Case Digest (G.R. No. 6608)
Case Digest (G.R. No. 6608)
Facts:
The United States v. Juan Casipong and Gregoria Hongoy, G.R. No. 6608. September 05, 1911, the Supreme Court En Banc, Torres, J., writing for the Court.
The plaintiff-appellee was The United States; the defendants-appellants were Juan Casipong and Gregoria Hongoy (Casipong later withdrew his appeal).
On March 5, 1909, Juan Casipong contracted civil marriage with Teodora Juanico before the justice of the peace of Dumanjug, Cebu. About two weeks after the ceremony Casipong left his wife and removed to the barrio of Bolocboloc to live with Gregoria Hongoy, and the offended wife went to live with her mother. To verify rumors that her husband lived with another woman, the wife, accompanied by Hilaria Lumban, visited Bolocboloc and saw Casipong and Hongoy lying side by side and often going together about the barrio; she did not, however, see them in carnal intercourse.
On August 24, 1910, the provincial fiscal filed a complaint in the Court of First Instance of Cebu charging Casipong and Hongoy with concubinage under Article 437 of the Penal Code. The trial judge, Hon. Adolph Wislizenus, rendered judgment the same day: Casipong was sentenced to one year, eight months, and twenty-one days of prision correccional; Hongoy to two years' banishment with a 25-kilometer prohibition from the place of the crime; and half the costs were assessed against each. The defendants appealed; Casipong thereafter withdrew his appeal, leaving only Hongoy's appeal to proceed to the Supreme Court. The present decision reviews the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain conviction for concubinage.
Issues:
- Was the evidence presented sufficient to prove concubinage with the “scandal” required by Article 437 of the Penal Code?
- In view of that sufficiency (or lack thereof), should the conviction of Gregoria Hongoy be reversed and what is the proper disposition regarding Juan Casipong, who withdrew his appeal?
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)