54 - People Vs Estomaca

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff- later apprehended and has since been under
appellee, vs. MELCHOR ESTOMACA y detention.

GARQUE, accused-appellant.
On the authority of Republic Act No. 7659 which
FACTS: The cases involve the heinous crime of took effect on December 31, 1993, the lower court
rape and were repressed by the sentence of death. imposed upon appellant the penalty of reclusion
The crux of the controversy in both is identically the perpetua for the sexual assault supposedly
validity vel non of the arraignment conducted by the perpetrated in December, 1993, and the supreme
same trial court which followed closely equivalent penalty of death with respect to the rape allegedly
procedures in conducting the questioned committed on March 6, 1994.
proceedings. Hence, the observations of this Court
will also inevitably converge and move along the ISSUE: Whether or not the arraignment was valid.
same channels of thought. On May 24, 1994,
consequent to five separate complaints were filed HELD: No. With exacting certitude, Section 1(a) of
in the RTC charging appellant, an illiterate laborer, Rule 116 requires that the arraignment should be
with rape committed on five separate occasions made in open court by the judge himself or by the
against his own daughter, complainant Estelita clerk of court furnishing the accused a copy of the
Estomaca. complaint or information with the list of witnesses
stated therein, then reading the same in the
The trial court detailed its findings and the language or dialect that is known to him, and
prosecution’s contentions on the multiple asking him what his plea is to the charge. The
incestuous rapes, as follows: Melita is the eldest requirement that the reading be made in a
daughter of the accused, the second husband of language or dialect that the accused understands
Melita’s mother. Melita has a full-blood younger and knows is a mandatory requirement, just as the
brother around 12 years old. She has two half- whole of said Section 1 should be strictly followed
blood sisters (from) the first marriage of her mother by trial courts. This the law affords the accused by
who are residing in Manila. Melita claims that she way of implementation of the all-important
was first raped in July 1993, at their residence at constitutional mandate regarding the right of an
Barangay Tiolas, San Joaquin, Iloilo. The offense accused to be informed of the precise nature of the
was repeated by her father before Christmas of accusation leveled at him and is, therefore, really
December, 1993; January 1994; February 1994; an avenue for him to be able to hoist the necessary
and on March 6, 1994. defense in rebuttal thereof. It is an integral aspect
of the due process clause under the Constitution.
There was some inconsistency in the statements
on record as to what actually took place on June Other considerations reveal how flawed the
14, 1994 during the arraignment of appellant, supposed arraignment actually was. For instance,
assisted by his government counsel de oficio, Atty. there is no showing whether or not appellant or his
Rogelio Antiquiera. counsel de oficio was furnished a copy of each
complaint with the list of witnesses against him, in
Proceeding upon the capital nature of the offenses order that the latter may duly prepare and comply
involved, the trial court, after appellant ostensibly with his responsibilities. Of more troublous concern
waived the presentation of evidence for his is the fact that appellant was not specifically
defense, required the prosecution to adduce warned that on his plea of guilty, he would
evidence purportedly to establish appellant’s guilt definitely and in any event be given the death
beyond reasonable doubt. Thus, on June 29, 1994, penalty under the “New Law,” as the trial court calls
the complainant appeared in court and testified that Republic Act No. 7659. He was also not
she was raped by her father once in December, categorically advised that his plea of guilty would
1993 and, again, on March 6, 1994. Both incidents, not under any circumstance affect or reduce the
according to her, took place inside their residence death sentence as he may have believed or may
at Sitio Tan-agan, Barangay Tiolas in San Joaquin, have been erroneously advised.
Iloilo at nighttime and that, on those two occasions,
she tried to resist her father’s assaults to no avail. Likewise of very serious importance and
After the last rape, she gathered enough courage to consequence is the fact that the complaints were
flee from their home, and thereafter she reported supposedly read to appellant in “Ilonggo/local
the incidents to her mother who was then living dialect.” Parenthetically, there was no statement of
separately from them. Apparently, appellant was record that appellant fully understood that medium
of expression. This assumes added significance particular determinant issue, we have perforce to
since Ilonggo, or properly called Hiligaynon, is a yield to the same doctrine and disposition.
regional language, spoken in a major part of Iloilo
province, Negros Occidental and, with variations, in
Capiz. Within a province or major geographical
area using a basic regional language, there may be
other local dialects spoken in certain parts thereof.
If said indication in the aforequoted portion of the
transcript intended to convey that Ilonggo is merely
a local dialect and was also the idiom referred to,
the same is egregious error; it would be different if
“local dialect” was used to denote an alternative
and different medium but, inexplicably, without
identifying what it was. The significance of this
distinction is found right in the provisions of Section
1(a) of Rule 116 which, cognizant of the aforestated
linguistic variations, deliberately required that the
complaint or information be read to the accused in
the language or the dialect known to him, to ensure
his comprehension of the charges. The Court takes
judicial notice, because it is either of public
knowledge or readily capable of unquestionable
demonstration, that in the central and northwestern
part of Iloilo province and all the way up to and
throughout Antique, including necessarily San
Joaquin where the offenses were committed and of
which appellant and his family are natives, the local
dialect is known as ”kinaray-a.”
In the transcripts of said proceeding which are

earlier quoted extensively, there are italicized
portions showing not only the grossly inadequate or
ambiguous, if not indifferent, questions of the lower
court but also the erratic answers of appellant
which are neither responsive nor rational. There is
no need to belabor them here since they speak for
themselves, but we are not impressed by the
formulary questions posed by the lower court while
going through the motions of interviewing appellant.
The Court would want to stress here, therefore, that
the judicial conscience cannot accept as valid a
plea of guilty to a charge with a mandatory death
penalty when entered by an accused with a
befuddled state of mind at an arraignment with
reversible lapses in law.
Adverting once again to Alicando, we reiterated

therein that pursuant to Binabay vs. People, et al.,
no valid judgment can be rendered upon an invalid
arraignment. Since in Alicando the arraignment of
appellant therein was void, the judgment of
conviction rendered against him was likewise void,
hence in fairness to him and in justice to the
offended party that case was remanded to the trial
court for further proceedings. The case at bar being
on all fours with the aforementioned cases on the

54 - People Vs Estomaca

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PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff- later apprehended and has since been under

appellee, vs. MELCHOR ESTOMACA y detention.

In the transcripts of said proceeding which are

Adverting once again to Alicando, we reiterated

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