Ordono vs. Daquigan, 62 SCRA 270
Ordono vs. Daquigan,
62 SCRA 270
FACTS In 1970, Avelino Ordoño was charged with having raped his daughter, Leonora. The Fiscal presented the wife, Catalina Ordoño as the second prosecution witness. After she had stated her personal circumstances, the defense counsel objected to her competency, invoking the marital disqualification rule found in Rule 130. Counsel claimed that Avelino had not consented expressly or impliedly to his wife's testifying against him. The trial court overruled the objection. Avelino's MR was denied; hence, he filed the instant action for certiorari and prohibition. Whether the rape committed by the husband against his daughter is a crime committed by him against his wife within the meaning of the exception found in the marital disqualification rule.
RULING Yes the wife may testify because the crime committed by the husband against his daughter is a crime againsnt his wife. When an offense directly attack or directly and vitally impairs, the conjugal relation, it comes within the exception to the statute that one shall not be a witness against the other except in a criminal prosecution for a crime committed by one against the other.
Using this criterion here, it can be concluded that in the law of evidence the rape perpetrated by the father against his daughter is a crime committed by him against his wife.