SC affirms life term on father who raped his two daughters

The Supreme Court (SC) has sustained the conviction and imposition of life imprisonment, without eligibility for parole, and P300,000 damages in each of the three qualified statutory rape cases against a father who sexually abused his two minor daughters in 2015.

The father, whose name was omitted in the SC’s decision to protect the two children, sought reversal of the trial court ruling, which was subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

In his petition before the high court, the father pleaded that he should be acquitted because of the “inconsistencies” in the testimonies of his two daughters – one was only 11 years old and the other 14 years old at the time of the commission of the crimes.

He also claimed that his children should have shouted or sought help from her other siblings who were sleeping in the same room, and in the case of the 14-year-old daughter who was raped twice, she should have avoided to be alone with him in their house.

The rape cases were made known when one of the minor children told their elder sibling who in turn sought the assistance of barangay (village) officials.  Rape charges were filed. The two victims testified in court, including their elder sister.  The father was convicted by a trial court.

When the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the conviction, the father appealed to the SC.

In the decision penned by Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, the SC, many times citing previous rulings, declared that “the Court held that individual differences dictate that there is no singular response when a person encounters a certain situation, especially when involving an extremely traumatic experience such as rape committed by one’s own father.”

“Yet, a child victim should not be judged based on the course of action taken even when it is the opposite of the normal behavior of a mature individual. Hence, XXX (referring to father) cannot fault AAA (14-year-old daughter) for keeping her silence while she was being defiled especially so when it was brought about by fear or an otherwise overwhelming emotion of helplessness,” the SC ruled.

The father argues that the older victim should have been wary of being alone with him considering her