People vs. Siao Date promulgated: March 3, 2000 Nature of case: APPEAL from a decision of the Cebu City RTC Ponente: J. on!a"a#Reyes on!a"a#Reyes Facts: Rene $iao and Rey%an imena &ere char"ed &ith the crime of ra'e. They a%%e"ed%y ra'ed ()#year o%d Ester*Estre%%a Raymundo on May 2+, (). -n March 2, (, RTC rendered the /. erdict1 o $iao conicted of ra'e as 'rinci'a% by induction 'ena%ty of rec%usion 'er'etua ordered to indemnify Ester P40,000.00 in mora% dama"es. imena imena ac5uit ac5uitted ted becaus because e he &as actin" actin" under under im'u%s im'u%se e of uncont uncontro ro%%a %%ab% b%e e fear fear of an o e5ua%*"reater in6ury Cast of characters Rene $iao son of Jose $iao, o&ner of the house in &hich the crime occurred em'%oyer of o Rey%an imena and Ester Raymundo Ester Raymundo housemaid of $iao fami%y o Rey%an imena he%'er of $iao fami%y o There are t&o ersions of the story1 story1 that of (7 Ester*imena and 27 $iao. The court be%ieed the former. o Ester*imena8s ersion 3 PM1 $iao ordered imena to 'u%% Ester into the &omen8s room. -nce inside, $iao 'ushed her to the bed. $iao 'ointed a "un at imena and Ester. Ester. $iao as9ed Ester to choose amon" a 'isto%, cand%e or bott%e of $'rite. $he chose $'rite. $iao %it cand%e and dro''ed me%tin" &a: on Ester8s chest ; 'oured $'rite into her nostri%s. FIRST SEXU! "T: #R! SEX. $iao tied her hands and feet &ith e%ectric cord*&ire as she %ay face do&n on the bed. moements> for (0 minutes minutes &'()* did it ta+e *ou long to penetrate,- &hi%e $iao he%d her %e"s to 9ee' them a'art. T/IRD T/IRD SEXU SEXU! ! "T: "T: SIDE 0% 0% SIDE. SIDE. ?es'ite ?es'ite their their 'rotestat 'rotestations ions of e:hausti e:haustion, on, imena and Ester &ere made to %ie side by side. imena, &ho &as behind Ester, made 'ush#and#'u%% moements so that his or"an &ou%d reach her 'riate 'art. F#URT/ F#UR T/ SEXU! "T: D#11% ST%!E. ?es'ite their 'rotestations of e:haustion, imena and Ester &ere forced to do it do""y sty%e. imena shouted for he%'. $omebody 9noc9ed on the door. They heard the oice of Teresita Teresita Pa@ares, Pa@ares, $iao8s o%der sister. sister. ut $iao i"nored her and 9e't on 'ointin" the "un at imena and Ester.
o o o
imena and Ester &ent to the boys8 room. $hort%y thereafter, imena came out and announced that he8d recoered his &atchIEster had sho&ed him &here she8d hidden it Gunder the ironin" board7. There &ere %ots of 'eo'%e there1 Jose $iao Gdad of Rene and Teresita7, eatri! aricuatro, Joy, Teresita, Jose8s "randchi%dren 3 PM1 To so%e the case of the missin" nec9%ace, Teresita %eft the com'ound and returned &ithin the hour accom'anied by aran"ay Tanod Arturo Jabines. Ester be""ed for for"ieness and 'romised not to stea% a"ain. $he admitted to stea%in" the nec9%ace. ut Teresita &asn8t satisDed. $he started to brin" Ester to the baran"ay ha%% to re'ort the theft, but en route, Ester confessed and be""ed for for"ieness, so Teresita decided to "ie her a second chance. ac9 at the com'ound, Ester and Joy as9ed eatri!8s 'ermission to return to their home in Leyte. $he said yes and een "ae money for boat fare. PM1 Ester and Joy %eft the $iao residence &ith a%% their be%on"in"s. + PM1 $ome 'eo'%e came to the house %oo9in" for Ester and Joy. Fhat &as Rene $iao, the accused, doin" a%% this time Mornin"1 made the rounds co%%ectin" the ob%i"ations of his father8s creditors. Boontime1 &ent to Jose8s store and had %unch &ith his &ife ina. PM1 A baran"ay tanod came to the store and inited imena to the baran"ay ha%%. At the barn"ay ha%%, u'on the com'%aint of Rosa%ie $a%%entes Gc%aimed to be re%ated to Ester and Joy7, aran"ay Ca'tain eor"e Rama as9ed imena re1 Ester and Joy8s &hereabouts.
Rebutta%1 it can be readi%y seen that the a%%e"ed inconsistencies are inconse5uentia% considerin" that they refer to triia% matters &hich hae nothin" to do &ith the essentia% fact of the commission of ra'e carna% 9no&%ed"e throu"h force and intimidation. nconsistencies on minor detai%s of the testimonies of &itnesses sere to stren"then their credibi%ity as they are bad"es of truth rather than an indicia of fa%sehood. f at a%%, they sere as 'roof that they &itnesses &ere not coached and rehearsed. $iao8s c%aim 31 Ester and imena8s testimonies don8t conform to common e:'erience Ge.". imena e6acu%ated 3: in %ess than 30 minutes ra'e too9 '%ace &ithin earshot and near 'resence of other 'eo'%e, inc%udin" a baran"ay tanod Ester and imena didn8t try to esca'e in the (0 minutes it too9 for $iao to fo%%o& them from &omen8s to the boys8 room Ester re'orted the incident to an o%d man she chanced u'on on her &ay home7 o Rebutta%1 E6acu%ation the im'ortant consideration in ra'e is not the emission of semen but the 'enetration of the fema%e "enita%ia by the ma%e or"an Fithin earshot and near 'resence of other 'eo'%e %ust is no res'ecter of time and '%ace Bo attem't to esca'e considerin" their a"es G() and (+7 and %o& 'osition Ghouseho%d he%'7, they &ere easi%y intimidated and co&ed into submission, es'ecia%%y since $iao &as their em'%oyer and had a "un a%so, not a%% ictims Oee from their a""ressors some become irtua%%y catatonic because of the menta% shoc9 Re'orted incident to o%d man no one e%se to turn to $EBTEBCE1 RTC decision ARME? G reclusion perpetua ; cii% %iabi%ity of P40,000 indemnity7 &ith M-?CAT-B GP40,000 mora% dama"es ; P20,000 e:em'%ary dama"es7 Ra'e &as committed ATER the e/ectiity of R.A. +4 on ?ecember 3(, (3. The "oernin" %a&, Art. 334 of the RPC, as amended, im'oses the 'ena%ty of reclusion perpetua to death, if committed &ith the use of a dead%y &ea'on. RTC oer%oo9ed a""raatin" circumstance of i"nominy Gaccused in committin" the ra'e used not on%y the missionary 'osition, but a%so the do" 'osition7 # se of dead%y &ea'on seres to increase the 'ena%ty. ut said fact shou%d be a%%e"ed in the information, due to the accused8s ri"ht to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation a"ainst him. $ince the com'%aint G%ater conerted into nformation7 fai%ed to a%%e"e the use of a dead%y &ea'on, the 'ena%ty to be rec9oned &ith in determinin" the 'ena%ty for ra'e &ou%d be reclusion perpetua, the 'ena%ty 'rescribed for sim'%e ra'e sin"%e indiisib%e 'ena%ty &hich must be a''%ied re"ard%ess of any miti"atin"*a""raatin" circumstances. TC erred in orderin" $iao to 'ay on%y indemnity Gcii% %iabi%ity arisin" from the o/ense7 of P40,000. $iao shou%d a%so 'ay mora% dama"es Gautomatica%%y "ranted in ra'e cases &ithout need of any 'roof D:ed at P40,0007 and e:em'%ary dama"es G'resence of ( a""raatin" circumstance 6ustiDes the a&ard of e:em'%ary dama"es 'ursuant to Art. 2230 of the Cii% Code7 o
o
