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FIRST
DIVISION
THE UNITED STATES,
Complainant-Appellee,
G.
R.
No. 1657
February
1, 1905
-versus-
SULPICIO
ALIÑO,
ET AL.,
Defendants-Appellants.
D E C I S I
O N
TORRES, J:
On December 29, 1902, a
Complaint was filed by the Provincial Fiscal charging Sulpicio
Aliño
and Enrique Delima with the crime of bandolerismo. The
Complaint
stated that before and after November 12, 1902, on which date Act No.
518
was passed, the defendants tried and still try to form and did form a
band
of brigands within the jurisdiction of the Municipalities of Talisay,
Pardo,
and Minglanilla, Province of Cebu, with the object of stealing carabaos
and other personal property of the residents of said towns by means of
force and violence. That each and every one of the defendants assisted
by the Tabal brothers, giving them information about the movements of
the
police, purchasing the effects stolen by them, and giving them whatever
they might be in need of, all with criminal intent and contrary to law.
The case having come
up for trial by virtue of the complaint, five of the defendants below
were
acquitted and the trial was continued only as to Sulpicio Aliño
and Enrique Delima, who were sentenced, the former to life imprisonment
[prision perpetua] and the latter to twenty year's imprisonment.
The evidence adduced in this case does not show in any way that the
facts
above stated are true. The guilt of the defendants does not appear from
the evidence adduced in the case, and therefore the judgment below
should
be reversed and the defendants acquitted.
The innocence of a
defendant in a criminal case is always presumed until the contrary is
proven
according to law, and in case of reasonable doubt and when the guilt of
a defendant does not appear satisfactorily proven the said defendant
should
be acquitted, according to Section 57 of General Orders No. 58 of April
23, 1900. It has not been sufficiently proven in the case that the two
defendants had organized a band of armed ladrones with the object of
robbing,
nor that they formed a band after the act against bandolerismo was
passed.
It has not been established that the defendants assisted the band of
brigands
commanded by the Tabal brothers, nor that they gave this band any
information
about the movements of the police.
The testimony of Julio
Villaviles, the husband of the alleged victim of the robbery of 12
Pesos,
is conflicting with the testimony of Lieut. Jacinto Canido, of the
Barrio
of Libo, and the testimony of these two witnesses is not sufficient to
prove the robbery nor that the defendants were principals in same.
Canido
did not witness the execution of the crime; he asserts the crime was
committed
because he heard Villaviles say that the crime had been committed.
Villaviles
says that he was the only eyewitness of the robbery; that he was some
distance
away when it took place and was hidden from the view of the robbers.
His
testimony is not corroborated by anybody; on the contrary, it is
refuted
by the evidence adduced by the defense. There must also be taken into
consideration
that the lieutenant of the barrio, Jacinto Canido, was the only one who
saw the defendant Enrique Delima among the group of six; but the
husband
of the alleged victim of the robbery, Villaviles, did not see the
defendant
among the twenty-one individuals. That the defendant Aliño was a
revolutionist can not serve as a foundation for convicting him of the
crime
of bandolerismo, much less so if we take into consideration
that
this defendant took the oath of allegiance in December, 1902, and that
the governor of the province testified in his favor.
By virtue of the
considerations
above stated, we are of the opinion that the judgment below should be
reversed
and the defendants, Sulpicio Aliño and Enrique Delima,
acquitted,
with the costs de oficio, and that they be immediately released if they
are not held for any other crime.
This case to be
remanded
to the court below with a certified copy of this decision and of this
decision
and of the judgment which shall be rendered in accordance herewith. So
ordered.
Arellano, C.J.,
Mapa, Johnson and Carson, JJ., concur.
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