This case has been cited 2 times or more.
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2007-09-05 |
CHICO-NAZARIO, J. |
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| As regards the award of damages, the appellate court merely affirmed the award of the trial court without any modification. In simple rape, the Court awards P50,000.00[58] as civil indemnity and P50,000.00[59] as moral damages to the rape victim. As the award of moral damages is separate and distinct from the civil indemnity awarded to rape victims, the moral damages cannot take the place of the civil indemnity, which is actually in the nature of actual or compensatory damages, and is mandatory upon the finding of the fact of rape.[60] Hence, this Court also awards an additional amount of P50,000.00, as civil indemnity, to the complainant, apart from the P50,000.00 moral damages already awarded by the lower courts. | |||||
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2001-11-14 |
PANGANIBAN, J. |
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| As often repeated by this Court, the issue of credibility is a matter best addressed by the trial court which had the chance to observe the demeanor of the witnesses while testifying.[10] For this reason, appellate courts accord great weight and even finality to its factual findings, especially its assessments of the witnesses and their credibility, barring arbitrariness or oversight of some fact or circumstance of weight and substance.[11] At any rate, we have gone over the records but find no sufficient reason to disagree with the court a quo that the testimonies of Madelyn and her cousin are credible. The prosecution has proven beyond reasonable doubt that appellant had carnal knowledge of Madelyn. | |||||