G.R. No. L-5290
THE UNITED STATES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. SALUSTIANO PULIDO, ET AL., defendants-appellants.
January 28, 1910

FACTS:
On November 5, 1907, a general election was held in Sanchez Mira, Cagayan. Juan Academia was elected president and Cosme Marzan vice-president. After the count, the election inspectors delivered the locked and sealed ballot boxes, containing the ballots, along with other election papers, to Municipal Secretary Liberato Lopez. Lopez’s office door was locked, and the key was with his clerk. Due to the urgency and the clerk’s absence, policeman Antonio Pulido (one of the defendants) broke the lock to allow Lopez entry. Lopez then placed the ballot boxes and papers into his wardrobe, locked it, and took the key with him to the house of Felipe Navarro, where he was staying. He also instructed the chief of police to guard the office due to the broken door.

Around 10 o’clock that same night, while Lopez was at Navarro’s house, defendants Lazaro Pulido and Antonio Pulido arrived, claiming to get an empty demijohn from Lopez’s room. Antonio entered the room but left without the demijohn, and both brothers departed. Later, Lopez discovered his wardrobe keys missing. He immediately went to the municipal building, found his wardrobe door open, and the ballot boxes and some papers gone. He reported the incident to the justice of the peace.

Upon returning to the office with the justice and other officials, they verified the items were missing. However, upon their second return to the office (after attempting to write a report at the justice’s office), they found the ballot boxes beneath a table in the secretary’s office. The locks were intact, but the seals, bearing the initials of the board president, were torn, making it possible to insert ballots despite the locks. The election was subsequently protested by Felipe Navarro, under the direction of Salustiano Pulido, and declared null and void by the Court of First Instance.

Two witnesses, Eustaquio Academia and Paulo Galicia, testified that between 10 and 11 PM on the night in question, they saw defendants Salustiano Pulido (carrying papers), Lazaro Pulido, and Antonio Pulido (each carrying a ballot box) in front of the municipal building. They recognized the defendants by the municipal building’s light and the light night, and the defendants did not answer when asked why they were carrying ballot boxes.

The defendants were accused of violating the Election Law by illegally and criminally carrying away election papers and ballot boxes. They were convicted by the trial court, each sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and costs, from which they appealed.

ISSUE:
Whether the defendants-appellants were correctly convicted of violating the Election Law for illegally carrying away election papers and ballot boxes.

RULING:
Yes. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the lower court.

The Court found that the prosecution fully established the defendants’ guilt. The circumstantial evidence, combined with the direct testimony of Eustaquio Academia and Paulo Galicia, who saw Salustiano Pulido carrying papers and Lazaro Pulido and Antonio Pulido each carrying a ballot box in front of the municipal building between 10 and 11 PM on the night of the incident, conclusively proved that the defendants were the authors of the crime. The tearing of the ballot box seals, which allowed for the insertion of ballots despite the intact locks, further indicated tampering. The Court found no reason to disturb the conclusion of the lower court.