'• Decision -3- G.R. No. 227363 genitalia. She noticed that her genitalia was swollen. AAA then confessed to her about the wrong done to her by appellant whom AAA referred to as Badong or Salvador Tulagan. AAA cried hard and embraced BBB tightly. AAA asked BBB for her help and even told her that she wanted Badong to be put in jail. AAA, nine (9) years old, testified that sometime in September 2011 while she was peeling com with her cousin who lived adjacent to her grandmother's house, Tulagan approached her, spread her legs, and inserted his finger into her private part. She said that it was painful, but Tulagan just pretended as ifhe was just looking for something and went home. AAA, likewise, testified that at around 11 :00 a.m. of October 8, 2011, while she was playing with her cousin in front of Tulagan's house, he brought her to his house and told her to keep quiet. He told her to lie down on the floor, and removed her short pants and panties. He also undressed himself, kissed AAA' s cheeks, and inserted his penis into her vagina. She claimed that it was painful and that she cried because Tulagan held her hands and pinned them with his. She did not tell anyone about the incident, until her aunt examined her private part. Upon genital examination by Dr. Brenda Tumacder on AAA, she found a healed laceration at 6 o'clock position in AAA's hymen, and a dilated or enlarged vaginal opening. She said that it is not normal for a 9-year-old child to have a dilated vaginal opening and laceration in the hymen. For the defense, Tulagan claimed that he did not know AAA well, but admitted that he lived barely five (5) meters away from AAA's grandmother's house where she lived. He added that the whole month of September 2011, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., he was gathering dried banana leaves to sell then take a rest after 1:00 p.m. at their terrace, while his mother cut the banana leaves he gathered at the back of their kitchen. He said that he never went to AAA's house and that he had not seen AAA during the entire month of September 2011. Tulagan, likewise, claimed that before the alleged incidents occurred, his mother had a misunderstanding with AAA's grandmother, who later on started spreading rumors that he raped her granddaughter. After trial, the RTC found that the prosecution successfully discharged the burden of proof in two offenses of rape against AAA. It held that all the elements of sexual assault and statutory rape was duly established. The trial court relied on the credible and positive declaration of {7