This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of First Instance of the Seventh Judicial District, Hon. Vicente Nepomuceno  presiding,  condemning the defendant, Candido Estacio, to two years, four months, and  one day of prision correccional, to the accessories provided in article 61, to indemnify the offended party in the sum of five hundred pesos, and in case of insolvency to suffer the corresponding subsidiary imprisonment, and to pay the costs, for the crime of attempted rape.

The prosecution presented three witnesses, Isabel  Artillero, Maria Artillero, and Hermenegildo del Castillo.  Aside from the testimony of the defendant himself  he  presented that of Crisela Agoncillo and Cirila Estacio.

Isabel  Artillero,  the  offended party,  22 years of age, single, on  being  asked  what took  place between her and the defendant on the 29th of September,  1909, stated:

"I  had  come from harvesting the rice and had drawn near to a tree to rest myself.   On reaching the foot of the tree Candido Estacio also came up and asked me if I accepted his love.   I told him  that that  was no place to talk of the matter and that I  had a house where he might come to discuss it.  He replied that it was not necessary to go to the house if his love was to be refused, and that he was resolved to kill a person if she did not accept it.  At that, as I still refused him, he  caught hold of my arm and as a result my clothes were  torn and I received several bruises as  he tried to lay with me.  When I could no longer resist him I commenced to scream whereupon  he caught me by the mouth.  In spite of this I continued to try to scream, and my sister perceiving me came to the rescue, whereupon the accused ran away."

She  further testified that after the accused escaped she went to the shack about 10 brazas away and assisted her sister in dividing the palay; that there were rice harvesters near or in that immediate vicinity when the trouble occurred; that she was not examined by the doctor until seven days after the occurrence, and that  the defendant had been making love to her for about two years prior to the month of September, 1909.

The  second witness, Maria Artillero, a sister of the offended party, stated:

"My sister, Isabel  Artillero, and I were on the top of a hill.   I was on the slope and she  on the level part, about 10 brazas away, when I heard a voice that sounded as though the mouth  of the person calling was  covered.  I became frightened and went to my sister whom I found lying on the ground; a man was  stretched on top of her and appeared to be trying to hold her down."

This witness further testified that this crime was  committed by the defendant  about  12  o'clock on the 29th of September, 1909; that at that time there were  rice harvesters - Crisela  Agoncillo and  Cirila  Estacio - at the foot of the little hill upon the top of which the  trouble occurred.

Doctor Castillo, the third witness, testified that he exam- ined the offended  party and found two contusions on her right arm.   This witness knew nothing as to  the cause of these contusions or bruises.

The  defendant, 33 years of age, single, testifying in his own behalf, related what occurred between him and the of- fended party in the following manner:

"On  the 29th  of September last  they went to the barrio of Walangbalahibo to harvest rice and I followed them.  On arriving at the rice field I encountered Maria  Artillero; at that moment neither Isabel nor Crisela Agoncillo were there. After a while I went to the harvesting and there found Crisela and Isabel, both lying down.   After a few moments they both went to the rice field and I accompanied them; on nearing the field Isabel told Crisela to go on ahead; when she had gone on we commenced to talk of Isabel; after our conversation Isabel  called to Crisela  and said that they would walk on together to the rice field, so I went to the house. About an hour later  I followed them to the field where I found Crisela reaping; I went to assist her, and after awhile Isabel  came up and  called to Crisela; I  stood  near Isabel talking to her, Crisela meanwhile working at about three brazas away; the ground where we stood was uneven and it happened that as I leaned toward her I fell with her; we got up again and talked for a moment and then we all left, Isabel and Crisela  going on ahead to the  house.   A little later the reapers came up and divided the rice among them.

"Q. Do you remember going to the house of Isabel on the following day?

"A. Yes, sir."

This testimony of the defendant is corroborated  in every essential  detail  by that of  Crisela Agoncillo  and Cirila Estacio who were in that immediate vicinity at the time of the occurrence complained of.

The  offended party was 22 years of age.  She and the defendant had  been  lovers for about  two years  prior to this alleged attempted rape.   According to the testimony of the prosecution the alleged crime took place  in broad daylight  and at a  place where three people were so  near that  they could have seen and  heard all that  happened. The sister of the offended girl was only 10 brazas away and the  two witnesses for the defense  were just at the foot of the little hill.  Isabel  says  that after the defendant made  his escape she went to the shack which was only a few yards distant and assisted her sister in dividing the palay and that she was not examined by the doctor  until seven days  later.  The complaint was not  presented  immediately.   The defendant was at Isabel's house the next day and  conversed with her.   In  the forenoon of the 29th of September, Isabel  and  the defendant were together for some time, walking and talking as lovers.   They came together  on the  hill about  12 o'clock  and it appears  that while there  they became very intimate, so much  so  that the defendant took hold of Isabel and in a friendly scuffle they fell  to  the  ground.  They adopted the old custom  of courting,  "bundling."   All of these facts and circumstances show that no attempt  was made to rape the  girl.  Such crimes  are not ordinarily committed  in such places, in the daytime,  and practically in  the presence  of other people. The testimony of Isabel and her sister, taken together  with their  subsequent" acts,  is  so  inherently improbable that it can not be believed.

For these reasons the  judgment must be  reversed and the defendant acquitted.  Costs de oficio.  So ordered.

Arellano, C. J., Mapa, Carson, and Moreland, JJ.,  concur.