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640 Phil. 109

FIRST DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 173150. July 28, 2010 ]
LYDIA C. GELIG, PETITIONER, VS. PEOPLE OF THE
PHILIPPINES, RESPONDENT.
DECISION
DEL CASTILLO, J.:

An examination of the entire records of a case may be explored for the purpose of arriving
at a correct conclusion, as an appeal in criminal cases throws the whole case open for
review, it being the duty of the court to correct such error as may be found in the judgment
appealed from.[1]

Petitioner Lydia Gelig (Lydia) impugns the Decision[2] promulgated on January 10, 2006
by the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CR No. 27488 that vacated and set aside the
Decision[3] of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Cebu City, Branch 23, in Criminal Case
No. CU-10314. The RTC Decision convicted Lydia for committing the complex crime of
direct assault with unintentional abortion but the CA found her guilty only of the crime of
slight physical injuries.

Factual Antecedents

On June 6, 1982, an Information[4] was filed charging Lydia with Direct Assault with
Unintentional Abortion committed as follows:

That on the 17th day of July, 1981 at around 10:00 o'clock in the morning, at
Barangay Nailon, Municipality of Bogo, Province of Cebu, Philippines, and
within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, did,
then and there, willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously assault, attack, employ
force and seriously intimidate one Gemma B. Micarsos a public classroom
teacher of Nailon Elementary School while in the performance of official
duties and functions as such which acts consequently caused the unintentional
abortion upon the person of the said Gemma S. Micarsos.

CONTRARY TO LAW.

Lydia pleaded not guilty during her arraignment. Thereafter, trial ensued.

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The Prosecution's Version

Lydia and private complainant Gemma B. Micarsos (Gemma), were public school teachers
at the Nailon Elementary School, in Nailon, Bogo, Cebu. Lydia's son, Roseller, was a
student of Gemma at the time material to this case.

On July 17, 1981, at around 10:00 o'clock in the morning, Lydia confronted Gemma after
learning from Roseller that Gemma called him a "sissy" while in class. Lydia slapped
Gemma in the cheek and pushed her, thereby causing her to fall and hit a wall divider. As
a result of Lydia's violent assault, Gemma suffered a contusion in her "maxillary area", as
shown by a medical certificate[5] issued by a doctor in the Bogo General Hospital.
However, Gemma continued to experience abdominal pains and started bleeding two days
after the incident. On August 28, 1981, she was admitted in the Southern Islands Hospital
and was diagnosed, to her surprise, to have suffered incomplete abortion. Accordingly, a
medical certificate[6] was issued.

The Defense's Version

Lydia claimed that she approached Gemma only to tell her to refrain from calling her son
names, so that his classmates will not follow suit. However, Gemma proceeded to attack
her by holding her hands and kicking her. She was therefore forced to retaliate by pushing
Gemma against the wall.

Ruling of the Regional Trial Court

On October 11, 2002, the trial court rendered a Decision convicting Lydia of the complex
crime of direct assault with unintentional abortion. The dispositive portion reads:

WHEREFORE, the court finds the accused LYDIA GELIG, guilty beyond
reasonable doubt of the crime of direct assault with unintentional abortion, and
she is hereby sentenced to suffer an Indeterminate Penalty of SIX (6)
MONTHS OF ARRESTO MAYOR AS MINIMUM TO FOUR (4) YEARS,
TWO (2) MONTHS OF PRISION CORRECCIONAL AS MAXIMUM. She
is likewise ordered to pay the offended party the amount of Ten Thousand
(P10,000.00) Pesos as actual damages and Fifteen Thousand (P15,000.00)
Pesos for moral damages.

SO ORDERED.[7]

Thus, Lydia filed an appeal.

Ruling of the Court of Appeals

The CA vacated the trial court's judgment. It ruled that Lydia cannot be held liable for
direct assault since Gemma descended from being a person in authority to a private
individual when, instead of pacifying Lydia or informing the principal of the matter, she
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engaged in a fight with Lydia.[8] Likewise, Lydia's purpose was not to defy the authorities
but to confront Gemma on the alleged name-calling of her son.[9]

The appellate court also ruled that Lydia cannot be held liable for unintentional abortion
since there was no evidence that she was aware of Gemma's pregnancy at the time of the
incident.[10] However, it declared that Lydia can be held guilty of slight physical injuries,
thus:

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the appealed Decision of the Regional

Trial Court-Branch 23 of Cebu City, dated October 11, 2002 is hereby
VACATED AND SET ASIDE. A new one is entered CONVICTING the
accused-appellant for slight physical injuries pursuant to Article 266 (1) of the
Revised Penal Code and sentencing her to suffer the penalty of arresto menor
minimum of ten (10) days.

SO ORDERED.[11]

Issues

Still dissatisfied, Lydia filed this petition raising the following as errors:

1. The Honorable Court of Appeals erred in finding that the petitioner is liable
for Slight Physical Injuries pursuant to Article 266 (1) of the Revised Penal
Code and sentencing her to suffer the penalty of arresto menor minimum of ten
days.

2. The Honorable Court of Appeals erred in finding that the petitioner can be
convicted of Slight Physical Injuries under the information charging her for
Direct Assault with Unintentional Abortion.[12]

Our Ruling

The petition lacks merit.

When an accused appeals from the judgment of his conviction, he waives his
constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy and throws the entire case open for
appellate review. We are then called upon to render such judgment as law and justice
dictate in the exercise of our concomitant authority to review and sift through the whole
case to correct any error, even if unassigned.[13]

The Information charged Lydia with committing the complex crime of direct assault with
unintentional abortion. Direct assault is defined and penalized under Article 148 of the

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Revised Penal Code. The provision reads as follows:

Art. 148. Direct assaults. - Any person or persons who, without a public
uprising, shall employ force or intimidation for the attainment of any of the
purposes enumerated in defining the crimes of rebellion and sedition, or shall
attack, employ force, or seriously intimidate or resist any person in authority or
any of his agents, while engaged in the performance of official duties, or on
occasion of such performance, shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional
in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos,
when the assault is committed with a weapon or when the offender is a public
officer or employee, or when the offender lays hands upon a person in
authority. If none of these circumstances be present, the penalty of prision
correccional in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be
imposed.

It is clear from the foregoing provision that direct assault is an offense against public order
that may be committed in two ways: first, by any person or persons who, without a public
uprising, shall employ force or intimidation for the attainment of any of the purposes
enumerated in defining the crimes of rebellion and sedition; and second, by any person or
persons who, without a public uprising, shall attack, employ force, or seriously intimidate
or resist any person in authority or any of his agents, while engaged in the performance
of official duties, or on

occasion of such performance.[14]

The case of Lydia falls under the second mode, which is the more common form of
assault. Its elements are:

1. That the offender (a) makes an attack, (b) employs force, (c) makes a serious
intimidation, or (d) makes a serious resistance.

2. That the person assaulted is a person in authority or his agent.

3. That at the time of the assault the person in authority or his agent (a) is
engaged in the actual performance of official duties, or [b] that he is assaulted
by reason of the past performance of official duties.

4. That the offender knows that the one he is assaulting is a person in authority
or his agent in the exercise of his duties.

4. That there is no public uprising.[15]

On the day of the commission of the assault, Gemma was engaged in the performance of
her official duties, that is, she was busy with paperwork while supervising and looking
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after the needs of pupils who are taking their recess in the classroom to which she was
assigned. Lydia was already angry when she entered the classroom and accused Gemma
of calling her son a "sissy". Lydia refused to be pacified despite the efforts of Gemma and
instead initiated a verbal abuse that enraged the victim. Gemma then proceeded towards
the principal's office but Lydia followed and resorted to the use of force by slapping and
pushing her against a wall divider. The violent act resulted in Gemma's fall to the floor.

Gemma being a public school teacher, belongs to the class of persons in authority
expressly mentioned in Article 152 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended. The pertinent
portion of the provision reads as follows:

Art. 152. Persons in Authority and Agents of Persons in Authority - Who shall
be deemed as such. -

xxxx

In applying the provisions of articles 148 and 151 of this Code, teachers,
professors, and persons charged with the supervision of public or duly
recognized private schools, colleges and universities, and lawyers in the actual
performance of their professional duties or on the occasion of such
performance shall be deemed persons in authority. (As amended by Batas
Pambansa Bilang 873, approved June 12, 1985).[16]

Undoubtedly, the prosecution adduced evidence to establish beyond reasonable doubt the
commission of the crime of direct assault. The appellate court must be consequently
overruled in setting aside the trial court's verdict. It erred in declaring that Lydia could not
be held guilty of direct assault since Gemma was no longer a person in authority at the
time of the assault because she allegedly descended to the level of a private person by
fighting with Lydia. The fact remains that at the moment Lydia initiated her tirades,
Gemma was busy attending to her official functions as a teacher. She tried to pacify Lydia
by offering her a seat so that they could talk properly,[17] but Lydia refused and instead
unleashed a barrage of verbal invectives. When Lydia continued with her abusive
behavior, Gemma merely retaliated in kind as would a similarly situated person. Lydia
aggravated the situation by slapping Gemma and violently pushing her against a wall
divider while she was going to the principal's office. No fault could therefore be attributed
to Gemma.

The prosecution's success in proving that Lydia committed the crime of direct assault does
not necessarily mean that the same physical force she employed on Gemma also resulted
in the crime of unintentional abortion. There is no evidence on record to prove that the
slapping and pushing of Gemma by Lydia that occurred on July 17, 1981 was the
proximate cause of the abortion. While the medical certificate of Gemma's attending
physician, Dr. Susan Jaca (Dr. Jaca), was presented to the court to prove that she suffered
an abortion, there is no data in the document to prove that her medical condition was a
direct consequence of the July 17, 1981 incident.[18] It was therefore vital for the
prosecution to present Dr. Jaca since she was competent to establish a link, if any, between
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Lydia's assault and Gemma's abortion. Without her testimony, there is no way to ascertain
the exact effect of the assault on Gemma's abortion.

It is worth stressing that Gemma was admitted and confined in a hospital for incomplete
abortion on August 28, 1981, which was 42 days after the July 17, 1981 incident. This
interval of time is too lengthy to prove that the discharge of the fetus from the womb of
Gemma was a direct outcome of the assault. Her bleeding and abdominal pain two days
after the said incident were not substantiated by proof other than her testimony. Thus, it is
not unlikely that the abortion may have been the result of other factors.

The Proper Penalty

Having established the guilt of the petitioner beyond reasonable doubt for the crime of
direct assault, she must suffer the penalty imposed by law. The penalty for this crime is
prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not exceeding
P1,000.00, when the offender is a public officer or employee, or when the offender lays
hands upon a person in authority.[19] Here, Lydia is a public officer or employee since she
is a teacher in a public school. By slapping and pushing Gemma, another teacher, she laid
her hands on a person in authority.

The penalty should be fixed in its medium period in the absence of mitigating or
aggravating circumstances.[20] Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law,[21] the
petitioner should be sentenced to an indeterminate term, the minimum of which is within
the range of the penalty next lower in degree, i.e., arresto mayor in its maximum period to
prision correccional in its minimum period, and the maximum of which is that properly
imposable under the Revised Penal Code, i.e., prision correccional in its medium and
maximum periods.

Thus, the proper and precise prison sentence that should be imposed must be within the
indeterminate term of four (4) months and one (1) day to two (2) years and four (4)
months of arresto mayor, maximum to prision correccional minimum to three (3) years,
six (6) months and twenty-one (21) days to four (4) years, nine (9) months and ten (10)
days of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods. A fine of not more than
P1,000.00 must also be imposed on Lydia in accordance with law.

WHEREFORE, the Decision of the Court of Appeals finding petitioner Lydia Gelig
guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of slight physical injuries is REVERSED
and SET ASIDE. Judgment is hereby rendered finding Lydia Gelig guilty beyond
reasonable doubt of the crime of direct assault and is ordered to suffer an indeterminate
prison term of one (1) year and one (1) day to three (3) years, six (6) months and twenty-
one (21) days of prision correccional. She is also ordered to pay a fine of P1,000.00.

SO ORDERED.

Corona, C.J., (Chairperson), Velasco, Jr., Leonardo-De Castro, Del Castillo, and Perez,
JJ., concur.

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[1] People v. Pajarillo, 183 Phil. 392, 399 (1979).

[2]CA rollo, pp. 86-94; penned by Associate Justice Arsenio J. Magpale and concurred in
by Associate Justices Vicente L. Yap and Apolinario D. Bruselas, Jr.

[3] Records, pp. 157- 161; penned by Judge Generosa G. Labra.

[4] Id. at 40.

[5] Exhibit "A," Folder of Exhibits.

[6] Exhibit "B," id.

[7] Records, p. 161.

[8] CA rollo, p. 92.

[9] Id. at 91.

[10] Id. at 93.

[11] Id. at 94.

[12] Rollo, p. 8.

[13] People v. Rondero, 378 Phil. 123, 143 (1999).

[14] Rivera v. People, 501 Phil. 37, 44-45 (2005).

[15]Reyes, Luis B., The Revised Penal Code, Book Two, Fifteenth Edition, Revised 2001,
p. 122.

[16] Id. at 147.

[17] TSN, March 20, 1991, p. 6.

[18] Exhibit "C," Folder of Exhibits.

[19] REVISED PENAL CODE, Article 148.

[20] See REVISED PENAL CODE, Article 64 (1).

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[21] Section 1. Hereafter, in imposing a prison sentence for an offense punished by the
Revised Penal Code, or its amendments, the court shall sentence the accused to an
indeterminate sentence the maximum term of which shall be that which, in view of the
attending circumstances, could be properly imposed under the rules of the said Code, and
the minimum of which shall be within the range of the penalty next lower to that
prescribed by the Code for the offense; and if the offense is punished by any other law, the
court shall sentence the accused to an indeterminate sentence, the maximum term of which
shall not exceed the maximum fixed by said law and the minimum shall not be less than
the minimum term prescribed by the same. (As amended by Act No. 4225)

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