GR L 4785; (February, 1909) (Digest)
G.R. No. L‑4785
February 1 1909
—
FACTS
1. Parties & Position Higinio de la Serna and Cesario Callet were elected‑inspectors for the municipality of Tayasan, Province of Oriental Negros.
2. Alleged Conduct On 5 Nov 1907, a group of qualified voters who could not write (illiteracy or physical disability) asked the inspectors to prepare their ballots in accordance with the voters’ expressed choices (Pio Banogan, Pedro Teves, José G. de la Peña).
3. Accusation Instead of writing the voters’ chosen names, the inspectors willfully and maliciously inserted the names of other candidates (Benito Sanchez, Hermenegildo Villanueva, Felix Montenegro), thereby falsifying the votes.
4. Legal Basis The complaint charged violation of Section 29 of Act No. 1582 (the Election Law), which mandates that an inspector must prepare a ballot according to the voter’s wishes and penalizes any fraud or failure to perform such duty.
5. Procedural History The defendants filed a demurrer (arguing the facts did not constitute a crime) and later an answer that did not comply with General Orders No. 58. The trial court sustained the demurrer, prompting the United States (through the Attorney‑General) to appeal.
—
ISSUE
Whether the factual allegations in the complaintspecifically the inspectors’ intentional substitution of candidates on ballots for voters who could not writeconstitute a violation of Section 29 of Act No. 1582, thereby warranting the rejection of the demurrer.
—
RULING
The Supreme Court held that:
1. Statutory Duty Section 29 expressly obliges an inspector, when requested by an ill‑able voter, to prepare the ballot exactly as the voter directs.
2. Breach of Duty By inserting names different from those indicated by the voters, the inspectors willfully declined to perform this statutory duty, amounting to fraud under the same provision.
3. Sufficiency of Complaint The complaint adequately alleged facts that, if proven, demonstrate the statutory violation; thus the demurrer is procedurally and substantively improper.
4. Disposition The demurrer is overruled. The case is remanded to the lower court with instructions that the defendants plead to the complaint within ten days.
Concurrence: Chief Justice Arellano and Justices Torres, Mapa, Carson, Willard, and Tracey joined the opinion.