New mode

This case is another example of the new mode of committing rape against a woman as provided in R.A. 7610, which amended Article 266 of the Revised Penal Code. This is the case of Ana (not her true name).

The accused in this case is Berto. He is one of the carpenters who constructed the house of Ana’s family. He lives in a nearby barangay who apparently got attracted to Ana without Ana being aware of it. Somehow he cannot forget Ana even after the construction was finished.

So one rainy evening, while Ana was about 10 meters away from their house, walking home with an umbrella, a man whom she recognized as Berto suddenly emerged from a dark portion of the street and waylaid her. Obviously taken aback by Berto’s sudden appearance, Ana then ask him if there was any problem and even invited him to have supper in their house.

Berto however reacted by warning her to be “quiet or else I will kill you.” Then he grabbed Ana’s arm and dragged her toward a nearby church. Upon reaching the left side of the church structure, Berto pushed Ana to the ground and pinned her down with his knees on top of her back and holding her left arm.  Under such a situation Berto was able to pull down Ana’s garterized shorts and panty with his free hand as he kissed her ears and her face. Ana kept on struggling and tried kicking and boxing Berto. She shouted for help but the heavy downpour drowned her voice. In the course of their struggle, Berto somehow could not satisfy his lust and merely succeeded in inserting his finger on Ana’s vagina against her will.

As Ana continued her struggle, Berto loosened his hold and she was able to crawl out and break free. Ana then ran toward their house which was just ten meters away. And when she reached their house her mother saw her half naked, without her underwear, with blood on her legs and mud all over her body. Shocked at what she saw, her mother was impelled to immediately report the incident at a nearby police station.

Ana submitted herself for medical examination the following day and the examining physician found fresh and complete hymenal lacerations showing definite evidence of abuse or sexual contact.

And so Berto was charged with rape for willfully, unlawfully and feloniously committing the sexual assault on Ana by inserting his finger into her genital organ against her will and consent by means of force, threat and intimidation and with lewd designs. Ana herself testified during the trial, together with her mother, the medical examiner and the police investigator.

For his part Berto raised the defense of alibi by stating that on said date and hour he was at their barangay drinking with his friends after coming from another barangay to attend the burial of a relative.  He said he went home at about 7:30 pm and his sister-in-law who also testified, even saw him go to sleep immediately. It was while in deep slumber when he was suddenly awakened by the police who brought him and detained him at the police station after being informed of the complaint for rape filed against him.

The trial court however found Berto guilty as charged and sentenced him to imprisonment of 4 years, 2 months and 1 day as minimum, up to 6 years and 1 day as maximum. The court did not accept his alibi because it was not impossible for him to be at the scene of the crime considering that it was only 30 minutes away from his barangay by tricycle. Besides, his bare denial cannot outweigh Ana’s affirmative testimony pointing to him as the perpetrator as she knew and saw him prior to the incident during the construction of their house.

This decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals (CA) with the modification that Bert was also sentenced to pay Ana, civil indemnity, moral and exemplary damages of P30,000 each. Berto still appealed the case to the Supreme Court raising for the first time the prosecution’s failure to prove that he employed force on Ana considering that there is total absence of physical evidence of defensive wounds clearly showing that there was voluntariness on her part.

But the Supreme Court (SC) still upheld the ruling of the RTC and the CA. The SC said that the uniform factual findings of both court which entails evaluating the credence of Ana’s account of her sordid experience in the hands of Berto should be accorded great weight and respect. The court says that Berto is really guilty of rape by sexual assault under Paragraph 2, Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code as amended by R.A. 7610. The gravamen of this kind of rape is the “insertion of the penis into another’s mouth or anal orifice, or any instrument or object into another person’s genital or anal orifice.”  This is also known as “instrument or object rape” or gender free rape as distinguished from rape of a woman through sexual intercourse (Carrera vs. People, G.R. 217804, September 2, 2015).

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