Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 27 views

    044FT - United States Vs Catalino Apostol, 14 Phil 92, G.R. No. 5126, September 2, 1909

    Uploaded by

    Estrella Dolaw
    Catalino Apostol was found guilty of setting fire to a hut where three men lived in retaliation for not providing information about stolen carabao. He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment. On appeal, the defense argued there was no criminal intent and the burning of an unoccupied hut in an uninhabited area should be punished under a different statute. However, the court upheld the conviction, finding criminal intent was presumed and the hut was occupied at the time. While the penalty was very severe, the circumstances did not warrant reducing the charge. The conviction and sentence were affirmed, but the court requested the Governor-General consider mitigating the penalty.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    044FT - United States Vs Catalino Apostol, 14 Phil 92, G.R. No. 5126, September 2, 1909

    Uploaded by

    Estrella Dolaw
    27 views2 pages
    Catalino Apostol was found guilty of setting fire to a hut where three men lived in retaliation for not providing information about stolen carabao. He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment. On appeal, the defense argued there was no criminal intent and the burning of an unoccupied hut in an uninhabited area should be punished under a different statute. However, the court upheld the conviction, finding criminal intent was presumed and the hut was occupied at the time. While the penalty was very severe, the circumstances did not warrant reducing the charge. The conviction and sentence were affirmed, but the court requested the Governor-General consider mitigating the penalty.

    Original Title

    044FT - United States vs Catalino Apostol,14 Phil 92, G.R. No. 5126, September 2, 1909

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Catalino Apostol was found guilty of setting fire to a hut where three men lived in retaliation for not providing information about stolen carabao. He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment. On appeal, the defense argued there was no criminal intent and the burning of an unoccupied hut in an uninhabited area should be punished under a different statute. However, the court upheld the conviction, finding criminal intent was presumed and the hut was occupied at the time. While the penalty was very severe, the circumstances did not warrant reducing the charge. The conviction and sentence were affirmed, but the court requested the Governor-General consider mitigating the penalty.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    27 views2 pages

    044FT - United States Vs Catalino Apostol, 14 Phil 92, G.R. No. 5126, September 2, 1909

    Uploaded by

    Estrella Dolaw
    Catalino Apostol was found guilty of setting fire to a hut where three men lived in retaliation for not providing information about stolen carabao. He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment. On appeal, the defense argued there was no criminal intent and the burning of an unoccupied hut in an uninhabited area should be punished under a different statute. However, the court upheld the conviction, finding criminal intent was presumed and the hut was occupied at the time. While the penalty was very severe, the circumstances did not warrant reducing the charge. The conviction and sentence were affirmed, but the court requested the Governor-General consider mitigating the penalty.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    044FT - United States (Plaintiff-Appellee) Vs Catalino Apostol (Defendant-Appellant.

    ), 14 Phil
    92, G.R. No. 5126, September 2, 1909

    Francisco Ortigas for appellant.


    Office of the Solicitor-General Harvey for appellee.

    Arellano, C.J.:

    The judgment entered in this case by the Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija finds that on the
    16th of December, 1907, five individuals, among them being the accused herein, went to the
    house where Pedro Tabilisima, Celestino Vergara, and Tranquilino Manipul were living, and
    there inquired after some carabaos that had disappeared, and because these above-mentioned
    inmates answered that they knew nothing about the matter, ordered them to leave the house,
    but as the three men named above refused to do so the accused Catalino Apostol, set fire to
    the hut and the same was burnt down.

    In the opinion of the trial court the responsibility of the accused has been fully established by
    the testimony of the injured parties. And inasmuch as, according to the same, the act comes
    within the provisions of article 549 of the Penal Code, Catalino Apostol was sentenced to
    sixteen years and one day of cadena temporal, to the accessories of the law, to indemnify the
    value of the burnt hut in the sum of P1, and to pay the costs.

    An appeal having been taken to this court, the defense claimed, on behalf of the offender: (1)
    The absence of proof of criminal intent; (2) that in view of the fact that the burnt hut was
    situated in an uninhabited place, it is not proper to apply article 549, but article 554 of the
    Penal Code.

    Criminal intent as well as the will to commit a crime are always presumed to exist on the part of
    the person who executes an act which the law punishes, unless the contrary shall appear. (Art.
    1, Penal Code.)

    As to the circumstances connected with the burning of the hut Pedro Tabilisima testified that
    he and his friends were in the same; that the accused and his companions arrived at 8 p.m. and
    questioned them about carabaos that they said had been stolen from them; that after they
    replied that they knew nothing, the former set fire to the house and they jumped out of it; that
    the witness and two companions lived in the house; that it was situated in an uninhabited
    place, surrounded by fields; that the nearest houses were far away, and cries could not be
    heard from one house to another; and that the burnt house was not worth more than P1,
    because it was a small one, the witness himself having constructed it.

    044FT - United States Vs Catalino Apostol, 14 Phil 92, G.R. No. 5126, September 2, 1909 Page 1
    Celestino Vergara says that several individuals arrived at 8 o'clock at night, asked them for
    carabaos that they claimed to have lost, wounded Tranquilino Manipul, who was asleep, and
    Pedro Tabilisima, forced them to leave the house, and as they did not want to do so for fear of
    being assaulted the accused set fire to the same; they tried to put out the fire as long as they
    could, but when no longer able jumped out of the house. The house was in an uninhabited
    locality, in the fields, the nearest house being a small store to which the cry of a person night
    carry, and the neighboring houses could be seen.

    Tranquilino Manipul testified in almost the same terms as this last witness. The argument which
    the defense advances, based on article 554, which in connection with 553 punishes the setting
    fire to a building intended for habitation, in an uninhabited place, does not apply, because the
    article question refers to an edifice intended for human habitation in an uninhabited place at a
    time when the same is unoccupied. It is article 549, which punishes with the very severe
    penalties of cadena temporal to cadena perpetua "those who shall set fire to any edifice,
    farmhouse, hut, shed, or vessel in port, with knowledge that one or more persons were within
    the same," that must be applied.

    The law must be applied as laid down in the above quoted excerpt.

    But the court, in view of the nature of the crime and considering the circumstances attending
    the same, recognizes the extreme severity of the penalty; therefore we apply the remedy
    afforded it by article 2, paragraph 2, of the Penal Code, when a strict application of the
    provisions of the code would result in an excessive penalty, taking into consideration the
    degree of malice and the injury caused by the crime.

    For the reasons above set forth the judgment appealed from is hereby affirmed with costs
    against the appellant. Ten days from date let a confirming judgment be entered, and ten days
    thereafter let the case be remanded to the lower court of action.

    Without prejudice to the immediate execution of the judgment, let the clerk of this court, as
    provided in the said article 2 of the Penal Code, respectfully address a communication to the
    Honorable, the Governor-General of these Islands, giving the result of this decision and the
    sentence, requesting him, should he so desire, to make use of the prerogative with which he is
    invested in order to reduce or mitigate the penalty imposed. So ordered.

    Torres, Johnson, Carson, and Moreland, JJ., concur.

    044FT - United States Vs Catalino Apostol, 14 Phil 92, G.R. No. 5126, September 2, 1909 Page 2

    You might also like