EN BANC
THE UNITED STATES,
Complainant-Appellee,
G.R.
No.
1000
March
6, 1903
-versus-
CARLOS
SANTIAGO,
ET AL.,
Defendants-Appellants.
D E C I S I
O N
COOPER, J:
Santiago Solitario, Carlos
Santiago, and Jacinto Alfonso were charged with the crime of illegal
detention
stated as committed in the following manner:
On the 29th day of
September, 1901, in the Barrio of Sacumbaca, Pueblo of
Talavera,
Province of Nueva Ecija, said defendants, armed with guns and bolos,
sequestrated
two youths called Abdon Somera and Modesto Balasigue, depriving thereof
their liberty, the first named for the period of twenty-nine days and
the
last named for the period of four days. The defendants and four other
individuals
constituted an armed band by whom the act was committed.
After the arraignment
and after the trial was commenced Santiago Solitario died. The
defendants
Carlos Santiago and Jacinto Alfonso were tried and found guilty and
were
condemned to the penalty of six years and one day of prision mayor and
accessories, and each to.pay their part of the costs of the suit. From
this judgment the defendants Carlos Santiago and Jacinto Alfonso appeal.
It is contended that
the proof was insufflcient to sustain the conviction, that such acts as
were proven do not constitute illegal detention.
After a careful
examination
of the record we reach the conclusion that the evidence contained
therein
is sufficient to support the conviction.
Modesto Balasigue,
one of the youths detained, testifies that on the 24th day of September
of last year, he and Abdon Somera were hunting wild hogs at the place
called
Sacumbaca, and that they were sequestrated by several individuals; that
there were six persons in the band, all armed, some carrying guns and
others
bolos; that the defendants Carlos Santiago and Jacinto Alfonso carried
bolos; that witness was detained by the defendants four days, when he
escaped
from their custody. At the time he escaped Abdon Somera was still held
by them. That he is able to identify the defendants as being the
persons
who had him in custody, since he was in their company during the time
he
was held by them.
Three municipal police
testified as to the capture of the defendants and as to finding in
their
possession the boy Abdon Somera and three stolen carabaos.
Meliton Carlos,
President
of the Municipality of San Miguel de Mayumo, testified that these
defendants
were captured by the police; that he was in company with the police
when
they captured them, and that the defendants had in their possession
Abdon
Somera and some carabaos. This witness testifies that upon capturing
the
defendants, they admitted that they had carried off Abdon Somera to San
Miguel de Mayumo.The testimony of this witness and that of the police
as
to the confession made by the defendants is not entirely consistent.
The
first affirms that the defendants said they carried off Abdon Somera to
San Miguel de Mayumo, while the police indicate in their testimony that
what was said about the carrying off of Abdon Somera was related by
Abdon
Somera himself. However, it appears very clear from the statements of
these
witnesses that Abdon Somera and the carabaos were found in the
possession
of the defendants.
The testimony of
Modesto
Balasigue is sufficient to support the conviction independent of any
confessions
that may have been made by the defendants when captured. we clearly
identifies
the defendants as the parties who carried him and Abdon Somera off, and
he states that after four days of detention he made his escape while
grazing
the carabaos.
No explanation is made
why the boy Abdon Somera was not adduced as a witness at the trial.
But,
as stated, the case is fully proven by Modesto Balasigue.
The Judge of the Court
of First Instance gave the defendants the benefit of Article 11 of the
Penal Code as an extenuating circumstance and failed to take into
consideration
the aggravating circumstance of the offense having been committed by an
armed band in cuadrilla.
We can see no just
reason for giving these defendants the benefit of Article 11, nor can
We
see any cause for not taking into consideration the aggravating
circumstance
of the act having been committed in cuadrilla. For this reason
We
will set aside the judgment of the lower court and enter the proper
judgment,
which is, that the defendants Carlos Santiago and Jacinto Alfonso are
guilty
of the offense of unlawful detention defined and punishable under
Article
481 of the Penal Code, and We condem them to the punishment of ten
years
and one day of prision mayor in its maximum degree and
accessories,
and to the costs of the proceedings.
Arellano, C.J.,
Torres, Willard, Mapa and Ladd, JJ., concur.
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