In fact, R.A. 8353 only modified Article. 336 of the RPC, as follows: (1) by carrying
over to acts of lasciviousness the additional circumstances applicable to rape, viz.:
threat and fraudulent machinations or grave abuse of authority; (2) by retaining
the circumstance that the offended party is under 12 years old, and including
dementia as another one, in order for acts of lasciviousness to be considered as
statutory, wherein evidence of force or intimidation is immaterial because the
offended party who is under 12 years old or demented, is presumed incapable of
giving rational consent; and (3) by removing from the scope of acts of
lasciviousness and placing under the crime of rape by sexual assault the specific
lewd act of inserting the offender's penis into another person's mouth or anal
orifice, or any instrument or object into the genital or anal orifice of another person.
In fine, Article 336 of the RPC, as amended, is still a good law despite the
enactment of R.A. 8353 for there is no irreconcilable inconsistency between their
provisions.
Meanwhile, the Court is also not unmindful of the fact that the accused who
commits acts of lasciviousness under Article 336 of the RPC, in relation to
Section 5 (b), Article III of R.A. 7610, suffers the more severe penalty of
reclusion temporal in its medium period, than the one who commits Rape
Through Sexual Assault, which is merely punishable by prision mayor. In
People v. Chingh, the Court noted that the said fact is undeniably unfair to
the child victim, and it was not the intention of the framers of R.A. 8353 to
have disallowed the applicability of R.A. 7610 to sexual abuses committed
to children. The Court held that despite the passage of R.A. 8353, R.A.
7610 is still good law, which must be applied when the victims are children
or those "persons below eighteen (18) years of age or those over but are
unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse,
neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical pr
mental disability or condition."
Finally, as the Court stressed in Dimakuta v. People, where the lascivious conduct is
covered by the definition under R.A. 7610 where the penalty is reclusion temporal
medium and the said act is likewise covered by sexual assault under Article 266-A,
paragraph 2 of the RPC, which is punishable by prision mayor, the offender should
be liable for violation of Section 5(b), Article III of R.A. 7610, where the law
provides the higher penalty of reclusion temporal medium, if the offended party is a
child. But if the victim is at least eighteen (18) years of age, the offender should be
liable under Article 266-A, par. 2 of the RPC and not R.A. 7610, unless the victim is
at least 18 years old and she is unable to fully take care of herself or protect from
herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a
physical or mental disability or condition, in which case, the offender may still be
held liable of sexual abuse under R.A. 7610. The reason for the foregoing is that,
aside from the affording special protection and stronger deterrence against child
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