18.1 People vs.

Bartolome Tampus and Ida Montesclaros

Facts: The offended party, ABC, is the daughter of appellant, Montesclaros, and was 13 years old at the time of the
incident. Montesclaros worked as a waitress in a beer house. At the time of the commission of the crime, da and ABC were
renting a room in a house owned by Tampus who was a barangay tanod. !n April 1, 1""#, ABC testified that she was in
the house with Montesclaros and Tampus who were both drinking beer. They forced her to drink beer and after
consumin ! and a half lasses of beer" she became into#icated and very sleepy. $hile ABC was lying on the floor
of their room, she o%erheard Tampus re$uestin her mother" Montesclaros" that she be allo%ed to have se#ual
intercourse %ith her. Montesclaros areed and instructed Tampus to leave as soon as he %as finished.
Montesclaros then went to work lea%ing Tampus alone with ABC. ABC fell asleep and when she woke up, she noticed that
the garter of her panties was loose and rolled down to her knees. &he suffered pain all o%er her body noticed that her
panties and short pants were stained with blood which was coming from her %agina. $hen her mother arri%ed home from
work the following morning, she kept on crying but appellant ignored her. ABC testified that on April ', 1""# around 1())
a.m., she was left alone in the room since her mother was at work at the beer house. Tampus went inside their room and
threatened to kill her if she would report the pre%ious se*ual assault to anyone. After consummating the se*ual act, he left
the house. $hen ABC told appellant da about the incident, the latter aain inored her.
ABC filed two Complaints. &he accused Tampus of taking ad%antage of her by ha%ing carnal knowledge of her,
against her will, while she was into*icated and sleeping on April 1, 1""# at '(3) p.m. &he declared in her Complaint that
this was done in conspiracy with accused da who ga%e permission to Tampus to rape her. The trial court con%icted Tampus
of two counts of rape and found Montesclaros guilty as an accomplice.
Issue: s da Montesclaros guilty as an accomplice in the rape of ABC+
&ulin(
,es, Montesclaros is liable as an accomplice in the rape of her daughter, ABC. Accomplices are persons who, not being
included in Article 1- of the .e%ised /enal Code, cooperate in the e*ecution of the offense by pre%ious or simultaneous
acts. The following re0uisites must be pro%ed in order that a person can be considered an accomplice(
1a2 community of design, i.e., knowing that criminal design of the principal by direct participation,
he concurs with the latter in his purpose3
1b2 he cooperates in the e*ecution of the offense by pre%ious or simultaneous acts3 and,
1c2 there must be a relation between the acts done by the principal and those attributed to the
person charged as accomplice.
All the re0uisites concur in order to find da guilty as an accomplice to Tampus in the rape of ABC. The testimony of ABC
shows that there was community of design between da and Tampus to commit the rape of ABC. da had knowledge of and
assented to Tampus4 intention to ha%e se*ual intercourse with her daughter. &he forced ABC to drink beer, and when ABC
was already drunk, she left ABC alone with Tampus, with the knowledge and e%en with her e*press consent to Tampus4
plan to ha%e se*ual intercourse with her daughter.
t is settled 5urisprudence that the pre%ious acts of cooperation by the accomplice should not be indispensable to the
commission of the crime3 otherwise, she would be liable as a principal by indispensable cooperation. The e%idence shows
that the acts of cooperation by da are not indispensable to the commission of rape by Tampus. 6irst, because it was both
da and Tampus who forced ABC to drink beer, and second because Tampus already had the intention to ha%e se*ual
intercourse with ABC and he could ha%e consummated the act e%en without da4s consent. The acts of da are closely
related to the e%entual commission of rape by Tampus. They both forced ABC to drink beer3 when ABC was already drunk,
Tampus asked da if he could ha%e se*ual intercourse with ABC and da ga%e her consent3 and lastly, da left ABC alone
with Tampus so that he proceed with his plan to rape ABC.