People v. Campuhan

At about 4 p.m. on April 25, 1996, a mother went downstairs to prepare drinks for her two young children. Primo Campuhan, a helper of her brother, was upstairs filling plastic bags with water for the freezer. Hearing her 4-year-old daughter cry “Ayoko, ayoko!”, she rushed up. She saw Campuhan kneeling before the child, whose pants and underwear were off, with his own shorts down to his knees. She said he was forcing his penis into the child's vagina. She hit him, and he fled but was caught by relatives. The medico-legal officer found no sign of physical injury. The hymen was intact, with an orifice of 0.5 cm. Campuhan denied the charge and claimed the child had pulled him down while playing. The RTC convicted him of statutory rape of a child below seven and imposed death, and the case came up on automatic review.

1. 1Whether the evidence proved penetration sufficient for consummated rape, or only attempted rape.

Guilty only of attempted rape (Bellosillo, J., en banc). Orita abolished frustrated rape and held that any penetration, however slight, consummates the crime. Entry into the labia suffices even without rupture of the hymen. But “touching” must be understood as part of penile penetration, not touching in the ordinary sense. It does not mean mere epidermal contact or a stroking, grazing or brushing of the external surface or the mons pubis. As People v. De la Peña explained, the “mere touching” cases assumed an erect penis capable of full penetration. There must be convincing proof that the penis touched the labia or slid into the female organ. Because the labia lie beneath the surface, touching them is itself some degree of penetration. Without it, the crime is at most attempted rape, if not acts of lasciviousness. The evidence fell short. From the mother's own description, the accused's kneeling position, his limbs and his hand holding his penis would have blocked her view of any contact. It was also unlikely that he would carry on after being discovered. The child said his penis touched her organ but answered “No” when asked whether it penetrated. She kept her legs together, felt no pain (“Ayoko,” not “Aray ko”), and nothing suggested an erection. The medico-legal officer found no medical basis for sexual contact, so the testimony and the medical findings did not complement each other. The penalty for attempted rape is two degrees lower than death, which is reclusion temporal. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the Court imposed 8 years, 4 months and 10 days of prision mayor to 14 years, 10 months and 20 days of reclusion temporal. Panganiban, J., concurred in the result.