Case Digest: Imbo vs. People G.R. No.197712, April 20, 2015

Imbo vs. People
G.R. No.197712, April 20, 2015
 
Facts:
While their entire household was asleep and had retired for the night, she was awakened by petitioner, her own father, licking her vagina and mashing her breasts. At the time, AAA was sleeping at the second level of their residence with her younger sister, BBB. AAA immediately and repeatedly shouted for her mother, CCC, who was sleeping outside the room, but to no avail. AAA continued to shout for her mother prompting petitioner to leave and run out of the room. AAA cried herself to sleep, and on the very next day told her mother of what her father, petitioner, had done to her. 
Adamant on his innocence, petitioner filed a Notice of Appeal to the appellate court maintaining that he did not commit Acts of Lasciviousness against his own daughter, AAA; the charge was only concocted by his wife who, for some reason, wanted to separate from him. 
The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's conviction of petitioner for Acts of Lasciviousness under Article 336 of the RPC in relation to Section 5 of R.A. No. 7610. 

Issue:
Whether or not the penalty imposed by the lower court failed to properly apply R.A. No. 4103, the Indeterminate Sentence Law 

Held:
Yes. Section 5(b), Article III of R.A. No. 7610 provides the imposable penalty for Acts of Lasciviousness when the victim is under twelve (12) years of age, albeit the offense is prosecuted under Article 336 of the RPC, is reclusion temporal in its medium period. The range of the imposable penalty on petitioner of reclusion temporal in its medium period is fourteen (14) years, four (4) months and one (1) day to seventeen (17) years and four (4) months. The Indeterminate Sentence Law is applicable to prison sentence both for an offense punished by the RPC and an offense punished "by any other law." The correct application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law has long been clarified in People v. Simon which ruled that the underscored portion of Section 1 of the Indeterminate Sentence Law, i.e. the "offense is punished by any other law," indubitably refers to an offense under a special law where the penalty imposed was not taken from and is without reference to the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
Hence, applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, petitioner is sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of twelve (12) years and one (1) day of reclusion temporal as minimum and seventeen (17) years and four (4) months of reclusion temporal as maximum.