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PEOPLE vs. Manuel P. Matrimonio

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. MANUEL MATRIMONIO Y PADILLA, accused-appellant.

G.R. No. 82223-24 | 1992-11-23

D E C I S I O N

DAVIDE, JR., J:

Rowena Matrimonio, a girl of fourteen (14) years in December of 1985, was unlike many of the youths of her age in our country. She was the first to be born into a common-law relationship between a man and a woman who did not think of legalizing their union despite the succeeding births of four (4) more children. She was no stranger to poverty, both her father and mother were itinerant vendors - he of sweepstakes tickets and she of children's toys. As if these adverse circumstances were not enough, she underwent, at such a tender and innocent age, a most painful, terrifying and horrifying experience the...