during the examination, which could have been the result of a previous penetration. He issued a Medical Report dated November 7, 2009 which he duly identified in open court.[22] Version of the Defense The accused-appellant testified that AAA was the second of his six children. He lived with all six children in their house with their mother, BBB. His three sons occupied one bedroom and his three daughters occupied another bedroom, while he and BBB slept on a mat near the kitchen. He denied having committed any lascivious conduct on AAA on November 3, 2009 or having raped her on November 4 and 5, 2009. He claimed that AAA filed these cases against him because he tried to discipline her as she was in the habit of going out at night.[23] Ruling of the Regional Trial Court The RTC upheld AAA's candid, vivid, and straightforward account of her ordeal at the hands of the accused-appellant, especially so because it was sufficiently corroborated by the medical findings of Dr. Apin.[24] The RTC ruled that the accused-appellant's defense of denial could not prevail over the positive testimony of the victim-daughter, who moreover clearly identified him as her molester. The RTC noted that the accused-appellant failed to present any strong evidence of innocence, which made his denial purely self-serving.[25] However, in Criminal Case No. 09-1121, the RTC found the accused-appellant liable only for acts of lasciviousness because the prosecution failed to prove that there was any penetration of AAA's vagina on the night of November 5, 2009, whether by his penis, finger, or any other object.[26] The RTC ruled that the prosecution merely succeeded in establishing that the accused-appellant had touched AAA's vagina before CCC woke up and saw him undressing AAA.[27] The RTC also appreciated against accused-appellant the attendant circumstances of relationship and minority because these had been sufficiently alleged in the information and proven during the trial.[28] Thus, on November 26, 2014, the RTC rendered its Decision,[29] the decretal portion of which reads: WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing, accused RONALDO DE VERA y HOLDEM having been found GUILTY BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT OF QUALIFIED RAPE IN RELATION TO RA. 7610 in Criminal Case No. 09-1119 and ACTS OF LASCIVIOUSNESS in Criminal Case Nos. 09-1118 and 09-1121, he is sentenced to suffer -