GR L 922; (November, 1902) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-922, November 8, 1902
TRINIDAD H. PARDO DE TAVERA, complainant-appellee, vs. VICENTE GARCIA VALDEZ, defendant-appellant.
FACTS:
The defendant-appellant, Vicente Garcia Valdez, was the editor of the periodical “Miau” in Manila. In its September 15, 1901 issue, the publication contained an article that used grossly abusive language to charge the private prosecutor-appellee, Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera (a recently appointed member of the U.S. Philippine Commission), with cowardice during the murder of his mother and sister and with subsequently entering into intimate political relations with the assassin. The lower court found Valdez guilty of the offense of injurias graves under Articles 457 and 458 of the Penal Code and sentenced him to pay a fine of 4,000 pesetas, with subsidiary imprisonment and costs. Both parties appealed: the defendant appealed the conviction, and the private prosecutor appealed the propriety of the penalty imposed.
ISSUE:
1. Whether the defendant is guilty of injurias graves.
2. Whether the penalty imposed by the lower court was correct, considering the enactment of Act No. 277 (the libel law) after the commission of the offense but during the pendency of the prosecution.
RULING:
1. On the conviction: The Supreme Court sustained the conviction. The article’s statements, which were calculated to bring the complainant into public obloquy and contempt, clearly constituted injurias graves under paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 457 of the Penal Code, especially given the complainant’s high official position. The defendant’s offer to prove the truth of the statements was properly rejected under Article 460 of the Penal Code.
2. On the penalty: The Supreme Court modified the penalty. It held that under Section 13 of Act No. 277 , the pre-existing Penal Code provisions remained in full force for pending actions. Therefore, the penalty must be determined exclusively by the former law (Article 458 of the Penal Code) and not by Act No. 277 . Applying Article 458, the Court imposed the penalty in its medium grade: four years of destierro (banishment) and a fine of 4,000 pesetas, with subsidiary liability of one day’s banishment for every 12½ pesetas unpaid, plus costs.
The judgment of the lower court was modified accordingly.