GR 36275; (October, 1932) (Digest)
G.R. No. 36275 ; October 26, 1932
THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, plaintiff-appellee, vs. CRISANTO EVANGELISTA, JACINTO G. MANAHAN and DOMINADOR J. AMBROSIO, defendants-appellants.
FACTS
The defendants-appellants were charged with violating Section 8 of Act No. 292 (the Sedition Law) for being founders, organizers, and leading members of the Partido Komunista sa Pilipinas (Communist Party of the Philippines). The information alleged that the party’s principal object was to incite a revolt of the proletariat and that it advocated, through its constitution, by-laws, and public speeches, the overthrow of the U.S. imperialist government and the capitalist system by force, the establishment of a Soviet government under a dictatorship of the laborers, and the achievement of independence through a violent class struggle.
ISSUE
Whether the defendants-appellants are guilty of sedition for founding and promoting an organization and making speeches that advocate the overthrow of the government by force and violence.
RULING
Yes. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of conviction. The evidence, including the constitution and by-laws of the Communist Party and the speeches delivered by the appellants, conclusively showed that they advocated a violent revolution to overthrow the existing government. Their acts and words were not mere abstract doctrines but constituted an active incitement to sedition. The defense that no actual disturbance occurred is irrelevant, as the law punishes the incitement itself. The fact that they participated in elections does not negate their advocacy of armed revolution. The acts charged also constitute a crime under the then-new Revised Penal Code (Article 142, in relation to Article 139), which punishes the incitement to sedition.
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