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THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS,
                     Plaintiff-Appellee,

G. R. No. 21059

January 21, 1924

JOHNS, J:

The girl in question was 14 years of age, and at the inception of the crime, was in her own home in the Barrio of Cumalisquis, Municipality of Murcia, Occidental Negros, with a child 4 years old. The house was situated in a somewhat isolated place, the nearest one to it being that of Hipolito Vargas, who is a cousin of the defendants Eustaquio Calalas and Victoriano Calalas, brothers. On the afternoon in question, the girl's father and mother were away from home, having been invited by Victoriano Calalas to go to the forest to find materials with which to make sacks.

The trial court who saw and heard the witnesses testify believed the evidence for the prosecution, and found the defendants guilty of the crime charged.

The proof is conclusive that the defendant Eustaquio Calalas, armed with a bolo and a cane, went to the girl's house with the defendant Emiliano Amban, who was also armed with a bolo. After leaving Amban downstairs, Calalas went upstairs and caught the girl by the hand and said: "Will you come or not? If you are coming, come on. "After dragging her downstairs, he left her in the hands of his companion, and returned to the house to get her clothes. Upon coming back, they both carried her way, holding her by each arm, during which time Calalas intimidated her with his bolo. When they were about one kilometer from the house, at the suggestion of Calalas, the defendants separated, Emiliano Amban going away. Immediately after he left, Eustaquio Calalas, through force and violence, threw the girl on the ground, gagged her mouth with a handkerchief, and had sexual intercourse with her. In her efforts to resist, the girl's underwear was torn and stained with mud. The place in which this occurred was an open field in which the two of them passed the night, and were furnished with rice by the above named Victoriano Calalas. On the following morning, they were joined by the defendants, Emiliano Amban, Valentino Amban, Cirilo Amban, and Pedro Amban, and together they took the girl against her will to Mount Sibalao, where they left her alone with Eustaquio Calalas, saying that, on the next day, they would return and conduct them to a place called Bug-as. At Sibalao, Eustaquio Calalas again had sexual intercourse with the girl against her will. About noon of that day, they were found by the officers and all of the defendants, except Pedro Amban, were placed under arrest.

It will be noted that the Information charges that the defendants, Eustaquio Calalas and Emiliano Amban, conspiring and confederating together, alone went to the house of the girl and took her away. It is also true that after they had gone about one kilometer, Emiliano Amban went away, and left Eustaquio Calalas alone with the girl. The Information also alleges that when Eustaquio Calalas and Emiliano Amban "were on the way, the accused, Valentino Amban, Cirilo Amban, Pedro Amban, and Victoriano Calalas, who knew of the abduction, met them and did willfully, unlawfully, and criminally accompany their co-accused, the aforesaid Eustaquio Calalas and Emiliano Amban, up to Mount Cumalisquis aforesaid, and that on reaching it there, they left Rosario Cordova alone with the accused Eustaquio Calalas."

The proof is conclusive that Eustaquio Calalas and the girl spent the night together and alone, and that the defendants above named did not join them until the next morning. In other words, the above named defendants took no active part in the abduction until the next morning after Eustaquio Calalas and the girl had spent the night together and alone.

As We analyze the evidence, the proof is conclusive that the defendants, Eustaquio Calalas and Emiliano Amban, conspiring took the girl away from home, and are guilty of the crime charged, and as to them, the judgment of the lower court is affirmed. As to the remaining appellants, the evidence tends to show that their actions and conduct in relation to the crime were more in the nature of accomplices than as principals.

Article 13 of the Penal Code defines principles as follows:

"1. Those who take a direct part in the commission of the act;

"2. Those who directly force or induce others to commit it;

"3. Those who cooperative in the commission of the act by another act without which it would not have been accomplished."

The proof that the defendants in question were not principals fall within either one of the provisions of Article 13.

Article 14 provides:

"Accomplices are those persons who, not being included in article thirteen, cooperative in the execution of the act by previsions or simultaneous acts."

The evidence shows that through a simultaneous act, those defendants did "cooperate in the execution of the act. "That is to say, after the girl was taken from her house and into the rice field where she spent the night, they joined Eustaquio Calalas and aided and assisted him in taking the girl to Mount Sibalao. That was a continuation and a part of the time itself, and to that extent they did "cooperate in the execution of the act." The same thing is true as to defendant Calalas.

A detailed statement of the evidence would not serve any useful purpose. Suffice it to say that the defendants in question are not guilty as principals, but that the proof is conclusive that they are guilty as accomplices, and should be punished as such.

Article 67 of the Penal Code says:

"The penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the consummated felony shall be imposed upon the accomplices in the commission of a consummated felony."