451 Phil. 283
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
When arraigned on March 2, 1998, appellant, duly assisted by counsel, pleaded "not guilty" in both cases which were consolidated and jointly tried.Criminal Case No. 5488-97-C
That sometime in September 1989, at at (sic) Brgy. Maahas, Municipality of Los Baños Province of Laguna and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, through force, violence and intimidation and with lewd design did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously have carnal relation with his daughter, one AAA fourteen (14) years old, a minor, against her will and consent to her damage and prejudice.
CONTRARY TO LAW.[2]Criminal Case No. 5487-97-C
That on or about July 22, 1997, at Brgy. Maahas, Municipality of Los Baños Province of Laguna and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, through force, violence and intimidation and with lewd design did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously have carnal relation with his daughter, one AAA twenty-two (22) years old, against her will and consent, to her damage and prejudice.
CONTRARY TO LAW.[3]
ACCORDINGLY, judgment is hereby rendered as follows:Hence, the present appeal, appellant assigning the following errors to the trial court:
In Criminal Case No. 5487-97-C, this Court finds accused Oscar Calamlam, Sr. GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Rape as defined and penalized under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and hereby sentences him to suffer the penalty of Reclusion Perpetua.
Accused is further ordered to indemnify the victim AAA the sum of P50,000.00 as moral and compensatory damages.
In Criminal Case No. 5488-97-C, this Court finds accused Oscar Calamlam, Sr. GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Rape as defined and penalized under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and hereby sentences him to suffer the penalty of Reclusion Perpetua.
Accused is further ordered to indemnify the victim the sum of P50,000.00 as moral and compensatory damages.
With costs against the accused in both cases.
SO ORDERED.[17]
I. THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN FINDING THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT GUILTY BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT OF TWO COUNTS OF RAPE.Appellant posits that AAA's charges are rendered suspect by the delay of almost eight years in filing them from the alleged occurrence of the first rape incident; that AAA's return to their residence, even after the alleged first rape incident, despite the fact that she was already boarding in a house near her place of work, casts serious doubt on her charges;[19] that it would be impossible for him to have committed the crimes since they lived in one compound with AAA's maternal grandmother and aunt; that her testimony that she did not tell anyone of the rape incidents because she did not want to involve anyone runs counter to her friend Lychin Rivel's testimony that she (AAA) tearfully told her that she would commit suicide if said friend did not help her;[20] and that the information charging him with the first count of rape does not state the date of the commission of the crime with sufficient certainty as to give him an opportunity to prepare for his defense.[21]
II. THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN ORDERING THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT TO INDEMNIFY VICTIM IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF P100,000.00 AS MORAL AND COMPENSATORY DAMAGES.[18]
That there was considerable delay on AAA's part in reporting the incident does not dent her credibility. Failure or delay in reporting a carnal violation committed by a father against his daughter due to threats is hardly unjustified.[23] For the father's moral ascendancy can lead the daughter to suffer in silence.[24]
Q: The date of September 1989 do you recall of any unusual incident that happened to you? x x xA: The rape sir. Q: Who raped you? A: My father. Q: When you said your father who is your father? A: Oscar Calamlam Sr. Q: In what place were you raped? A: In our house located in Maahas. Q: More or less what time was it? A: Between 12:15 to 12:30 sir. Q: Midnight? A: Noon your honor. Q: In what portion of the house were you raped by your father? A: Inside our room. Q: Can you tell us in brief how your father was able to rape you in your own house in September 1989? A: I have just came (sic) from the school then at 12:15 noon so I came to the house and I was surprised he was alone. Normally he does no (sic) let my brothers and sister to (sic) leave before 1:00 because theirs (sic) classes start at 1:00 but at that time he was alone. Q: When you arrived in your house, where did you proceed? A: In the kitchen because he told me to eat. Q: Did you eat as told by your father? A: Yes, sir. Q: After eating what did you do? A: I was changing (sic) clothes because I was going to wash dishes. Q: Where did you change clothes? A: Inside our room. Q: What happened when you changed your dress? A: When I passed by the living room he was no longer in the living room and when I returned to the room he was there. Fiscal: May I manifest your honor that the witness is crying.
After you found your father inside that room, what did you do?A: I did not mind him. Q: What happened next? A: He pushed me on the bed and I asked him "Bakit po?" and he told me to stop. Q: After you said you were thrown by your father what did your father do to you? A: He boxed me on my stomach and on my side. Q: What did you do when you said you were boxed by your father in (sic) your side and in (sic) your stomach? A: I fell on the bed and held my hands like this, (Witness raised her hand) and then he removed my panty. Q: After removing your panty what did your father do? A: He also removed her (sic) brief. Q: After your father removed his brief and you were already lying down, what did you do? A: I was crying. Q: Why? A: Because I already knew then what will happen sir because at that time I asked him "Sabi po ninyo hindi ninyo gagawin sa akin ang ginawa ninyo kay ate." Fiscal: May we again manifest that the witness is crying. Q: After telling your father and he removed his brief what did he do? A: He did what he wanted to do and raped me. Q: What exactly did he do to you? A: He opened my legs and inserted his private part into mine. Q: What were you doing at that time your father was inserting his private part to (sic) your private part? A: I was crying because it was painful. Q: You said he was able to insert his penies (sic) to (sic) your private organ? A: It was "mahapdi na masakit". Q: After your father has (sic) inserted his private part in to your private part, what happened next? A: I do not know because after those things he told me not to tell my mother because if I told it (sic) to my mother he would kill me together with my brothers and sisters. x x x[22] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied)
In a long line of cases, this Court has held that delay in reporting rape incidents, in the face of threats of physical violence, cannot be taken against the victim. A rape victim's actions are oftentimes overwhelmed by fear rather than by reason. It is this fear, springing from the initial rape, that the perpetrator hopes to build a climate of extreme psychological terror, which would, he hopes, numb his victim into silence and submissiveness. Incestuous rape magnifies this terror, because the perpetrator is a person normally expected to give solace and protection to the victim. Furthermore, in incest, access to the victim is guaranteed by the blood relationship, proximity magnifying the sense of helplessness and the degree of fear.Thus, AAA's delay in reporting the first rape incident can be attributed to the fear instilled in her by the incessant threats and intimidation, not to mention the constant physical abuse inflicted on her by appellant who undoubtedly exercises moral ascendancy over her. It was commonsensical that she feared the wrath of appellant who, by his own admission,[26] had absolutely no qualms in using physical force against members of his family.[27] That fear could have indeed overcome AAA is not difficult to believe as appellant was in possession of two guns.[28]x x x
The pattern of instilling fear and terror, utilized by the perpetrator in incestuous rape to intimidate his victim into submission is evident in virtually all similar cases which have reached this Court: the rapist perverts whatever moral ascendancy and influence he has over his victim in order to intimidate and force the latter to submit to repeated acts of rape over a period of time. In many instances, he succeeds and the crime is forever kept on a lid. In a few cases, the victim suddenly finds the will to summon unknown sources of courage to cry out for help and bring her depraved malefactor to justice.
Given this pattern, we have repeatedly ruled that the failure of the victim to immediately report the rape is not indicative of fabrication.x x x In all of these and other cases of incestuous rape, the perpetrator takes full advantage of his blood relationship, ascendancy, and influence over his victim, both to commit the sexual assault and to intimidate the victim into silence. Unfortunately for some perpetrators of incestuous rape, their victims manage to break out from the cycle of fear and terror. In People v. Molero, we emphasized that "an intimidated person cowed into submitting to a series of repulsive acts may acquire some courage as she grows older and finally state that enough is enough, the depraved malefactor must be punished."[25]
AAA went on to declare that after that slapping incident, she managed to escape from appellant's clutches by staying at a boarding house near her place of work, but appellant again fetched her, telling her that her youngest brother, to whom she was very close, was very sick.[30]
Q: Where is this house of Susan Layos? A: She was renting that house located at Checkpoint at the back of bulalohan. Q: Where is this Checkpoint? A: Mapayapa sir. Q: You said your father sometime on (sic) January went there and poked a gun (sic) at you, can you tell us how he came to know the place where you were living where Susan Layos was boarding? A: He told me he saw me when he went to bulalohan to meet somebody. I was at the bathroom then when he came to the house and he entered the house asking Susan Layos of my whereabouts and Susan Layos told him that she will call me but he did not wait for Susan Layos to call me then he rushed on (sic) the bathroom and poked a knife at me. He told me if I will not go with him he will kill me so Susan Layos told me to go with my father because she was afraid. Q: You said that because of what your father did Susan Layos was so scared that she asked you to go with your father? A: At first I told Susan Layos I will not go with my father but Susan Layos told me to go with him because she was afraid then. I was still talking with Susan when my father slapped me so I went with him.[29]
This Court is not persuaded. Even when consumed with revenge, it takes a certain amount of psychological depravity for a young woman to fabricate a story which could snuff out the life of her own father or put the most of his remaining life in jail and drag herself and the rest of her family to a lifetime of shame.[39] The usual plaint by indictees for rape that the charges against them came about as a result of family feuds, resentment, or revenge can not sway this Court from lending full credence to the testimony of AAA who remained steadfast throughout her testimony.[40]
Q: You said a while ago that your daughter, the complainant in this case has a kissmark, when did you find this kissmark if you can still remember? A: I could recall that it happened between the month of April and May. I remember when she came home I saw that kissmark and she was also putting ice on her face. And when I saw the kissmark on her neck I beat her and hurt her. x x xQ: And you are saying that because of that incident when you saw these red marks on her left and right neck you beat her that is the reason why your daughter filed these charges against you? A: That is what I know.[38]
x x x At huag kang matakot dahil nasasaiyo ang akin paglaya huag basta maniniwala saiyong (Ate Jane). Bibilugin ang ulo mo! x x x Sabihing mo ring paano po manyayari ang bagay na iyong simulat simula po ay ikaw ang katabi ng iyong Ate Jane at ikaw ay walang nakikita na ganoong. Sabihing mo na lahat kamo ng iyong alam ay lagi ko siyang nasasaktan, na malimit ang kanyang pag alis ng bahay at malimit kamong kasama niya ng kanyang barkada at malimit umaga ang uwi.The birth certificate[44] of AAA shows that she was born on May 4, 1975. She was thus 14 years old when she was raped in September 1989. The same document shows appellant to be her father, a fact appellant himself admitted during the trial.[45] As thus correctly found by the trial court, Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code,[46] before its amendment by RA 7659 which took effect on December 31, 1993, is applicable. The rape committed by appellant is, therefore, simple, penalized by reclusion perpetua.
Sabihing mo at basahin mo ang kanyang salay-say upang iyong matandaan. lahat ng kanyang salaysay ay baliktarin mo! ang kanyang sinabi at pati iyong salaysay mo ay sabihing mo ring tinuro lamang saiyo. Lahat ng iyong ibig ay boung puso kong susundin. xxx Umasa kang susundin kong lahat ng iyong gusto mo. x x x[43] (Underscoring supplied)
AAA's allegation that appellant "again did it to me" does not prove the elements of the rape subject of the second case. Each charge of rape is a distinct and separate crime the elements of which must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.[48] Appellant's acquittal in Criminal Case No. 5487-97-C is thus in order.
Q: That date of July 22, 1997 again do you recall of any unusual incident that happened to you? A: That time, after watching television I entered the room, it was 7:00 o'clock then, when I again stood up and watched t.v. at that time he was already beside me because he was already sleeping beside me. Q: Where is this t.v. where you said you were viewing a program? A: It is located in the living room, adjacent to the room. It is only divided by a wall (sic). Q: What was your mother doing at that time? A: Watching t.v. sir. Q: How about your brothers and sisters?
A: My brothers were also watching t.v. while my sister was studying in the dining room. Q: What portion of the house was this t.v. situated when you said you were watching t.v. program? A: In the living room. Q: And what happened after you said you were watching this t.v. program? A: After the program sir I was then about to sleep. I was already lying he was wearing brief because he always wear (sic) in sleeping and he told me that he wanted to "gumanon". I told him "Ayaw ko na tatay, hirap na hirap na po ako." But he boxed me. "Ganoon naman ho iyon gumagawa ng galit kapag hindi ako napayag." Q: Then what happened after you told him "Ayaw ko na po tatay, hirap na hirap na ako."
A: He slapped me on my ears and my face hit the wall. Q: After he slapped you on your face what did he do next? A: He again did it to me and I cried. Q: When you said he did it again to you, how did he do it? A: Just like before he held my hands, raised my legs at "ilulugso ang kanyang pagnanasa." x x x[47] (Underscoring supplied)
[47] Id. at 15-17.1. By using force and intimidation;
The crime of rape shall be punished by reclusion perpetua.
2. When the woman is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; and
3. When the woman is under twelve years of age, even though neither of the circumstances mentioned in the two next preceding paragraphs shall be present.
Whenever the crime of rape is committed with the use of a deadly weapon or by two or more persons, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua to death.
When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has become insane, the penalty shall death.