50. Art. 3. Sec. 14 - People v.

Cantos – GR 129298 April 14, 1999

Rolando A. Cantos was found guilty by the Regional Trial Court of Borongan,
Eastern Samar of having raped his stepdaughter Remedios E. Cabiad.  He was
sentenced to death in addition to an order to pay indemnity to his victim in the amount
of P50,000.00.  In this appeal before the Supreme Court, accused-appellant
maintained that the sexual intercourse between him and Remedios was consensual. 
He contended that the evidence of the prosecution did not show the use of force or
intimidation in committing the rape as it had not been shown that in fact she had
suffered injuries or that her clothes were torn as a result of the commission of the
crime.
The Court fuled that the allegations of appellant were without merit.  The
testimony of the victim left no room for doubt that she had been forced by appellant to
have sexual intercourse with him, and she submitted to him out of fear.  The decision
of the Regional Trial Court was affirmed with the modification that accused-appellant
was sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua, since, the information
against the accused-appellant alleged only the minority of the victim and not her
relationship to him.  The Court also ruled that the accused-appellant should be held
guilty of rape with the use of a deadly weapon, which is punishable by reclusion
perpetua to death.  There being no aggravating circumstance, the lesser penalty
of reclusion perpetua should be imposed.  The accused-appellant was also ordered to
pay P50,000.00 to his victim by way of normal damages, in addition to the amount
of P50,000.00 which the trial court ordered him to pay as indemnity.
Issue: Whether or not the right to be informed was violated because the information
failed to allege the relationship of the victim and the accused.

Ruling: Yes. The trial court erred in imposing the death penalty on accused-appellant.
Art. 335 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Section 11 of R.A. 7659,
otherwise known as the Death Penalty Law, imposes the death penalty on the offender
in a rape case if the victim is under eighteen (18) years of age and the offender is a . . .
step-parent . . . of the victim. But as we held in several recent cases, the concurrence
of the minority of the victim and her relationship to the offender is a special
qualifying circumstance which should be alleged in the information in order to
warrant imposition of the death penalty. Since the information against accused-
appellant alleged only the minority of Remedios but not her relationship to him,
accused-appellant should be held guilty of rape with the use of a deadly weapon,
which is punishable by reclusion perpetua to death. There being no aggravating
circumstance, the lesser penalty of reclusion perpetua should be imposed.