Tribunal reverses ruling on rape
The Supreme Court (SC) has convicted a man of qualified rape against his 11-year-old stepdaughter, ruling that full penetration is not required to consummate rape.
In a 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier and released on 31 October 2026, the SC Second Division dismissed the stepfather’s appeal and found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt, rejecting his defense of alibi.
The victim testified that her mother’s common-law partner had sexually abused her repeatedly, beginning when she was 11 years old. The abuse stopped after she asked her godmother to take her away from her mother’s home.
She eventually disclosed the abuse to her half-sister in April 2021 and asked her to inform her biological father, whom she had not spoken to in 17 years.
A medico-legal examination found that the victim had suffered hymenal laceration. The accused denied the charges.
The Regional Trial Court convicted him of acts of lasciviousness and sentenced him to up to 16 years in prison. It dismissed the statutory rape charge, finding insufficient evidence of penetration. The Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.
The SC modified the lower courts’ decision, convicting the accused of qualified rape instead of acts of lasciviousness. It noted that his relationship with the victim as her stepfather gave him moral ascendancy over her.
The court reiterated the long-standing doctrine that rape is consummated by even the slightest penetration of the labial cleft, whether contact occurs on its surface or within it.
It explained that an attempt or repeated attempts at penetration may establish the intent to engage in sexual intercourse, which may also be inferred from circumstantial evidence.
The court said the law protects the entirety of the female genital structure, and offenders cannot evade liability by claiming that penetration was incomplete or fell short of full vaginal entry.
The SC sentenced the accused to reclusion perpetua, or up to 40 years in prison. It also ordered him to pay the victim P150,000 in civil indemnity, P150,000 in moral damages and P150,000 in exemplary damages.