PEOPLE vs.

BERMAS
G.R. No. 120420 April 21, 1999
Facts:
On the eve of the town fiesta in Barangay San Francisco, Legazpi
City on December 2, 2000, while dancing with her sister, AAA went out
from the dance hall to buy candies. While making her way back, a man
grabbed her. With knives pointed at her side, he told her not to move or ask
for help, and together with another group of men brought her to Mayon
International Hotel where they boarded a tricycle. Upon passing the Albay
Cathedral, the others alighted, leaving AAA alone with Mirandilla. They
drove until they reached the Gallera de Legazpi in Rawis.
Mirandilla brought her to a concrete house, slapped her, hit her arms
with a gun, forced his hands inside her pants, into her panty and slipped his
fingers and rotated them inside. He forcibly pulled her pants down and
lifting her legs, pushed and pulled his penis inside. Sayang ka, she heard him
say before succumbing to pain and exhaustion.
At midnight the following day, Mirandilla arrived together with his
gang. With a pointed gun, he forced his penis inside AAAs mouth, pulling
through her hair with his left hand and slapping her with his right hand. They
then transferred her to Bogtong, Legazpi. At the roads side, Mirandilla
pushed her against a reclining tree, gagged her mouth with cloth, punched
her arm, thigh, and lap, and pulled up her over-sized shirt and was raped
agian.
Mirandilla and his gang brought AAA to Guinobatan, where she
suffered the same fate. They moved her back and fort, to Bonga, then to
Guinobatan, again. She was allegedly raped 27 times.
One afternoon, AAA succeeded in escaping. She ran until, she found
the house of Evelyn Guevarra who brought her to the police station.

Dr. Sarah Vasquez, Legazpi Citys Health Officer examined her and
discovered hymenal lacerations indicative of sexual intercourse. Foul
smelling pus also oozed from her vagina - AAA had contracted gonorrhoea.
Mirandillas version.
Mirandilla first met AAA on October 3, 2000. They had a short chat.
He courted her, and they became lovers. They then had nightly sex. On
October 24, 2000, they met again in front of the parks comfort room, near
Arlene Moret, a cigarette vendor who was also the CRs guard. They eloped
and lived as a couple. They rented a house in Rawis, at the back of Gallera
de Legazpi. They lived there from October 28 until December 11,
2000. From December 12, 2000 until January 11, 2001, the two stayed in
Rogelio Marcellanas house in Banquerohan, Legazpi City.
In late December, after visiting his mother in Kilikao, Mirandilla
discoverd that AAA had an abortion. Mirandilla claimed that AAA bled for
days until she left him in January 2001.
In Mirandillas other version,AAA missed her menstruation in
December 2000 and that he wouldnt have known of the abortion had she
not confessed it to him.
Issues:
1. Whether or not AAA is a credible witness.
2. Whether or not AAA and Mirandilla are sweethearts.
RULING:
Credibility of Prosecution Witness
Jurisprudence states that for testimonial evidence to be believed, it must
not only come from a credible witness but must be credible in itself tested by
human experience, observation, common knowledge and accepted conduct
that has evolved through the years.
The trial judge, observing AAAs manner and demeanour on the witness
stand, was convinced of her credibility. AAA was consistent, steady and

firm, free from any material and serious contradictions. AAA was sobbing.
while she was facing Felipe Mirandilla, Jr., to positively identify him.
AAAs testimony was credible. AAAs ordeal was entered into the
police blotter immediately after her escape, negating opportunity for
concoction. AAAs testimony was also corroborated by Dr. Sarah Vasquez,
Legazpi Citys Health Officer.
Sweetheart Theory not Proven
Accuseds invocation of sweetheart theory cannot stand. To be credible,
it must be corroborated by documentary, testimonial, or other
evidence. Usually, there are letters, notes, photos, mementos, or credible
testimonies of those who know the lovers.
The sweetheart theory as a defense, however, admits carnal knowledge,
the first element of rape. It leaves the prosecution the burden to prove only
force or intimidation, the coupling element of rape. Love, is not a license for
lust.
This admission makes the theory more difficult to defend, for it is not
only an affirmative defense that needs convincing proof after the prosecution
has successfully established a prima facie case, the burden of evidence is
shifted to the accused, who has to adduce evidence that the intercourse was
consensual.
Arlene Moret, testified that on October 30, 2000, AAA and Mirandilla
arrived together at the park. On cross examination, she claimed otherwise:
Mirandilla arrived alone two hours earlier, chatting with her first, before
AAA finally came. She also claimed meeting the couple for the first time on
October 30, 2000, only to contradict herself on cross examination with the
version that she met them previously, three times at least. On the other hand,
Mirandilla claimed first meeting AAA on October 3, 2000 at the park.
The accuseds mother, testified meeting her son only once, contradicting
Mirandillas claim that he visited his mother several times.

Even Mirandilla contradicted himself. His claim that he saw AAA

soaked in blood, agonizing in pain, with the abortifacient pills lying nearby,
cannot be reconciled with his other claim that he came to know AAAs
abortion only through the latters admission.
The defense witnesses testimonies contradicted each other in terms of
materials facts, constraining the Court to infer that they concocted stories in
a desperate attempt to exonerate the accused.
It having been established that Mirandillas act was kidnapping and
serious illegal detention and on the occasion thereof, he raped AAA several
times, The Court holds that Mirandilla is guilty beyond reasonable doubt of
the special complex crime of kidnapping and serious illegal detention
with rape.