People v. Hernandez Et Al., 99 Phil 515
People v. Hernandez Et Al., 99 Phil 515
People v. Hernandez Et Al., 99 Phil 515
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 1/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
516
RESOLUTION
CONCEPCION, J.:
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 3/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
518
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 4/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
519
520
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 6/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
521
523
"The lower eourt found appellant guilty not only of treason, but of
nrnrder, for the killing of Tomas Abella, and, following the
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 8/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
524
525
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 10/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
"* * * But the People's Court erred in finding the appellant guilty
of the complex crime of treason with murder, because murder was
an ingredient of the crime of treason, as we have heretofore held in
several cases. (Italics supplied.)
526
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 11/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
527
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 12/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
528
_______________
1 ln the Andaya case the victim was a girl twelve years of age.
530
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 15/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 16/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
532
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 17/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
533
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 18/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
These cases are in accord with the text of said Article 244,
which refers, not to all offenses committed in the
534
________________
2 The information in the case at bar alleges that the acts therein set f orth were
comnaitted "as a necessary means to commit tlie crime of rebellion."
535
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 20/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
536
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 21/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
537
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 22/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
538
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 23/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
'I cannot help thinking that everybody knows there are many
acts of a political character done without reason, done against all
reason; but at the same time one cannot look too hardly, and
weigh in golden scales the acts of men hot in their political
excitement. We know that in heat, and in heated blood, men often
do things which are against and contrary to reason; but none the
less an act of this description may be done for the purpose of
furthering and in fwrtherance of a political rising, even though it
is an act which may be deplored and lamented, as even cruel and
against all reason, by those who can calmly reflect upon it after
the battle is over.'
"Sir James Stephens, whose definition as an author has
already been cited, was one of the judges, and joined in the views
taken as to the political character of the crime charged against
Castioni. The prisoner was discharged. Applying, by analogy, the
action of the English court in that case to the four cases now
before me, under consideration, the conclusion. follows that the
crimes charged here, associated as they are wlth the actual conflict
of armed forces, are of a political character.
539
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 24/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
540
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 25/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
541
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 27/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
________________
543
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 28/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
544
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 31/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
more than ten (10) years and a fine not exceeding $10,000,
or F20,000, for "every person who incites, sets on foot,
assists or engages in any rebellion or insurrection * * * or
who gives aid and comfort to any one so engaging in such
rebellion or insurrection." Such liberal attitude was
adhered to by the authors of the Revised Penal Code. The
penalties therein are substantially identical to those
prescribed in Act 292. Although the Revised Penal Code
increased slightly the penalty of imprisonment for the
promoters, maintainers and leaders of the uprising, as well
as for public officers joining the same, to a maximum not
exceeding twelve (12) years of prision mayor, it reduced the
penalty of imprisonment for mere participants to not more
than eight (8) years of prision mayor, and eliminated the
fine.
This benign mood of the Revised Penal Code becomes
more significant when we bear in mind it was approved on
December 8, 1930 and became effective on January 1, 1932.
At that time the communists in the Philippines had
already given ample proof of their widespread activities
and of their designs and potentialities. Prior thereto, they
had been under surveillance by the agents of the law, who
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 32/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 33/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
550
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 34/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
Such evils as may result from the failure of the policy of the
law punishing the offense to dovetail with the policy of the
law enforcing agencies in the apprehension and prosecution
of the off'enders are matters which may be brought to the
attention of the departments concerned. The judicial
branch can not amend the former in order to suit the latter.
The Court cannot indulge in judicial legislation without
violating the principle of separation of powers, and, hence,
undermining the foundation of our republican system. In
short, we cannot accept the theory of the prosecution
without causing much bigger harm than
551
________________
552
* * *
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 36/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
_______________
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 37/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
554
555
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 38/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
la accion punible concebida como fin. Sin pasar por uno, seria
imposible llegar al otro. La voluntad, libre e inteligente, tiene
entonces por unico objeto llegar al delito fin. Si al recorrer su
camino ha de pasar, indispensablemente, por la comision de otro
hecho punible, no dos, sino un delito habra que castigar, toda vez
que uno fue el mal libremente querido, no siendolo el otro por si,
sino en tanto que era necesario para obtener la realizacion del mal
proposito concebido."
* * *
* * *
559
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 42/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 44/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
562
ment was "levying war against the United States," and was
therefore treason, whether it was done by ten men or ten
thousand. (See United States vs. Hanway, 2 WalL, jr., 139; 26
Fed. Cases, 105.)
* * *
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 45/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
arson, robbery, etc., had not yet crystalized, one way or the
other. So, we preferred to avoid ruling on the issue,
specially since by considering the commission of murder,
robbery, etc., in treason as aggravating the crime, we would
achieve the same result as regards the penalty to be
imposed.
But in the case of People vs. Perfecto Labra, G. R. No.
1240, May 12, 1949, this court through Mr. Justice
Bengzon, accepted the view of the Solicitor General that
under Article 48 of the Revised Penal Code, Labra was
guilty of the complex crime of treason with murder, as
shown by the dispositive part of otir decision in that case,
which is quoted below:
The only reason why the death penalty was not imposed in
said case was because of lack of sufficient votes but
evidently, the Justices were agreed as to the application of
Article 48 of the Penal Code regarding complex crimes.
Then In the treason case of People vs. Barrameda, 85
PhiL, 789, 47 Off. Gaz., 5082, on the strength of our
deeision in the case of Labra, the Solicitor General
recommended that Barrameda be also convicted of the
eomplex crime of treason with multiple murder and
sentenced to death. This Tribunal accepted the Solicitor
GeneraPs recommendation and imposed the death penalty
in the following language:
"We entertain not the least doubt as to the guilt of the appellant.
His very counsel de oficio who made an analysis of the testimonies
of the witnesses for the prosecution and painstakingly stated
them in detail in his brief, agrees that his client is guilty
565
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 47/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
With the two aforecited cases, it may not be said that the
Supreme Court has always held that there can be no
complex crime of treason with murder.
The theory of the majority is that the crime of rebellion
with the maximum penalty of twelve years and fine,
absorbs the other crimes of murder, robbery, arson,
kidnapping, etc., as long as the latter are committed in the
course and in furtherance of the former. The idea of one
crime absorbing a more serious one with a more severe
penalty does not readily appeal to the reasonable and
logical mind which can only eomprehend a thing absorbing
another smaller or less than itself in volume, in
importance, in value or in category. That is why Judge
Montesa in the three cases, People vs. Hernandez, People
vs. Espiritu, and People vs. Medina, criminal cases Nos.
15481, 15479 and 1411 respectively, of the Court of First
Instance, Manila, in his decision convicting the accused
therein, in disposing of the theory of absorption, urged
upon him by counsel for the defense to the effect that the
crime of rebellion absorbs the crime of murder, robbery,
arson, etc., made the following observations:
566
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 48/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
" 'La disposicion del primer parrafo de este articulo no puede ser
mas justa; con arreglo a ella, los delitos particulares o comunes
cometidos en una rebellion o sedicion no deberan reputarse como
accidentes inherentes a estas, sino como delitos especiales a dicha
rebellion y sedicion ajenos, los que deberan ser respectivamente
castigados con las penas que en este Codigo se les senalan. Pero
que delitos deberan considerarse como comunes, y cuafles como
constitutivos de la propia rebelion o sedicion? En cuanto a la
rebelion, no ofrece este cuesti6n dificultad alguna, pues todo
hecho que no este comprendido en uno u otro de los objetos
especificados en los seis niimeros del Articulo 243 sera extrano a
la rebelion, y si se hallere definido en algun otro articulo del
Codigo, con arreglo a este debera ser castigado como delito
particular.'" (Viada, Codigo Penal, Tomo II, 198-199.)
567
568
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 50/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
"It is merely stating the obvicms to say that sedition is not the
same offense as murder. Sedition is a ctime against public order;
murder is a crime against persons. Sedition is a crime directed
against the existence of the State, the authority of the
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 51/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 52/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
murder. For that matter, one may even ask why the
constabulary soldiers in the Cabrera case were not charged
with the complex crime of sedition with murder. The
reason and the answer are obvious. Until 1932, the year of
the promulgation of our Revised Penal Code, our old Penal
Code included Article 244, the counter-part of Article 259 of
the Spanish Penal Code, to the effect that common crimes
like murder, robbery, arson, committed on the occasion or
by reason of a rebellion or seditibn, are to be prosecuted
separately. That was why insurgents who committed
rebellion or insurrection with homicide or murder during
the first days of the American regime in the Philippines,
could not be charged with the complex crime of rebellion
with murder; and that explains why Cabrera and his co-
accused could not be charged with the complex crime of
sedition with multiple murder, but were prosecuted
separately for multiple murder.
The majority also asks why the insurgents in the year
1901 and 1902 were charged only with rebellion but never
with murder despite the fact that there was proof that they
also had committed murder in the course of the rebellion or
insurrection. The reason to my mind was that, shortly
thereafter, came the proclamation of amnesty
571
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 55/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
574
575
_______________
* 85 Phil,, 307.
576
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 57/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 58/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 59/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
"Codigo de Peru.
"Codigo de Chile.
579
ART. 231. Los que cometen delitos comunes con motivo de la rebelion
motin 6 asonada 6 con ocasion de ella, seran castigados con la pena que
corresponde a esos delitos.
"Codigo de Honduras.
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 61/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
"As a point which has been left for the end of this decision and
which, in case of doubt, would lead to the determination that
section 2145 is valid, is the attitude which the courts should
assume towards the settled policy of the Government. In a late
decision with which we are in full accord, Gamble vs. Vanderbilt
University (200 Southwegtern Reporter 510) the Chief of Justice
of the Supreme Court of Tennessee writes:
'We can see no objection to the application of public policy as a
ratio decidendi. Every really new question that comes before the
courts is, in the last analysis, determined on the theory, when not
determined by differentiation of the principle of a prior case or
line of cases, or by the aid of analogies furnished by such prior
cases. Jn balancing conflicting solutions, that one is perceived to
tip the scales which the court believes will best promote the public
welfare in its probable operation as a general rule or principle.'
"Justice Holmes, in one of the aphorisms for which he is justly
famous, said that "constitutional law, like other mortal
contrivances, has to take some chances. (Blinn vs. Nelson [1911]
222 U.S., 1.) If in the final decision of the many grave questions
which this case presents, the court must take "a chance," it should
be, with a view to upholding the law, with a view to the
effectuation of the general
582
_____________
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 64/65
3/15/2021 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 099
www.central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/0000017835ad69c78edb78da003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 65/65