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PEOPLE v. VIRGILIO BERNABE Y RAFOL

This case has been cited 4 times or more.

	GR No. 146803 2004-01-14	PEOPLE v. CLEMENTINO LOU Y GALINDO VITUG, J.
Appellant assails the credibility of the victim at the witness stand. Like before, this Court must defer to the assessment and evaluation given by the trial court on this issue. It is the trial court that would be in such unique a position as to be able to observe the deportment of the witness while testifying.[15] There is here no cogent reason to overturn the judgment of the trial court.
	GR No. 140781 2003-05-08	PEOPLE v. EDUARDO METIN QUISUMBING, J.
In this case, we find no reason to doubt that private complainant was telling the truth when she declared that her father raped her. Her testimony fully inspires belief. No young girl, indeed, would concoct a sordid tale of so serious a crime as rape at the hands of her own father, undergo medical examination, then subject herself to the stigma and embarrassment of a public trial, if her motive were other than a fervent desire to seek justice.[34] Appellant's claim that private complainant was only being used by her mother's relatives to drive him out of their dwelling is too flimsy to be credible.
	GR Nos. 145309-10 2003-04-04	PEOPLE v. VIRGILIO FLORES Y AQUINO CORONA, J.
In People vs. Ignacio,[13] we took judicial notice of the fact that, among poor couples with big families cramped in small quarters, copulation does not seem to be a problem despite the presence of other persons. It is not true that rape can be committed only in seclusion. We have repeatedly declared that "lust is no respecter of time and place and rape can be committed in even the unlikeliest of places."[14]
	GR No. 133831 2003-02-14	PEOPLE v. APOLONIO CULTURA SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J.
Regarding the accused-appellant's civil liability, we note that the trial court awarded civil indemnity in the amount of P50,000.00 but failed to grant moral damages. In rape cases, the victim's injury is inherently concomitant with the odious crime to warrant per se an award for moral damages without the requirement of proof of mental and physical suffering.[23] Moral damages in rape cases are given without need of showing that the victim suffered the trauma of mental, physical and psychological sufferings that constitute the bases thereof.[24] Pursuant to current jurisprudence, the amount of P50,000.00 as moral damages is proper.[25]