Nana and her sister, Teresa Nana. He denied the testimonies of Mirasol and Teresa that on
January 17, 1998, he invited Mirasol to his farm to pick-young corn. Likewise, he denied that on
January 17, 1998, at 12:00 o’clock noon, he ever touched or held the hands of Mirasol, much
less, went on top of her nor raped her. He denied raping Mirasol. He does not know why Mirasol
filed these cases against him. Likewise, he denied raping Mirasol on January 22, 1998, at 11:00
o’clock in the morning. He declared that he is the President of the Irrigation Association. He
denied the allegation of Teresa Nana that he raped her on June 2, 1998. He declared that on June
2, 1998, he was in the yard of Doroteo dela Cruz at Cabacaraan, San Manuel, Pangasinan. That
on January 17, 1998, at 12:00 o’clock noon, he was in their house. Likewise, on January 22,
1998, he was in their house. He told the Court that he was the Moderator in the seminar and
supervised the participants in the seminar of the San Juan Irrigation Association. He identified
Exhibit ‘4-D’. He denied the allegation of Teresa Nana that he spread the rumor that he raped
Teresa Nana. He further declared that he knows Rudy Racadio, his compadre, being the treasurer
of their irrigation association, but he denied the statement of Racadio that he went to his house
on June 9, 1998 and told him about his problem regarding the two children. That on June 7,
1998, he was in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, attending the death anniversary of his parents. He went
home on June 10, and slept in the house of Racadio. On June 11, 1998, he supervised the
cleaning of the irrigation canal. He went to town of San Manuel with Racadio and Cerdeña and a
tricycle driver in the afternoon. They went to the Municipal Hall. When they reached the
Municipal building, he met Ruben Corpuz. Ruben Corpuz held his neck and hit his ears and
boxed him. He lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, he was already inside the
jail. He learned later on that complaints were filed against him by two young women. That the
motives why these cases were filed against him by Mirasol Nana and Teresa Nana [were]: (1)
The Corpuzes refused to pay irrigation fees which he was collecting from them; (2) An emissary
relative of the Nanas were asking from him an amount of P500,000.00 so that they [would]
withdraw these cases filed by the two girls. He told the emissary that he [did] not have the
amount since he [was] poor.
"He denied the testimony of Cerdeña that he was settling the cases with the Nanas. He likewise
denied the statement of Cerdeña, that he was asking forgiveness from Antonio Nana. He further
told the Court that he used to see Mirasol Nana with someone when she passe[d] by his house.
He saw Mirasol Nana [pass] by their house twice a week. He further declared that Teresa Nana
was seen by him with a man passing by their house. He saw Teresa Nana passing by their house
three times a week. Teresa Nana and Mirasol Nana were entertaining several men. He further
declared that the Corpuzes were the ones who instigated the filing of these cases. Thereafter, the
defense rested its case with the offer of Exhibit ‘1’ to ‘5’ inclusive." 15
Trial Court’s Ruling
The trial court ruled that the prosecution was able to prove the guilt of appellant beyond
reasonable doubt in all three cases. It disbelieved his story and gave full faith and credence to the
prosecution witness. For each of the three (3) criminal cases, it thus sentenced him to reclusion
perpetua and ordered him to pay P50,000 in moral damages and P20,000 in exemplary damages.
The Issues