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People vs Caralipio

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, appellee, vs. ILADIO CARALIPIO, appellant.

G.R. Nos. 137766-67 | 2002-11-27

D E C I S I O N

PANGANIBAN, J.:

Once again, the Court is faced with a death penalty improvidently imposed by the trial court, because of its utter failure to apply the well-settled rule that in prosecutions for incestuous rapes, the minority of the victim must not only be alleged in the information but also be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Thus, this Court again exhorts trial judges to be more careful and prudent in imposing the death sentence.

The Case

For automatic review before this Court is the January 21, 1999 Decision[1] of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Bauang, La Union (Branch 67) in Criminal Cases Nos. 2030 and 2031, convicting...