GR L 4663; (October, 1909)

G.R. No. L-4663 : October 9, 1909

THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee,

vs.
PEDRO CABOLA, ET AL., defendants-appellants.

Wade H. Kitchens and J. Ostrand, for appellants.
Office of the Solicitor-General Harvey, for appellee.

MORELAND, J.:

The defendants, Pedro Cabola, Urbano Ramos, Claro Ramos, Rafael Apostol, Perdo Ramos, Gregorio Ramos, Agustin Castro, Martin Soriano, Blas Ramos, Genaro Sison, Domingo Macaraeg, Carlos Caguioa, Domingo Caguioa, Antonio Romero, Fabian Rosario. Inocencio Torio, Nicolas Abalos, Roman Prado, Diego Cansino, Ricardo Fernandez, Francisco Fernandez, Eugenio Lomibao, Ciriaco Verzosa, Domingo Archangel, and Celedonio Ramos, were charged with the crime of violating section 4 of Act no. 292 of the Philippine Commission, enacted for the purpose of punishing those who should enter into a conspiracy to destroy the Government of the United States in the Philippine Islands.

The defendants were tried in the Court of First Instance of the Province of Pangasinan and were, with the exception of Nicolas Abalos, Martin Soriano, Blas Ramos, and Domingo Caguioa, on the 15th day of January, 1908, declared guilty of the crime charged and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.

From the judgment of conviction and the sentence imposed thereunder the defendants Celedonio Ramos and Inocencio Torio appealed to this court. None of the other defendants appealed to this court. None of the other defendants appealed and the judgment of the court below is being executed against them.

It appears from the proofs that in or about the month of August, 1907, in the pueblo of Lingayen, in the Province of Pangasinan, Pedro Cabola, in conjunction with other individuals, by means of the pacto de sangre, organized a Katipunan Society, which had for its object the destruction by force of the Government of the United States in the Philippine Islands and the establishment by said defendants of another government in the form of a military organization in which Pedro Cabola should figure as supreme head, Urbano Ramos as a lieutenant-colonel, Claro Ramos and Rafael Apostol as comandantes, Pedro Ramos as secretary, Gregorio Ramos, Agustin Castro, Martin Soriano, Genaro Sison, Domingo Macaraeg, Carlos Caguioa, Domingo Caguioa, Antonio Romero, Fabian Rosario, Inocencio Torio, Nicolas Abalos, Roman Prado, Pedro Miranda, Diego Casino, and Ricardo Fernandez as captains, Francisco Fernandez, Eugenio Lomibao, and Ciriaco Verzosa as lieutenants, Domingo Archangel as military governor of the pueblo of San Carlos and Celedonio Ramos as military governor of the pueblo of Lingayen. Under this government the Province of Pangasinan was divided into six zones or military districts.1awph!l.net

The evidence clearly and indubitably shows the existence of such society and the seditious character of its purposes. It shows that most of the defendants attended various meetings of said society, at which Pedro Cabola made revolutionary and seditious speeches; and that many of the defendants signed a document or documents seditious in character, their clearly indicated purpose being the destruction of the Government of the United States in the Philippine Islands. Many of the defendants were found in possession of commission from Pedro Cabola appointing them officers in his military organization. Several of the defendants confessed their guilt to the public officials and related facts connecting many of the other defendants with the society in question.

As to the appellant Celedonio Ramos, he was present at a meeting of the Katipunan Society held on the 23d day of August, 1907, in the barrio of Taloctoc, at which Pedro Cabola made an inflammatory and seditious speech and at which it was resolved to construct in an isolated place a shelter for 25,000 soldiers who should be furnished with guns and ammunition, which, according to the orator, had already been landed at Binangonan by the Japanese. It also appears that Ramos was elected to the office of military president of the pueblo of Lingayen at a meeting of the society held in the month of August, 1907, near the home of said Ramos.

As to the appellant Inocencio Torio, it appears from the evidence that he was a member of the Katipunan Society above referred to and that he knew of its seditious and revolutionary character; that he was present at said meeting in the barrio of Taloctoc on the 23d of August, 1907, when Pedro Cabola pronounced the seditious discourse already referred to; that he was a captain in organization; and that he signed Exhibit A-4, a document admittedly of a revolutionary and seditious character.

A careful reading of the proofs adduced at the trial, briefly outlined above, induces the conclusion is irresistibly that the appellants are guilty of the crime charged.

The judgment of the lower court is, therefore, affirmed with costs against the appellants.

Arellano, C. J., Torres, Johnson and Carson, JJ., concur.

Batas Pinas