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Baleros vs. People
Baleros vs. People
DECISION
GARCIA, J : p
The man let her go and MALOU went straight to the bedroom
door and roused Marvilou. . . . . Over the intercom, MALOU told S/G
Ferolin that: "may pumasok sa kuarto ko pinagtangkaan ako" ( Ibid., p.
8). Who it was she did not, however, know. The only thing she had
made out during their struggle was the feel of her attacker's clothes
and weight. His upper garment was of cotton material while that at the
lower portion felt smooth and satin-like ( Ibid, p. 17). He . . . was
wearing a t-shirt and shorts . . . Original Records, p. 355).
To Room 310 of the Building where her classmates Christian
Alcala, Bernard Baptista, Lutgardo Acosta and Rommel Montes were
staying, MALOU then proceeded to seek help. . . . .
Further, MALOU testified that her relation with CHITO, who was
her classmate . . ., was friendly until a week prior to the attack. CHITO
confided his feelings for her, telling her: "Gusto kita, mahal kita" (TSN,
July 5, 1993, p. 22) and she rejected him. . . . . (TSN, July 5, 1993, p.
22).
(Exhibit "A-2")
People from the CIS came by before 8 o'clock that same morning
. . . . They likewise invited CHITO and Joseph to go with them to Camp
Crame where the two (2) were questioned . . . .
An occupant of Room 310 . . . Christian Alcala (Christian) recalled
in Court that in the afternoon of December 13, 1991, after their 3:30
class, he and his roommates, Bernard Baptista and Lutgardo Acosta
(Gary) were called to the Building and were asked by the CIS people to
look for anything not belonging to them in their Unit. While they were
outside Room 310 talking with the authorities, Rommel Montes
(Loyloy), another roommate of his, went inside to search the Unit.
Loyloy found (TSN, January 12, 1993, p. 6) a gray "Khumbella" bag
cloth type ( Ibid, pp. 44-45) from inside their unit which they did not
know was there and surrender the same to the investigators. When he
saw the gray bag, Christian knew right away that it belonged to CHITO
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(Ibid, p. 55) as he had seen the latter usually bringing it to school inside
the classroom (Ibid, p. 45).
In their presence, the CIS opened the bag and pulled out its
contents, among others, a white t-shirt with a Taunu (sic) Sigma Phi
sign (Ibid, p. 7), a Black Adidas short pants, a handkerchief, three (3)
white T-shirts, an underwear, and socks (Ibid).
That CHITO left his bag inside Room 310 in the morning of
December 13, 1991, was what consisted mainly of Renato R.
Alagadan's testimony.
xxx xxx xxx
The colored gray bag had a handle and a strap, was elongated to
about 11/4 feet and appeared to be full but was closed with a zipper
when Renato saw it then ( Ibid, pp. 19-20). At that time Christian, Gary,
Bernard, and Renato went back to Room 310 at around 3 to 4 o'clock
that afternoon along with some CIS agents, they saw the bag at the
same place inside the bedroom where Renato had seen CHITO leave it.
Not until later that night at past 9 o'clock in Camp Crame, however, did
Renato know what the contents of the bag were.
xxx xxx xxx
The forensic Chemist, Leslie Chambers, of the Philippine National
Police Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame, having acted in response to
the written request of PNP Superintendent Lucas M. Managuelod dated
December 13, 1991, (Exhibit "C"; Original Records, p. 109.) conducted
laboratory examination on the specimen collated and submitted. . . .
Her Chemistry Report No. C-487-91 (Exhibit "E"; Ibid., p. 112) reads in
part, thus:
"SPECIMEN SUBMITTED:
xxx xxx xxx
1) One (1) small white plastic bag marked 'UNIMART' with the
following:
xxx xxx xxx
Exh 'C' — One (1) night dress colored salmon pink. EDATSI
2) One (1) small white plastic bag marked 'JONAS' with the
following:
Exh. 'D' — One (1) printed handkerchief.
Exh. 'E' — One (1) white T-shirt marked 'TMZI'.
FINDINGS:
Toxicological examination conducted on the above stated
specimens gave the following results:
Exhs. 'C' and 'D' — POSITIVE to the test for chloroform, a
volatile poison.
Exhs. 'A', 'B', 'E' and 'F' are insufficient for further analysis.
CONCLUSION:
For its part, the defense presented, as its main witness, the petitioner
himself. He denied committing the crime imputed to him or making at any
time amorous advances on Malou. Unfolding a different version of the
incident, the defense sought to establish the following, as culled from the
same decision of the appellate court:
In December of 1991, CHITO was a medical student of . . . (UST).
With Robert Chan and Alberto Leonardo, he was likewise a member of
the Tau Sigma Phi Fraternity . . . . MALOU, . . ., was known to him being
also a medical student at the UST at the time.
From Room 306 of the Celestial Marie Building . . ., CHITO,
wearing the prescribed barong tagalog over dark pants and leather
shoes, arrived at their Fraternity house located at . . . Dos Castillas,
Sampaloc, Manila at about 7 o'clock in the evening of December 12,
1991. He was included in the entourage of some fifty (50) fraternity
members scheduled for a Christmas gathering at the house of their
senior fraternity brother, Dr. Jose Duran, at No. 3 John Street, North
Greenhills, San Juan. . . . .
The party was conducted at the garden beside [the] swimming
pool . . . . Soon after, . . . the four (4) presidential nominees of the
Fraternity, CHITO included, were being dunked one by one into the
pool. . . . .
. . . CHITO had anticipated his turn . . . and was thus wearing his
t-shirt and long pants when he was dunked. Perla Duran, . . ., offered
each . . . dry clothes to change into and CHITO put on the white t-shirt
with the Fraternity's symbol and a pair of black shorts with stripes. . . . .
Again riding on Alberto's car and wearing "barong tagalog over a
white t-shirt with the symbol TAU Sigma Phi, black short pants with
stripe, socks and shoes" (TSN, April 25, 1994, p. 15), CHITO left the
party with Robert Chan and Alberto at more or less past 1 A.M. of
December 13, 1991 and proceeded to the Building which they reached
at about 1:30 A.M. ( Ibid., p. 19). He had left his gray traveling bag
containing "white t-shirt, sando, underwear, socks, and toothbrush
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(Ibid., pp. 17-18) at room 306 in the afternoon of the previous day . . . .
CHITO went up the floor, found the key left for him by Joseph
behind the opened jalousie window and for five (5) minutes vainly tried
to open the door until Rommel Montes, . . . approached him and even
commented: "Okey ang suot mo ha, di mo mabuksan ang pinto ( Ibid.,
pp. 26-29). Rommel tried to open the door of Unit 306 . . . but was
likewise unsuccessful. CHITO then decided to just call out to Joseph
while knocking at the door.
It took another (5) minutes of calling out and knocking before
Joseph, . . ., at last answered the door. Telling him, "Ikaw na ang bahala
diyan" Joseph immediately turned his back on CHITO and went inside
the bedroom. CHITO, . . . changed to a thinner shirt and went to bed.
He still had on the same short pants given by Perla Duran from the
fraternity party (TSN, June 16, 1994, p. 20).
At 6 o'clock in the morning of December 13, 1991, CHITO woke
up . . . . He was already in his school uniform when, around 6:30 A.M,
Joseph came to the room not yet dressed up. He asked the latter why
this was so and, without elaborating on it, Joseph told him that
something had happened and to just go to Room 310 which CHITO did.
At Room 310, CHITO was told by Rommel Montes that somebody,
whom MALOU was not able to identify, went to the room of MALOU and
tried to rape her (TSN, April 25, 1994, p. 36). . . . .
Joseph told him that the security guard was not letting anybody
out of the Building . . . . When two (2) CIS men came to the unit asking
for Renato Baleros, CHITO presented himself. Congressman Rodolfo B.
Albano, father of MALOU, then asked him for the key to Room 306. . . .
xxx xxx xxx
The CIS men looked inside the bedroom and on the windows.
Joseph was told to dress up and the two (2) of them, CHITO and Joseph,
were brought to Camp Crame.
When they arrived at Camp Crame . . ., Col. Managuelod asked
Joseph inside his room and talked to him for 30 minutes. . . . . No one
interviewed CHITO to ask his side.
xxx xxx xxx
Both CHITO and Joseph were taken to Prosecutor Abesamis who
later instructed them to undergo physical examination at the Camp
Crame Hospital . . . . . At the hospital, . . . CHITO and Joseph were
physically examined by a certain Dr. de Guzman who told them to strip
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....
Also taking the witness stand for the defense were petitioner's
fraternity brothers, Alberto Leonardo and Robert Chan, who both testified
being with CHITO in the December 12, 1991 party held in Dr. Duran's place
at Greenhills, riding on the same car going to and coming from the party and
dropping the petitioner off the Celestial Marie building after the party. Both
were one in saying that CHITO was wearing a barong tagalog, with t-shirt
inside, with short pants and leather shoes at the time they parted after the
party. 7 Rommel Montes, a tenant of Room 310 of the said building, also
testified seeing CHITO between the hours of 1:30 and 2:00 A.M. of December
13, 1991 trying to open the door of Room 306 while clad in dark short pants
and white barong tagalog.
On the other hand, Perla Duran confirmed lending the petitioner the
pair of short pants with stripes after the dunking party held in her father's
house. 8 Presented as defense expert witness was Carmelita Vargas, a
forensic chemistry instructor whose actual demonstration in open court
showed that chloroform, being volatile, evaporates in thirty (30) seconds
without tearing nor staining the cloth on which it is applied. 9
On December 14, 1994, the trial court rendered its decision 10
convicting petitioner of attempted rape and accordingly sentencing him,
thus:
WHEREFORE, under cool reflection and prescinding from the
foregoing, the Court finds the accused Renato D. Baleros, Jr., alias
"Chito", guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of attempted rape
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as principal and as charged in the information and hereby sentences
him to suffer an imprisonment ranging from FOUR (4) YEARS, TWO (2)
MONTHS AND ONE (1) DAY of Prision Correccional, as Minimum to TEN
(10) YEARS of Prision Mayor as Maximum, with all the accessory
penalties provided by law, and for the accused to pay the offended
party Martina Lourdes T. Albano, the sum of P50,000.00 by way of
Moral and exemplary damages, plus reasonable Attorney's fees of
P30,000.00, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and
to pay the costs.
SO ORDERED.
Petitioner moved for reconsideration, but his motion was denied by the
CA in its equally assailed resolution of March 31, 1999. 12
Petitioner is now with this Court, on the contention that the CA erred —
1. In not finding that it is improbable for petitioner to have
committed the attempted rape imputed to him, absent sufficient,
competent and convincing evidence to prove the offense
charged.
2. In convicting petitioner of attempted rape on the basis merely of
circumstantial evidence since the prosecution failed to satisfy all
the requisites for conviction based thereon.
3. In not finding that the circumstances it relied on to convict the
petitioner are unreliable, inconclusive and contradictory.
4. In not finding that proof of motive is miserably wanting in his
case.
5. In awarding damages in favor of the complainant despite the fact
that the award was improper and unjustified absent any evidence
to prove the same. SAEHaC
Otherwise stated, the basic issue in this case turns on the question on
whether or not the CA erred in affirming the ruling of the RTC finding
petitioner guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of attempted rape.
After a careful review of the facts and evidence on record in the light of
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applicable jurisprudence, the Court is disposed to rule for petitioner's
acquittal, but not necessarily because there is no direct evidence pointing to
him as the intruder holding a chemical-soaked cloth who pinned Malou down
on the bed in the early morning of December 13, 1991.
Positive identification pertains essentially to proof of identity and not
per se to that of being an eyewitness to the very act of commission of the
crime. There are two types of positive identification. A witness may identify a
suspect or accused as the offender as an eyewitness to the very act of the
commission of the crime. This constitutes direct evidence. There may,
however, be instances where, although a witness may not have actually
witnessed the very act of commission of a crime, he may still be able to
positively identify a suspect or accused as the perpetrator of a crime as
when, for instance, the latter is the person or one of the persons last seen
with the victim immediately before and right after the commission of the
crime. This is the second type of positive identification, which forms part of
circumstantial evidence. 13 In the absence of direct evidence, the
prosecution may resort to adducing circumstantial evidence to discharge its
burden. Crimes are usually committed in secret and under condition where
concealment is highly probable. If direct evidence is insisted under all
circumstances, the prosecution of vicious felons who committed heinous
crimes in secret or secluded places will be hard, if not well-nigh impossible,
to prove. 14
Section 4 of Rule 133 of the Rules of Court provides the conditions
when circumstantial evidence may be sufficient for conviction. The provision
reads:
Sec. 4. Circumstantial evidence, when sufficient —
Circumstantial evidence is sufficient for conviction if —
a) There is more than one circumstance;
b) The facts from which the inferences are derived are
proven; and
c) The combination of all the circumstances is such as to
produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.
This brings the Court to the issue on whether the evidence adduced by
the prosecution has established beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the
petitioner for the crime of attempted rape.
The Solicitor General maintained that petitioner, by pressing on
Malou's face the piece of cloth soaked in chemical while holding her body
tightly under the weight of his own, had commenced the performance of an
act indicative of an intent or attempt to rape the victim. It is argued that
petitioner's actuation thus described is an overt act contemplated under the
law, for there can not be any other logical conclusion other than that the
petitioner intended to ravish Malou after he attempted to put her to an
induced sleep. The Solicitor General, echoing what the CA said, adds that if
petitioner's intention was otherwise, he would not have lain on top of the
victim. 15
Under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code, rape is committed by a
man who has carnal knowledge or intercourse with a woman under any of
the following circumstances: (1) By using force or intimidation; (2) When the
woman is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; and (3) When the
woman is under twelve years of age or is demented. Under Article 6, in
relation to the aforementioned article of the same code, rape is attempted
when the offender commences the commission of rape directly by overt acts
and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the
crime of rape by reason of some cause or accident other than his own
spontaneous desistance. 16
Expounding on the nature of an attempted felony, the Court, speaking
thru Justice Claro M. Recto in People vs. Lamahang, 17 stated that "the
attempt which the Penal Code punishes is that which has a logical
connection to a particular, concrete offense; that which is the beginning of
the execution of the offense by overt acts of the perpetrator, leading directly
to its realization and consummation." Absent the unavoidable connection,
like the logical and natural relation of the cause and its effect, as where the
purpose of the offender in performing an act is not certain, meaning the
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nature of the act in relation to its objective is ambiguous, then what obtains
is an attempt to commit an indeterminate offense, which is not a juridical
fact from the standpoint of the Penal Code. 18
There is absolutely no dispute about the absence of sexual intercourse
or carnal knowledge in the present case. The next question that thus comes
to the fore is whether or not the act of the petitioner, i.e., the pressing of a
chemical-soaked cloth while on top of Malou, constitutes an overt act of
rape. CSTEHI
The penalty for coercion falling under the second paragraph of Article
287 of the Revised Penal Code is arresto menor or a fine ranging from P5.00
to P200.00 or both.
WHEREFORE, the assailed Decision of the Court of Appeals affirming
that of the Regional Trial Court of Manila, is hereby REVERSED and SET
ASIDE and a new one entered ACQUITTING petitioner Renato D. Baleros, Jr.
of the charge for attempted rape. Petitioner, however, is adjudged GUILTY of
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light coercion and is accordingly sentenced to 30 days of arresto menor and
to pay a fine of P200.00, with the accessory penalties thereof and to pay the
costs.
SO ORDERED.
Puno, Sandoval-Gutierrez and Azcuna, JJ., concur.
Corona, J., is on leave.
Footnotes
1. Penned by Associate Justice Martin S. Villarama, Jr. and concurred in by
Associate Justices Romeo A. Brawner (ret.) and Eloy R. Bello, Jr. (ret.); Rollo ,
pp. 198-237.
2. Id., p. 273.
3. Id., pp. 120-155.
4. Original Records, pp. 1-3.
5. Id., p. 42.
6. Rollo , pp. 201-212.
7. TSN, December 15, 1993, pp. 18-19; TSN, December 20, 1993, pp. 23-24.
8. TSN, January 17, 1994, pp. 7-10.
14. People vs. Sevileno, 425 SCRA 247 (2004), citing People vs. Navarro, 407
SCRA 221 (2003).
15. Comment, pp. 20-21; Rollo , pp. 302-303.
18. Ibid.
19. Reyes, The Revised Penal Code, 1998 Edition, p. 91.
20. Rollo , pp. 222-223.
21. People vs. Canlas, et al., 423 Phil. 665 (2001).
22. 431 Phil. 786 (2002).
23. 416 SCRA 506 (2003).
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24. Sec. 14(2), Art. III.
25. Aquino, Revised Penal Code, 1997 ed., Vol. III, p. 81.
26. Ibid., citing People vs. Lilian Gozum, CA 54 O.G. 7409; People vs. Reyes , 60
Phil. 369 [1934].