Man gets life for rape

CEBU, Philippines - A man was found guilty for raping his buddy’s girlfriend at Barangay Poblacion 1, Carcar City sometime in July 2010.

Regional Trial Court Branch 16 Judge Sylva Paderanga sentenced Bobby Manlangit, 27, with Reclusion Perpetua or imprisonment for 20 to 40 years.

Manlangit was also ordered to pay P50,000 for civil damages, P50,000 for moral damages, and P25,000 for exemplary damages.

The victim, a resident of Basak Pardo, Cebu City, testified and narrated the whole incident before the court during the trial.

The testimony was instrumental to the decision which read, “This court finds the testimony of the private complainant worthy of full faith and credit in the absence of any showing of improper motive on her part to impute the heinous crime of rape against the herein accused.”

On the night of the incident in July 2010, the woman was with her boyfriend, Emmanuel Sanchez. They were in his house where Sanchez was drinking with his brother, Alvin, when Manlangit suddenly arrived.

When it was getting late, Sanchez brought his girlfriend to his room to sleep then Manlangit and his friends moved to another place and continued drinking.

Manlangit left the drinking spree a few hours after without telling his friends where he was going.

At 3:30 dawn, the woman was startled when a person lay beside her. She thought it was her boyfriend so she did not mind until the man bit her lips and neck then undressed her.

She realized that the man was not Sanchez and pushed him away however, the man who she later learned was Manlangit, had a knife and pulled her hair.

He pointed the knifed at her neck and threatened to kill her. She was forcibly laid down on the bed and raped.

When the act was done, he stood up, threatened to kill the woman if she shouted and jumped out of the window.

When Manlangit was gone, she shouted for help. The parents and sister of Sanchez heard her came down to the room.

She narrated the incident prompting Sanchez’s parents to report to the Carcar police station while Sanchez returned home and stayed with his shocked girlfriend. Manlangit was then arrested by the police.

During the trial, only Manlangit testified as witness for his defense and he denied the allegation.

However, Paderanga wrote in his decision that, “denial is jurisprudentially weak” which did not allow Manlangit to prove his innocence. (FREEMAN)