afflicted with Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS) disease
6.....When
committed by any member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the
Philippine National Police or any law enforcement agency
7.....When
by reason or on occasion of the rape, the victim has suffered permanent
physical mutilation
While Republic Act
No. 7659 did not give a legal designation to the crime of rape attended by any
of the seven new circumstances introduced in Article 335, Revised Penal Code,
we have already referred to such crime as qualified rape.[23] The seven attendant circumstances are in the nature
of special qualifying circumstances which, unlike generic aggravating
circumstances which may be appreciated and proved even if not alleged, cannot
be considered as such unless so alleged in the information even if proved. The
special qualifying circumstances increase the penalties by degrees in contrast
with aggravating circumstances which affect only the period of penalty but do
not increase it to a higher degree.
Hence, we have
repeatedly emphasized that to effectively prosecute an accused for the crime of
qualified rape, the elements of the minority of the victim and her relationship
to the offender must concur. Failure to allege the age of the victim and her
relationship to the offender in an information for rape is a bar to the
imposition of the death penalty since age and relationship in this particular
form of rape is qualifying and not merely aggravating. The death penalty cannot
be imposed when the qualifying circumstances are not alleged in the information
for it would be violative of accused-appellant’s constitutional right to be
informed of the nature and cause of accusation against him.
At this point, we
note that while complainant testified that accused-appellant had committed
repeated sexual abuses against her prior to March 16, 1996, the trial court
correctly imposed one sentence for one count of rape against accused-appellant
since the information only charged him with one count of rape committed on
March 16, 1996.
Finally, we note
that the trial court awarded the sum of P50,000.00 to complainant
Maricel Surilla, by way of damages. Though not specified, the P50,000.00
was apparently intended as civil indemnity for the complainant since civil
indemnity is mandatory upon the finding of fact of rape. Complainant, however,
should also be awarded moral damages in the sum of P50,000.00 in
addition to civil indemnity. The fact that complainant has suffered the trauma
of mental, physical and psychological sufferings which constitute the bases for
moral damages are too obvious to require recital thereof at the trial by the
victim.[24]
WHEREFORE, the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Quezon
City, Branch 103 convicting accused-appellant Alejandro Surilla y Ayeng beyond
reasonable doubt of the crime of rape is AFFIRMED with the modification
that accused-appellant is sentenced to suffer the penalty of RECLUSION
PERPETUA and to pay the private complainant, Maricel Surilla, the sum of P50,000.00
by way of civil indemnity and P50,000.00 as moral damages.
SO ORDERED.
Davide, Jr., C.J.,
Bellosillo, Melo, Puno, Vitug, Kapunan, Mendoza, Panganiban, Quisumbing,
Purisima, Pardo, Buena, Gonzaga-Reyes, and Ynares-Santiago, JJ., concur.
[1] TSN, August 8, 1996, pp. 6-8.
[2] TSN, August 8, 1996, p. 11; August 9, 1996, p. 3.
[3] TSN, August 8, 1996, p. 10.
[4] TSN, August 9, 1996, pp. 12-13. Note, however, that
records indicate complainant’s address to be No. 769 Kalayaan-C, Barangay
Commonwealth Quezon City. Records,p.1.
[5] TSN, August 9, 1996, 1996, pp. 13-14.
[6] TSN, August 9, 1996, p. 14.
[7] Records, p. 58.
[8] Records, p. 1.
[9] Records, p. 21.
[10] TSN, February 12, 1997, pp. 4-5.
[11] TSN, February 12, 1997, pp. 11-13.
[12] TSN, February 12, 1997, pp. 6-7.
[13] TSN, February 12, 1997, pp. 9-10.
[14] Rollo, p. 13.
[15] People vs. Gabris, 258 SCRA 663 (1996); People vs. Excija,
258 SCRA 424 (1996); People vs. Echegaray, 257 SCRA 561 (1996); People vs.
Melivo, 253 SCRA 347 (1996); People vs. Obar, Jr., 253 SCRA 288 (1996); People
vs. Subido, 253 SCRA 196 (1996)
[16] TSN, February 12,1997, pp. 6, 9.
[17] TSN, February 12, 1997, pp. 4, 5.
[18] TSN, August, 8 1996, p. 7.
[19] People vs. Ramos, 296 SCRA 559, 570 (1998); People
vs. Gecomo, 254 SCRA 82, 96 (1996)
[20] Records, p. 33.
[21] Records, p. 40.
[22] 284 SCRA 501, 510 (1998)
[23] People vs. Ramos, 296 SCRA 559, 575 (1998); People vs.
Garcia, 281 SCRA 463, 486 (1997)
[24] People vs. Prades, 293 SCRA 411,431 (1998)