Facts:

• Jorge Taer is the petitioner against the Hon. Court of Appeals and the People of the Philippines.
• The case originated on December 5, 1981, in Barangay Lantang, Valencia, Bohol.
• Taer, along with co-accused Emilio Namocatcat, Mario Cago, and Cirilo Saludes, was charged with the theft of two male carabaos valued at P4,000.
• The information was filed by the Third Assistant Provincial Fiscal after a preliminary investigation in the 11th Municipal Circuit Court at Valencia-Dimiao.
• The trial occurred in the Court of First Instance of Bohol.
• Saludes and Cago were acquitted due to insufficient evidence, while Taer and Namocatcat were found guilty.
• The trial court sentenced Taer and Namocatcat to an indeterminate penalty of imprisonment from six years and one day to fourteen years and ten months, considering the aggravating circumstance of nocturnity.
• Taer appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the trial court's ruling, prompting Taer to file a petition for review on certiorari.

Issue:

• (Unlock)

Ruling:

• The Supreme Court modified the decisions of the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals.
• Taer was convicted as an accessory after the fact to the crime of cattle rustling.
• The Court imposed a mi...(Unlock)

Ratio:

• The Supreme Court determined that Taer's involvement did not qualify him as a principal or accomplice but as an accessory after the fact.
• The Court highlighted that conspiracy must be proven with positive and conclusive evidence, not mere conjecture.
• The evidence, particularly Namocatcat's confession, was insufficient to establish Taer's active participation in the theft.
• Mere knowledge of the crime does not imply participation in the conspiracy.
• Taer's action...continue reading