SC underscores rape cannot be downplayed as a 'simple' crime

There is no crime of "simple rape" when a man has sexual intercourse with a woman through force, threat, or intimidation.

- By REY G. PANALIGAN

Thus, the Supreme Court (SC) declared that the crime of rape must never be trivialized as "simple," least of all in the official nomenclature adopted in judicial decisions.

In a decision written by Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, the SC explained that rape was originally classified as crime against chastity under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code.

However, with the enactment in 1997 of Republic Act No. 8353, the Anti-Rape Law, rape was reclassified as a crime against persons.