PEOPLE V BON
OCT 30 2006 | TINGA, J. 2. WON enactment of RA 9346 (Prohibiting Imposition of Death Penalty) resulted in
SUMMARY: Alfredo Bon was charged with rape of minors AAA and BBB (daughters
of his older brother). He was convicted by the trial court of 8 counts of rape. The CA,
however, affirmed 6 of the 8 consummated rape and convicted him of 2 counts of
attempted rape.
DOCTRINE: The Constitution does not prohibit Congress from reenacting the death
penalty for heinous crimes. Also, the debarring of the death penalty because of the
enactment of RA 9346 does not declassify crimes previously catalogued as heinous.
RULING: Maximum imposable penalty for consummated rape is reclusion perpetua
while for attempted rape is 2 degrees lower from reclusion perpetua, which is prision
mayor.
FACTS
8 informations filed against Alfredo Bon charging him with rape of AAA and
BBB, daughters of his older brother. Rapes were alleged to have been
committed within 6 years.
AAA: only 6 years old when she was first molested in the house Bon had
shared with her grandmother when they were alone in the house. He
touched her thighs and vagina, removed her clothes and inserted his penis
into her vagina threatened her that she and her parents would be killed if she
discloses the incident to anyone. 3 years after she slept in the said house
and she was again sexually abused (9 years old). When she was 11 years
old, she was raped for the third time in the same house and was raped
again the following year in an outdoor clearing after being invited to get
some vegetables (forced her to lie down on grassy spot and tried to insert
penis in vagina). Bon stopped when she cried in pain.
o She disclosed to her mother, CCC who filed a complaint.
BBB was first raped when she was 10 years old also at house shared with
her grandmother. While alone, he poked a knife at her, removed her clothes
and inserted his penis in her vagina. She was raped in the following years
1998 and 1999 with the threat of a bladed weapon. She was last raped in
2000 when she was sleeping beside AAA she felt him touch her body. She
pushed him away but he pulled her 3m away from AAA towards the door (he
was still holding a knife)
o She disclosed it to her sister and also with her mother who brought
her to the police station to have her statement take and hospital to
be examined.
DEFENSE: CCC (mother) harbored ill-feelings towards his deceased father who
would call CCC lazy within earshot of the other family members.
TRIAL COURT: convicted on all 8 counts of rape CA: affirmed 6 of 8 consummated
rape; 2 counts of attempted rape
ISSUES
1. WON CA erred in conviction for 6 counts of rape and 2 counts of attempted rape,
the victims being his then-minor nieces? NO.
Aggravating circumstance of minority and relationship.
2 counts of rape not able to prove actual penetration
statutory interdiction of the death penalty? YES.
COURT OF APPEALS DECISION:
Bec of RA 9346, appropriate penalties should be amended; Sec 2 penalty
of reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment shall be imposed.
ATTEMPTED RAPE:
o CA: indeterminate penalty of 10Y of prision mayor as minimum to
17Y 4M of reclusion temporal as maximum for each count of
attempted rape
o ART 51 penalty should be 2 degrees lower than prescribed by law
for consummated felony
CONSUMMATED RAPE OF MINOR AND RELATIONSHIP
o Under Art 266B of RPC, penalty of death; determination of 2
degrees lower than death application of Art 61 and 71 or RPC
Art 61 RPC single and indivisible penalty, penalty next
lower in degree shall be that immediately following that
indivisible penalty in the respective graduated scale in Art
71
Art 71 RPC penalty 2 degrees lower than death is
reclusion temporal which was the maximum penalty
imposed by CA for attempted rape
Indeterminate Sentence Law purpose is to effect privilege granted for
prisoners who have served minimum penalty to be eligible for parole per
discretion of Board of Indiscriminate Sentence. Thus, convicts sentenced to
suffer death penalty or life imprisonment are ineligible under the law as are
persons sentenced to reclusion perpetua, an indivisible penalty without
minimum or maximum periods.
o Max term (in view of attending circumstances, could properly
imposed) and minimum (within the range of the penalty next lower
to that prescribed by the Code for the offense)
If RA 9346 is not enacted, SC will affirm CA without complication. HOWEVER,
because of RA 9346, sentenced to prision mayor in lieu of reclusion temporal.
HISTORY OF DEATH PENALTY (RA 7659)
Death penalty: provided in two ways
o (1) Maximum penalty for reclusion perpetua to death
Murder, qualified piracy, treason
Depended on appreciation of aggravating and mitigating
circumstances
o (2) Death itself as an automatic and exclusive penalty
Crimes of qualified bribery, kidnapping or detention,
destructive arson wherein death results, rape qualified by
any of several circumstances)
Penalty two degrees lower:
o Reclusion perpetua to death prision mayor
o Death reclusion temporal
Any reference to the penalty of death does not refer to the penalty of
reclusion perpetua to death

LITERALIST INTEPRETATION
EXAMPLE, kidnapping for ransom death
o X (principal) reclusion perpetua (bec of RA 9346)
o Y (accomplice) penalty next lower in degree should be reclusion
temporal; but if conservative interpretation of RA 9346, graduation
of penalties remains unaffected (Art 71 still takes account death
penalty hence reclusion perpetua; same as principal)
EXAMPLE, simple kidnapping reclusion perpetua
o Since not punishable by death, no effect on imposition of penalty
for simple kidnapping
EXPANSIVE INTERPRETATION
Interpretare et concordare legis est optimus interpretandi embodies the
principle that a statute should be so construed not only to be consistent with
itself, but also to harmonize with other laws on the same subject matter,
as to form a complete, coherent and intelligible system a uniform system of
jurisprudence
MUOZ CASE: Pronounced that the Constitution did not abolish the death penalty.
HOWEVER, does not preclude the Court for concluding that with the expression
prohibition of the imposition of the death penalty Congress has unequivocally banned
the same.
MURDER (reclusion temporal [MAX] to death); held that penalty should be
reclusion perpetua
Constitution will not prohibit Congress from reenacting the death penalty for
compelling reasons involving heinous crimes
Unlike the Constitution, RA 9346 does expressly stipulate the
amendment of all extant laws insofar as they called for the imposition
of the penalty of death
The debarring of the death penalty through RA 9346 did not correspondingly
declassify those crimes previously catalogued as heinous
REGARDING THE CASE:
Determination of penalty for attempted rape shall be reckoned not from 2
degrees lower than death but two degrees lower than reclusion perpetua
HENCE prision mayor
For qualified rape in attempted stage, penalty of 2 degrees lower than
imposable penalty of death for the offense charged is reclusion temporal
Statutory provisions enforced in determining penalty for attempted rape and
other crimes not punishable by death are not amended by RA 9346
Ruling
6 COUNTS OF CONSUMMATED RAPE reclusion perpetua with no possibility
of parole
P50,000 as civil indemnity, P50,000 as moral damages and P25,000 as
exemplary damages for each
2 COUNTS OF ATTEMPTED RAPE - prision mayor (Indeterminate penalty of
2Y4M1D PC (MIN) to 8Y1D PM (MAX)
P30,000 as civil indemnity, P25,000 as moral damages and P10,000 as
exemplary damages