REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
NATIONAL PROSECUTION SERVICE
OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR
CITY OF BATAC, ILOCOS NORTE

ISABEL DAWANG y LIDAMEROS, NPS Docket No. G-16-INV-151-00005

Complainant,
For:
-versus- Violation of Article 266-A par.
1 in relation to Article 266-B
JOEL C. YATAR par. 5 of RA 8353
Accused. Rape with Homicide
x-------------------------------------x

RESOLUTION
This is a complaint filed by Isabel Dawang against Joel
Yatar for violation of Article 266-A par.1 in relation to Article 266-B
par.5 of R.A 8353 or the special complex crime of rape with homicide.

FACTS
In support of their allegations the following pieces of
documentary evidence have been attached to the complaint:
1. Sworn Statement of Isabel Dawang
2. Sworn Statement of Anita Wania
3. Sworn Statement of Judilyn Pas-a
4. Extract Copy of Police Blotter
5. Sworn Certificate of Police Officer Cesar Abangan
6. Medico Legal Certificate of Kathylyn Uba
7. Counter-Affidavit of Joel C. Yatar
8. Death Certificate of Kathylyn Uba
9. Birth Certificate of Kathylyn Uba
10. Marriage Contract of Joel C. Yatar

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 The complainant, ISABEL DAWANG y LIDAMEROS is 63 years
old, female and a resident of Brgy. Acosta, Batac City. The
respondent is JOEL YATAR y CAINAM, 34 years old and a resident of
Brgy. Acosta, Batac City as well.
On June 30, 2016, at 8:30 a.m, Judilyn Pas-a and her first
cousin, seventeen (17) year old Kathylyn Uba, were on the ground
floor of the house of their granddaughter, Isabel Dawang, in Brgy.
Acosta, City of Batac, talking about the letter sent by their aunt, Luz
Yatar, to her husband, Joel Yatar, through Kathylyns friend, Cecil
Casingan. Kathylyn handed the letter to Joel Yatar earlier that
morning.
At 9:00 a.m. of the same day, Judilyn and her husband,
together with Isabel Dawang, left for their farm in Tabug some two
kilometers away. Kathylyn was left alone in the house.
Later, at 10:00 a.m., Anita Wania and fifteen year old Beverly
Deneng stopped by the house. They went inside the house through
the back door of the kitchen to have a drink of water. Anita asked Joel
Yatar what he was doing there, and he replied that he was getting
lumber to bring to the house of his mother.
At 12:30 p.m., while Judilyn was on her way home from Tabug,
she saw Jeol Yatar descend the ladder from the second floor of the
house of Isabel Dawang and run towards the back of the house. She
later noticed Joel, who was wearing a white shirt with collar and black
pants, pacing back and forth at the back of the house.
At 1:30 p,m., Judilyn again saw Joel Yatar when he called her
near the house. This time, he was wearing a black shirt without collar
and blue pants. Joel told her that he would not be getting the lumber
he had stacked, and that Isabel could use it. She noticed that
appelants eyes were reddish and sharp. Appellant asked her where
the husband was as he something important to tell him. Judilyns
husband then arrived and appellant immediately left and went
towards the back of the house of Isabel.
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 In the evening of the same day, Isabel Dawang arrived home
and found that the lights in her house were off. She called out for her
granddaughter, Kathylyn Uba. The door to the ground floor was open.
She noticed that the water container she asked Kathylyn to fill up
earlier that day was still empty. She went up the ladder to the second
floor of the house to see if Kathylyn was upstairs. She found that the
door was tied with a rope, so she went down to get a knife. While she
groped in the dark, she felt a lifeless body that was cold and rigid.
Isabel moved her hand throughout the entire body. She found
out that it was the naked body of her granddaughter, Kathylyn. She
called for help. Judilyn and her husband arrived. Isabel was given a
flashlight by Judilyn. She focused the beam and saw Kathylyn
sprawled on the floor naked, with her intestines protruding out of her
stomach. Meanwhile, neighbors had arrived to offer assistance.
At 9:00 that evening, while we were on duty SPO4 Melchor
Faniswa received a report that a dead woman was found in Isabel
Dawangs house. Together with fellow police officers, Faniswa went to
the house and found the naked body of Kathylyn Uba with multiple
stab wounds.
The people in the vicinity informed the police officers the Joel
Yatar was seen going down the ladder of the house of Isabel Dawang
at approximately 12:30 p.m.
The police discovered the victims panties, brassiere, denim
pants, bag and sandals beside her naked cadaver at the scene of the
crime, and they found a thirty white shirt splattered with blood within
50 meters from the house of Isabel.
When questioned by the police authorized, Jeol Yatar denied
and knowledge of Kathylyns death, however, he was placed under
police custody.
On July 3, 2016, Joel Yatar asked the police officers if he could
relieve himself. Police Officer Cesar Abangan accompanied him to
the toilet seven to ten meters away from the police station. They
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suddenly heard someone shout in the Ilocano dialect, Nagtaray!
(Hes running away!). Police Officer Orlando Manuel exited through
the gate of the Police Station and saw appellant running away.
Appellant was approximately 70 meters away from the station when
Police Officer Abagan recaptured him.
A total of eleven (11) wounds, six (6) stab and five (5) incised,
were found on the victims abdomen and back, causing a portion of
her small intestines to spill out of her body. Rigor mortis of the victims
body was complete when Dr. Bartolo examined the victim at 9:00 a.m
on July 1, 1998. According to him, the time of death may be
approximated from between nine (9) to twelve (12) hours prior to the
completion of rigor mortis. In other words, the estimated time of death
was sometime between 9:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m on June 30, 1998.
This was within the timefarame within which the lone presence of
appellant lurking in the house in the house of Isabel Dawang was
testified to by witness.
It should also be noted that, although the Postmortem Report
by the attending physician, Dr. Pej Evan C. Bartolo, indicated that no
hymenal lacerations, contusions or hematoma were noted on the
victim, Dr. Bartolo discovered the presence of semen in the vaginal
canal of the victim. In addition, it is apparent from the pictures that the
sexual violation of the victim was manifested by the bruise and some
swelling in her right forearm indicating resistance to the appellants
assault on her virtue.
Significantly, subsequent testing showed that the
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) of the sperm specimen from the vagina
of the victim was identical to the semen to be that of appellants gene
type.

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 ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION
The respondent in this case is being accused of violation of
Article 266-A par.1 in relation to Article 266-B par.5 of R.A 8353 or the
special complex crime of Rape with Homicide.
Under RA 8353 also known as the Anti-Rape Law of 1997,
Rape can be committed in two ways either by a man who shall
have carnal knowledge of a woman, or by inserting his penis into
another person's mouth or anal orifice, or any instrument or object,
into the genital or anal orifice of another person. (Emphasis ours)
The contact of the male penis with the womans vagina is
referred to as rape by sexual intercourse. 1 This is the first form of
rape.
R.A. 8353, reclassifying rape as a crime against persons
provides that:

"Article 266-A. Rape: When And How Committed. - Rape is

committed:

"1) By a man who shall have carnal knowledge of a woman

under any of the following circumstances:

"a) Through force, threat, or intimidation;

xxx xxx xxx

Article 266-B. Penalty.

xxx xxx xxx

"When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, homicide

is committed, the penalty shall be death.

1 People v. Soriano, 388 SCRA 140

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 xxx xxx xxx

The felony of rape with homicide which is the crime charged

herein is a composite crime. A composite crime, also known as a
special complex crime, is composed of two or more crimes that the
law treats as a single indivisible and unique offense for being the
product of a single criminal impulse. It is a specific crime with a
specific penalty provided by law, and differs from a compound or
complex crime under Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code. 2

In rape with homicide, the following elements must concur: (1)

the appellant had carnal knowledge of a woman; (2) carnal
knowledge of a woman was achieved by means of force, threat or
intimidation; and (3) by reason or on occasion of such carnal
knowledge by means of force, threat or intimidation, the appellant
killed a woman.

The legislative intent on the import of the phrase on the

occasion of the rape to refer to a killing that occurs
immediately before or after, or during the commission itself of the
attempted or consummated rape, where the victim of the homicide
may be a person other than the rape victim herself for as long as the
killing is linked to the rape.3

In the instant case all the elements for rape with homicide are
present.

The absence of hymenal lacerations, contusions or hematoma

does not disprove the fact of carnal knowledge. A broken hymen is

2 People v. Villaflores (G.R. No. 184926)

3 Ibid.

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not an essential element of rape. Even the fact that the hymen of the
victim was still intact does not rule out the possibility of rape.

In People v. Gabayron (278 SCRA 78), the conviction of

accused for rape was sustained even though the victims hymen was
still remained intact after the incidents because medical researches
show that negative findings of lacerations are of no significance, as
the hymen may not be torn despite repeated coitus.

The absence of hymenal lacerations is not controlling as it is

indicated in the Autopsy Report by Dr. Pej Evan C. Bartolo that
semen were present in the vaginal canal of the victim.

The use of force is very evident. Postmorem Report reveals

that a total of eleven (11) wounds, six (6) stab and five (5) incised,
were found on the victims abdomen and back, causing a portion of
victims small intestines to spill out of her body.

Its also worthy to state that in a number of cases, the Supreme

Court has ruled that the moral ascendancy or influence exercised by
the accused over the victim substitutes for the element of physical
force or intimidation in cases of rape. In the case of People v.
Betonio, (241 SCRA 285), it was ruled that an uncle has a moral
ascendancy to his niece. In this case, Joels estranged wife is the
aunt of the victim. Luz is the daughter of Isabel while Kathylyn is the
granddaughter of Isabel. Thus, Joel is an uncle of Kathylyn, a relative
in the third degree by affinity of the latter.

In this case, nobody witnessed the actual rape. The

respondent, however, may still be proven as the culprit despite the
absence of eyewitnesses. Direct evidence is not a condition sine qua
non to prove the guilt of an accused beyond reasonable doubt. For in
the absence of direct evidence, the prosecution may resort to
adducing circumstantial evidence to discharge its burden.
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 It is settled that in the special complex crime of rape with
homicide, both the rape and the homicide must be established
beyond reasonable doubt.4 In this regard, we have held that the crime
of rape is difficult to prove because it is generally unwitnessed and
very often only the victim is left to testify for herself. It becomes even
more difficult when the complex crime of rape with homicide is
committed because the victim could no longer testify. Thus, in crimes
of rape with homicide, as here, resort to circumstantial evidence is
usually unavoidable.
An accused can be convicted even if no eyewitness is
available, provided sufficient circumstantial evidence is presented by
the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused
committed the crime.5 In rape with homicide, the evidence against an
accused is more often than not circumstantial. This is because the
nature of the crime, where only the victim and the rapist would have
been present at the time of its commission, makes the prosecution of
the offense particularly difficult since the victim could no longer testify
against the perpetrator. Resort to circumstantial evidence is inevitable
and to demand direct evidence proving the modality of the offense
and the identity of the perpetrator is unreasonable. 6
Circumstantial evidence consists of proof of collateral facts and
circumstances from which the existence of the main fact may be
inferred according to reason and common experience. Section 4,
Rule 133, of the Revised Rules of Evidence, as amended, sets
forth the requirements of circumstantial evidence that is sufficient for
conviction, viz:
SEC. 4. Circumstantial evidence, when sufficient.
Circumstantial evidence is sufficient for conviction if:
4 People v. Pascual (G.R. No. 172326),

5 Fullero v. People (G.R. NO. 170583)

6 People v. Vallejo (G.R. No. 144656)

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 (a) There is more than one circumstance;
(b) The facts from which the inferences are derived are proven;
and
(c) The combination of all the circumstances is such as to
produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.
The DNA result is also strong to bolster the charges against the
accused.
DNA is an organic substance found in a person's cells which
contains his or her genetic code. Except for identical twins, each
person's DNA profile is distinct and unique. 7 When a crime is
committed, material is collected from the scene of the crime or from
the victim's body for the suspect's DNA. This is the evidence sample.
The evidence sample is then matched with the reference sample
taken from the suspect and the victim.
The purpose of DNA testing is to ascertain whether an
association exists between the evidence sample and the reference
sample.
The statements of Juana C. Yatar and Martha Cruz is not
sufficient to refute the circumstances presented by the witnesses and
the pieces of evidence attached. The circumstances in the case at
bar, sufficiently proves probable cause that the accused, Joel C. Yatar
is the one who raped and killed the victim, Kathylyn D. Uba.
Having taken into consideration the allegations of the
complainants, their supporting documents, and the imposable penalty
of the offense allegedly committed by the respondent, the
undersigned deems that proper action in the present case is to file
the proper Information in Court against respondent so that the latter
may be proceeded with in accordance with the pertinent provisions of
law.

7 Ibid.

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 WHEREFORE, premises considered, the undersigned
RESOLVES to file Information against JOEL YATAR y CAINAM for
violation of Article 266-A par.1 in relation to Article 266-B par.5 of R.A
8553 or the special complex crime of Rape with Homicide.

Batac City, Ilocos Norte. July 19, 2016

APRILLE S. ALVIARNE
City Prosecutor

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