SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 212161, March 29, 2017
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JUANITO ENTRAMPAS, Accused-Appellant.
D E C I S I O N
LEONEN, J.:
This is a tragic story resulting from an act of depravity: an 11-year old girl gave birth to a child after she was repeatedly raped by the common-law husband of her biological mother.
This is an appeal from a conviction for two (2) counts of statutory rape.
We emphatically affirm the conviction.
The setting of this case is in a rural sitio of Barangay Bawod, San Isidro, Leyte.1 It is far from the urban centers where courts sit, but it is a place where the writs shaped by the rule of law can still provide succor.
Accused-appellant Juanita Entrampas (Entrampas) and BBB were common-law spouses.2 They co-habited for eight (8) years, from 1995 to 2003. AAA, BBB's daughter from a previous relationship, lived with them.3 She looked up to Entrampas as her adoptive father.
Entrampas, then 50 years old,4 was a farmer who tilled a rice field half a kilometer away from their home.5 BBB collected shrimps and shells for a living,6 and would usually be at sea or by the beach from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.7 AAA was still in elementary school.8
Sometime in February 2003, at about 5:00 p.m., AAA arrived from school to cook for her family. She was interrupted by Entrampas and was asked to go to the room upstairs.9 The 11-year old girl obeyed.10
"Once in the room, [Entrampas] forced AAA to lie down on the floor[.]"11 She was warned by accused-appellant that if she shouted he would kill her. She was also warned that if she told her mother about what he was about to do, he would kill them.12
Entrampas took off the child's panty, undressed himself, and inserted his penis into her vagina. AAA felt pain as he penetrated her. Her vagina bled. She cried and pleaded him to stop.13
As he consummated the act, she noticed a knife on the wall within his reach. She became more fearful. After satisfying himself, he again warned the child that he would kill her arid her mother if she informed anyone about the incident.14
She was left in the room sobbing.15
That evening, after arriving from the sea shore, BBB asked AAA why she was crying. Fearful of Entrampas' threats, AAA did not tell her mother.16
The incident occurred again a week later in February 2003.17 Entrampas told AAA to lie down, penetrated her vagina, and then left her.18 AAA stayed in the room upstairs, crying, until her mother came home at 10:00 p.m.19
Over the following months, Entrampas repeatedly raped AAA, who, out of fear, remained silent.20
In July 2003, BBB observed some changes in her daughter's body.21 AAA's breasts had swollen, she had lost her appetite, and she was always sleeping.22 By September 2003, AAA's belly had become noticeably bigger.23 She was brought to the dispensary where her urine test was submitted for analysis.24 AAA's pregnancy test yielded positive.25
Fearing for her life, AAA refused to reveal the identity of the father of her child.26 Neighbors suspected that Entrampas got her pregnant. BBB asked Entrampas, who, according to BBB, admitted that he was the father of AAA's child.27
On September 8, 2003, Entrampas and BBB went to BBB's brother, CCC, "to confess the crime he had committed against AAA."28 Entrampas allegedly felt remorseful and told CCC to kill him to avenge AAA. CCC immediately reported the matter to the police.29
On November 3, 2003, AAA gave birth to a baby boy at the North Western Leyte District Hospital of Calubian, Leyte.30
Before the Regional Trial Court, Entrampas was charged with two (2) counts of qualified rape under the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8353 (Anti-Rape Law of 1997).31 Two (2) separate informations were filed against him:
CRIMINAL CASE NO. CN-04-457Prosecution presented AAA's certificate of live birth, the laboratory report of AAA's pregnancy test, Dr. Robert C. Nicolas's certification dated October 26, 2004, and four (4) witnesses' testimonies.33
That sometime in the afternoon of February, 2003, in the Municipality of San Isidro, Province of Leyte, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the accused, actuated by lust, did, then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, through threat and intimidation, succeed in having carnal knowledge of [AAA], who was eleven (11) years old and the daughter of his common-law wife, without her consent and against her will.
CRIMINAL CASE NO. CN-04-458
That sometime in the evening of February, 2003, in the Municipality of San Isidro, Province of Leyte, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, actuated by lust, did, then and there, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, through threat and intimidation, succeed in having carnal knowledge of [AAA], who was eleven (11) years old and the daughter of his common-law wife, without her consent and against her will.
CONTRARY TO LAW with the qualifying circumstances that the victim was under eighteen (18) years of age and the offender is the common-law spouse of the mother of the victim.32
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered convicting the accused, Juanito Entrampas, in Criminal Cases [sic] Nos. CN-04-457 and CN-04-458, [guilty] beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of statutory rape as charged in the Informations and as defined and penalized in Article 299-A of the Revised Penal Code, and in accordance with Criminal Case No. CN-04-457, this Court is left with no alternative but to impose upon the accused, Juanito Entrampas, the penalty of Reclusion Perpetua with all the accessory penalties provided for by law, and to indemnify the victim, [AAA] the sum of Fifty Thousand (P50,000.00) Pesos, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency and to pay Ten Thousand (P10,000.00) Pesos, as moral damages, and to pay the cost, and in Criminal Case No. CN-04-458, the accused, Juanito Entrampas, is sentenced to suffer the penalty of Reclusion Perpetua, with all the accessory penalties provided for by law and to indemnify the victim, [AAA], the sum of Fifty Thousand (P50,000.00) Pesos, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency and to pay Ten Thousand (P10,000.00) Pesos, as moral damages and to pay the cost.In the Decision53 dated November 6, 2013, the Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the Regional Trial Court. It held that the inconsistencies alleged by Entrampas did not "touch upon the commission of the crime nor affect [the minor victim]'s credibility."54 The dispositive portion of this Decision reads as follows:
The herein accused, being a detention prisoner, is entitled to a full credit of his preventive imprisonment in the service of his sentence.
SO ORDERED.52 (Emphasis in the original)
[R]everence and respect for the elders is deeply rooted in Filipino children and is even recognized by law. Thus, it is against human nature for a ... girl to fabricate a story that would expose herself, as well as her family, to a lifetime of shame, especially when her charge could mean the death or lifetime imprisonment of her own father.68 (Citation omitted)Her failures to resist the sexual aggression and to immediately report the incident to the authorities or to her mother do not undermine her credibility. The silence of the rape victim does not negate her sexual molestation or make her charge baseless, untrue, or fabricated.69 A minor "cannot be expected to act like an adult or a mature experienced woman who would have the courage and intelligence to disregard the threat to her life and complain immediately that she had been sexually assaulted."70
Applications for delayed registration of birth go through a rigorous process. The books making up the civil register are considered public documents and are prima facie evidence of the truth of the facts stated there. As a public document, a registered certificate of live birth enjoys the presumption of validity. It is not for [the owner of the birth certificate] to prove the facts stated in his [or her] certificate of live birth, but for petitioners who are assailing the certificate to prove its alleged falsity.77 (Citations omitted)Thus, it is not for AAA to prove that the Certificate of Live Birth reflects the truth of the facts stated in it; rather, it is for accused-appellant to rebut the presumption that AAA's birth certificate sufficiently establishes her birth on November 11, 1991. Accused-appellant miserably failed to do this.
Article 266-A. Rape, When and How Committed. Rape is committed -Accused-appellant also committed the crime with the aggravating/qualifying circumstance that he was the common-law spouse of AAA's mother. Under Article 266-B (1) of the Revised Penal Code, as amended:
1) By a man who shall have carnal knowledge of a woman under any of the following circumstances: a) Through force, threat, or intimidation; b) When the offended party is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; c) By means of fraudulent machination or grave abuse of authority; and d) When the offended party is under twelve (12) years of age or is demented, even though none of the circumstances mentioned above be present. (Emphasis supplied)
Article 266-B. Penalties. - Rape under paragraph 1 of the next preceding article shall be punished by reclusion perpetua.As to the circumstances qualifying rape, the prosecution established that the victim was less than 12 years old when the incident happened in February 2003, and that the offender was her guardian.90 AAA's Certificate of Live Birth proved her minority. AAA was accused-appellant's foster daughter. AAA and her mother, who was accused-appellant's fanner live-in partner, resided with accused-appellant in his house.
...
The death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with any of the following aggravating/qualifying circumstances:
1) When the victim is under eighteen (18) years of age and the offender is a ... guardian ... or the common-law spouse of the parent of the victim[.]
Endnotes:
1Rollo, p. 7, Court of Appeals Decision.
2 Id.
3 Id.
4 CA rollo, p. 39.
5Rollo, p. 7.
6 Id.
7 CA rollo, p. 36.
8Rollo, p. 7.
9 CA rollo, p. 36.
10Rollo, p. 7.
11 Id.
12 Id.
13 Id.
14 Id.
15 Id.
16 Id.
17 Id. at 8.
18 CA rollo, pp. 36-37.
19 Id.
20Rollo, p. 8.
21 Id.
22 Id.
23 Id.
24 CA rollo, p. 37.
25Rollo, p. 8.
26 Id.
27 Id.
28 Id.
29 Id.
30 Id.
31 CA rollo, p. 33.
32 Id. at 33-34.
33 Id. at 34-35.
34 Id. at 35.
35 Id.
36 Id.
37 Id. at 36-37.
38 Id. at 37.
39 Id.
40 Id.
41 Id.
42 Id.
43 Id. at 38.
44 Id.
45 Id.
46 Id. at 39.
47 Id. at 38. The time stated that he would go to the field was mistakenly reported as 5:00 p.m.
48Rollo, p. 9.
49 Id.
50 Id. at 13-14.
51 CA rollo, pp. 33-44. The Decision was penned by Executive Judge Crescente F. Maraya, Jr. of Branch 11, Regional Trial Court, Calubian, Leyte.
52 Id. at 44.
53Rollo, pp. 4-19. The Decision was penned by Associate Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando and concurred in by Associate Justices Carmelita Salandanan-Manahan and Ma. Luisa C. Quijano-Padilla of the Twentieth (20th) Division of the Court of Appeals, Cebu City.
54 Id. at 13-14.
55 Id. at 18.
56 Id. at 20-22.
57 Id. at 23.
58 Id. at 14.
59 Id.
60People v. Lor, 413 Phil. 725, 736 (2001) [Per J. Ynares-Santiago, En Banc], citing People v. Zaballero, 340 Phil. 371 (1997) [Per J. Panganiban, Third Division]; citing People v. Sabellina, G.R. Nos. 93514, December 1, 1994, 238 SCRA 492 [Per J. Bellosillo, First Division].
61People v. Avanzado, Sr., 242 Phil. 163, 169 (1988) [Per J. Me1encio-Herrera, Second Division].
62 Id.
63 Id.
64See Pielago v. People, 706 Phil. 460, 468-469 [Per J. Reyes, First Division]; Campos v. People, 569 Phil. 658, 671 (2008) [Per J. Ynares-Santiago, Third Division]; People v. Galigao, 443 Phil. 246, 260 (2003) [Per J. Ynares-Santiago, En Banc]; Ricalde v. People, G.R. No. 211002, January 21, 2015 8-10 [Per J. Leonen, Second Division].
65People v. Dimanawa, 628 Phil. 678, 689 (2010) [Per J. Nachura, Third Division].
66People v. Dominguez, 661 Phil. 105, 119 (2011) [Per J. Sereno (now Chief Justice), Third Division].
67People v. Dimanawa, 628 Phil. 678 (2010) [Per J. Nachura, Third Division].
68 Id. at 689.
69People v. Lor, 413 Phil. 725, 736 (2001) [Per J. Ynares-Santiago, En Banc].
70 Id.
71People v. Dimanawa, 628 Phil. 678, 688 (2010) [Per J. Nachura, Third Division].
72People v. Corpuz, 591 Phil. 459, 467 (2009) [Per J. Carpio-Morales, Second Division].
73Rollo, p. 15.
74 The birth certificate was registered on July 9, 2002.
75Baldos v. Court of Appeals, 638 Phil, 601, 608 (2010) [Per J. Carpio, Second Division].
76Baldos v. Court of Appeals, 638 Phil. 601 (2010) [Per J. Carpio, Second Division].
77 Id. at 608
78People v. Dimanawa, 628 Phil. 678, 689 (2010) [Per J. Nachura, Third Division].
79People v. De Jesus, 695 Phil. 114, 122 (2012) [Per J. Brion, Second Division].
80Rollo, pp. 7-8.
81 Id.
82 Id.
83 Id.
84 Id.
85 Id.
86 Id. at 8.
87 Id.
88 CA rollo, pp. 36-37.
89Rollo, p. 8.
90 Id. at 7.
91 CA rollo, p. 37.
92Rollo, p. 8.
93 CA rollo, p. 38.
94People v. Liwanag, et al., 415 Phil. 271, 295 (2001) [Per J. Ynares-Santiago, First Division].
95People v. Jugueta, G.R. No. 202124, April 5, 2016 29-30 [Per J. Peralta, En Banc].
96 Id.
97 Id.
98Ricalde v. People, G.R. No. 211002, January 21, 2015 16 [Per J. Leonen, Second Division].