The People of the Philippines vs.

Dominador Ladra
G.R. No. 221443. July 17, 2017

Article 266-A Rape; where it can be committed

"Rape can be committed even in places where people congregate, in parks, along the roadside, within
school premises, inside a house where there are other occupants, and even in the same room where
other members of the family are also sleeping. It is not impossible or incredible for the members of the
victim's family to be in deep slumber and not to be awakened while a sexual assault is being
committed. It is settled that lust is not a respecter of time or place and rape is known to happen in the
most unlikely places."

Article 336 Acts of Lasciviousness in relation to Section 5 (b) of RA 7610

Acts of Lasciviousness is defined and penalized under Article 336 of the RPC, which reads:

Article 336. Acts of lasciviousness. - Any person who shall commit any act of lasciviousness
upon other persons of either sex, under any of the circumstances mentioned on the preceding
article, shall be punished by prision correccional.

Conviction for such crime requires the concurrence of the following elements:

(a) that the offender commits any act of lasciviousness or lewdness;

(b) that it is done under any of the following circumstances:
(i) through force, threat, or intimidation,
(ii) when the offended party is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious,
(iii) by means of fraudulent machination or grave abuse of authority, and
(iv) when the offended party is under twelve (12) years of age or is demented, even
though none of the circumstances mentioned above be present; and
(c) that the offended party is another person of either sex.

Meanwhile, Section 5 (b) of RA 7610 provides:

Section 5. Child Prostitution and Other Sexual Abuse. - Children, whether male or female,
who for money, profit, or any other consideration or due to the coercion or influence of any
adult, syndicate or group, indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct, are deemed to
be children exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuse.

The penalty of reclusion temporal in its medium period to reclusion perpetua shall be imposed
upon the following:
xxxx

(b) Those who commit the act of sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct with a child
exploited in prostitution or subject to other sexual abuse; Provided, That when the victim
is under twelve (12) years of age, the perpetrators shall be prosecuted under Article 335,
paragraph 3, for rape and Article 336 of Act No. 3815, as amended, the Revised Penal Code,
for rape or lascivious conduct, as the case may be: Provided, That the penalty for lascivious
conduct when the victim is under twelve (12) years of age shall be reclusion temporal in its
medium period; xxx

Before an accused can be held criminally liable for lascivious conduct under Section 5 (b) of RA 7610,
the requisites of the crime of Acts of Lasciviousness as penalized under Article 336 of the RPC
above-enumerated must be met in addition to the requisites for sexual abuse under Section 5 (b) of
RA 7610, as follows:

(1) the accused commits the act of sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct;
(2) the said act is performed with a child exploited in prostitution or subjected to other sexual
abuse; and
(3) that the child, whether male or female, is below 18 years of age.
Act of Lasciviousness; element of “lewdness”

The courts a quo convicted accused-appellant of the crime of Unjust Vexation instead of Acts of
Lasciviousness on the finding that there was no element of lasciviousness or lewdness in accused-
appellant's act. xxx

The Court disagrees.

"Lascivious conduct" is defined in Section 2 of the Rules and Regulations on the Reporting and
Investigation of Child Abuse Cases, as follows:

[T]he intentional touching, either directly or through clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner
thigh, or buttocks, or the introduction of any object into the genitalia, anus or mouth, of any person,
whether of the same or opposite sex, with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or
gratify the sexual desire of any person, bestiality, masturbation, lascivious exhibition of the genitals or
pubic area of a person.

xxx

After a careful evaluation, the Court finds that the mere fact of "squeezing" the private part of a child -
a young girl 12 years of age - could not have signified any other intention but one having lewd or
indecent design. It must not be forgotten that several years prior, accused-appellant had raped AAA in
the same house, for which act he was appropriately convicted. Indeed, the law indicates that the
mere touching - more so, "squeezing," in this case, which strongly suggests that the act was
intentional - of AAA's genitalia clearly constitutes lascivious conduct. xxx

"'Lewd' is defined as obscene, lustful, indecent, and lecherous. It signifies that form of immorality
which has relation to moral impurity; or that which is carried on a wanton manner."
People of the Philippines vs. Daniel Matibag y De Villa @ "Dani" or "Danilo"
G.R. No. 206381. March 25, 2015

Appeal

In the review of a case, the Court is guided by the long-standing principle that factual findings of the
trial court, especially when affirmed by the CA, deserve great weight and respect. These factual
findings should not be disturbed on appeal, unless there are facts of weight and substance that were
overlooked or misinterpreted and that would materially affect the disposition of the case. The Court
has carefully scrutinized the records and finds no reason to deviate from the RTC and CA’s factual
findings. There is no indication that the trial court, whose findings the CA affirmed, overlooked,
misunderstood or misapplied the surrounding facts and circumstances of the case. Hence, the Court
defers to the trial court on this score, considering too that it was in the best position to assess and
determine the credibility of the witnesses presented by both parties.

Article 12; Self-defense

Note that by invoking self-defense, Matibag, in effect, admitted to the commission of the act for which
he was charged, albeit under circumstances that, if proven, would have exculpated him. With this
admission, the burden of proof shifted to Matibag to show that the killing of Duhan was attended by
the following circumstances: (a) unlawful aggression on the part of the victim; (b) reasonable
necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel such aggression; and (c) lack of sufficient
provocation on the part of the person resorting to self-defense.

Among the foregoing elements, the most important is unlawful aggression. It is well-settled that there
can be no self-defense, whether complete or incomplete, unless the victim had committed unlawful
aggression against the person who resorted to self-defense. Jurisprudence states that not every form
or degree of aggression justifies a claim of self-defense. For unlawful aggression to be appreciated,
there must be an actual, sudden, and unexpected attack or imminent danger thereof, not merely a
threatening or intimidating attitude, as against the one claiming self-defense.

Article 14; Treachery

Under Article 14 of the RPC, there is treachery when the offender commits any of the crimes against
the person, employing means, methods, or forms in the execution thereof which tend directly and
specially to ensure its execution, without risk to himself arising from the defense which the offended
party might make. In People v. Tan, the Court explained that the essence of treachery is the sudden
and unexpected attack, without the slightest provocation on the part of the person attacked. In People
v. Perez, it was explained that a frontal attack does not necessarily rule out treachery. The qualifying
circumstance may still be appreciated if the attack was so sudden and so unexpected that the
deceased had no time to prepare for his or her defense.

Article 248 Murder

In order to warrant a conviction, the prosecution must establish by proof beyond reasonable doubt
that: (a) a person was killed; (b) the accused killed him or her; (c) the killing was attended by any of
the qualifying circumstances mentioned in Article 248 of the RPC; and (d) the killing is not Parricide or
Infanticide.

Presidential Decree No. (PD) 1866, as amended by Republic Act No. (RA) 8294

Presidential Decree No. (PD) 1866, as amended by Republic Act No. (RA) 8294,36 treats the
unauthorized use of a licensed firearm in the commission of the crimes of homicide or murder as a
special aggravating circumstance:

Section 1. Presidential Decree No. 1866, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as
follows:
“Section 1. Unlawful Manufacture, Sale, Acquisition, Disposition or Possession of Firearms or
Ammunition or Instruments Used or Intended to be Used in the Manufacture of Firearms or
Ammunition. – xxx
 xxxx

“If homicide or murder is committed with the use of an unlicensed firearm, such use of
an unlicensed firearm shall be considered as an aggravating circumstance.

x x x x (Emphasis supplied)

Further, under Section 5 of RA 8294, the scope of the term “unlicensed firearm” has already been
expanded as follows:

Sec. 5. Coverage of the Term Unlicensed Firearm. – The term unlicensed firearm shall
include:

1. firearms with expired license; or

2. unauthorized use of licensed firearm in the commission of the crime. (Emphasis
supplied)

Damages

Finally, case law provides that for death resulting from the crime of Murder, the heirs of the victim are
entitled to the following awards:

(a) civil indemnity ex delicto for the death of the victim without need of evidence other than the
commission of the crime;
(b) actual or compensatory damages to the extent proved, or temperate damages when some
pecuniary loss has been suffered but its amount cannot be provided with certainty;
(c) moral damages; and
(d) exemplary damages when the crime was committed with one or more aggravating
circumstances.