.. . •, Decision -8- G.R. No. 227363 (R.A.) No. 8353 vis-a-vis Sexual Intercourse and Lascivious Conduct under Section 5(b) of R.A. No. 7610, to fortify the earlier decisions of the Court and doctrines laid down on similar issues, and to clarify the nomenclature and the imposable penalties of said crimes, and damages in line with existing jurisprudence. 13 Prior to the effectivity of R.A. No. 8353 or The Anti-Rape Law of 1997 on October 22, 1997, acts constituting sexual assault under paragraph 2, 14 Article 266-A of the RPC, were punished as acts of lasciviousness under Article No. 336 15 of the RPC or Act No. 3815 which took effect on December 8, 1930. For an accused to be convicted of acts of lasciviousness, the confluence of the following essential elements must be proven: ( 1) that the offender commits any act of lasciviousness or lewdness; and (2) that it is done under any of the following circumstances: (a) by using force or intimidation; (b) when the offended woman is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; or (c) when the offended party is under twelve (12) years of age. 16 In Amployo v. People, 17 We expounded on the broad definition of the term "lewd": The term lewd is commonly defined as something indecent or obscene; it is characterized by or intended to excite crude sexual desire. That an accused is entertaining a lewd or unchaste design is necessarily a mental process the existence of which can be inferred by overt acts carrying out such intention, i.e., by conduct that can only be interpreted as lewd or lascivious. The presence or absence of lewd designs is inferred from the nature of the acts themselves and the environmental circumstances. What is or what is not lewd conduct, by its very nature, cannot be pigeonholed into a precise definition. As early as US v. Gomez, we had already lamented that It would be somewhat difficult to lay down any rule specifically establishing just what conduct makes one amenable to the provisions of article 439 of the Penal Code. What constitutes lewd or lascivious conduct must be determined from the circumstances of each case. It may be quite easy to determine in a particular case that certain acts are lewd and lascivious, and it may be extremely dif1icult in another case to say just where the line of demarcation IJ People v. .Jugueta, 783 Phil. 806 (2016). Article 266-A. Rape; When And How Committed. - Rape is Committed xx xx 2) By any person who, under any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph I hereof, shall commit an act of sexual assault 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. 15 Art. 336. Acts of lasciviousness. - Any person who shall commit any act of lasciviousness upon other persons of either sex, under any of the circumstances mentioned in the preceding article, shall be punished by prision correccional. 16 P03 Sombilon, Jr. v. People of the Philippines, 617 Phil. 187, 195-196 (2009). 17 496 Phil. 747 (2005). 14 (/

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