Case Summary (G.R. No. 188747)
Facts and immediate circumstances
Two small Dutch boats left Matuta for Peta; one boat carried a single Dutch subject and the other carried eleven Dutch subjects including men, women, and children. At about 7:00 p.m., the second boat was intercepted between Buang and Bukid by six vintas manned by twenty-four armed Moros. The attackers first requested food but then boarded, seized cargo, violently assaulted some of the men, and brutally violated two women. The attackers made holes in the Dutch boat and abandoned most persons on it (except for the two women), who survived after eleven days until succored. The two women were taken by the assailants, repeatedly violated, and later escaped at Maruro. Two of the assailants were identified as Lol-lo and Saraw; they later returned to South Ubian where they were arrested and charged in the Court of First Instance of Sulu with piracy.
Procedural posture and primary legal question
Defendants demurred on the ground that the offense charged was not within the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance nor of any court of the Philippine Islands, and that the facts did not constitute a public offense under the laws in force in the Philippine Islands. The demurrer was overruled, trial proceeded, and the trial court found the defendants guilty, sentencing each to cadena perpetua, ordering restitution for stolen copra, and awarding partial costs. On appeal, the primary legal questions addressed by the appellate court were (1) whether the offense constituted piracy amenable to Philippine courts, and (2) whether the Spanish Penal Code provisions on piracy (Articles 153–156) remained in force and applicable after cession to the United States and during American sovereignty over the Philippines.
Definition and nature of piracy; jurisdictional reach
The court affirmed that the established elements of piracy were present: forcible depredation on the seas without lawful authority, done animo furandi and in universal hostility. The court emphasized that piracy is not merely a crime against a single state but against all mankind (hostes humani generis) and therefore may be punished in any competent tribunal where the offenders are found. The court rejected the jurisdictional objection, holding that piracy’s jurisdictional character is essentially universal and not constrained by territorial or foreign coastal limits — citing U.S. v. Furlong for the proposition that neutral territorial limits are not neutral to crimes like piracy.
Continuity of pre-existing municipal law after transfer of sovereignty
Applying recognized principles of public international and municipal law, the court reiterated that municipal laws of a transferred territory remain in force after cession to the extent they are consistent with the new sovereign’s constitution and laws and until altered by the new government. The Instructions of President McKinley to General Merritt were invoked to show the established administrative practice that municipal laws governing private rights and the punishment of crime continue after occupation unless suspended or superseded. On that basis, the court treated relevant provisions of the Spanish Penal Code as subsisting municipal criminal law applicable in the Philippines, subject to necessary adaptation.
Applicability and interpretation of Articles 153–156 of the Spanish Penal Code
Articles 153–156 of the Spanish Penal Code were treated as designed to include the Philippine Islands and applicable to persons who, under the Spanish constitutional designations, were considered Spaniards. The court reasoned that these provisions embody concepts consistent with the law of nations and with comparable United States statutory and constitutional provisions on piracy. Because the Philippines had been ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris, the court construed the Penal Code provisions adaptively: references to “Spain” and “Spaniards” were to be read as referring to the United States and to citizens of the United States and the Philippine Islands, respectively, insofar as necessary to render the provisions operative under the new sovereignty. This interpretive approach paralleled prior statutory construction in United States v. Smith limiting certain terms of the Penal Code to public officers of the Philippine government.
Legal characterization of the offense under the Penal Code
Applying Articles 153 and 154 as thus adapted, the court held that the attack fell squarely within the first paragraph of Article 153 (piracy committed against citizens/subjects of another nation not at war with the United States/the Philippines) and within the aggravated circumstances enumerated in Article 154. The record showed at least two of the statutory aggravating circumstances: (1) the commission of offenses against chastity (rape and repeated sexual violations) and (2) abandonment of persons without means of saving themselves. These qualifying circumstances made the higher penalties under Article 154 available.
Consideration of aggravating and mitigating
...continue readingCase Syllabus (G.R. No. 188747)
Case Citation and Panel
- Reported at 43 Phil. 19; G. R. No. 17958; decided February 27, 1922.
- Decision authored by Malcolm, J.
- Justices Araullo, C. J., Johnson, Avancena, Villamor, Ostrand, Johns, and Romualdez, JJ., concurred, with Justice Romualdez recording a nonconformity as to the sentence for one defendant.
Factual Background
- On or about June 30, 1920, two boats departed Matuta (a Dutch possession) bound for Peta (another Dutch possession).
- One boat carried a single Dutch subject; the other carried eleven Dutch subjects (men, women, and children).
- After several days, at about 7 o'clock in the evening, the second boat arrived between the Islands of Buang and Bukid in the Dutch East Indies.
- Six armed vintas manned by twenty-four Moros surrounded the Dutch boat.
- The Moros first asked for food; once aboard the Dutch boat, they took all cargo, attacked some men, and brutally violated two women by methods described in the record as "too horrible to be described."
- All persons on the Dutch boat, except the two young women, were placed back on it and holes were made in it with the intention that it would submerge; despite this, the survivors were succored after eleven days of hardship and privation.
- The Moros took the two women with them, repeatedly violated them, and finally arrived at Maruro (a Dutch possession), where two of the marauders were identified as Lol-lo (who raped one of the women) and Saraw.
- At Maruro the two women were able to escape.
- Lol-lo and Saraw later returned to their home in South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Philippine Islands, where they were arrested.
Procedural History
- Lol-lo and Saraw were charged in the Court of First Instance of Sulu with the crime of piracy.
- Counsel de officio for the Moros interposed a demurrer on grounds that:
- The offense charged was not within the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance nor of any court of the Philippine Islands.
- The facts did not constitute a public offense under the laws in force in the Philippine Islands.
- The trial judge overruled the demurrer.
- A trial was conducted, resulting in a judgment finding the two defendants guilty and sentencing each to life imprisonment (cadena perpetua).
- The trial court also ordered the defendants to return, together with two other defendants (Kinawalang and Maulanis, in another case), the thirty-nine sacks of coprax taken from the offended parties or to indemnify them in the amount of 924 rupees, and to pay one-half of the costs.
- Appeal brought to this Court.
Demurrer and Jurisdictional Argument
- Counsel's demurrer asserted lack of jurisdiction of Philippine courts and lack of a public offense under Philippine law.
- The trial court overruled the demurrer; this ruling was re-examined on appeal.
- The opinion rejects the contention that the Court of First Instance lacked jurisdiction, relying upon the character of piracy as an offense against all mankind and the universal jurisdiction traditionally exercised over pirates.
Definition and Legal Character of Piracy
- Piracy defined in the opinion as robbery or forcible depredation on the high seas, without lawful authority and done animo furandi, in the spirit and intention of universal hostility.
- Pirates characterized in law as hostes humani generis (enemies of all mankind).
- Piracy is a crime not against any particular state but against all mankind, permitting punishment in the competent tribunal of any country where the offender may be found or into which he may be carried.
- Jurisdiction for piracy has no territorial limits and may be exercised despite the crime being committed within a foreign state's jurisdictional three-mile limit, as "those limits, though neutral to war, are not neutral to crimes," with citation to U. S. vs. Furlong (1820), 5 Wheat. 184.
Penal Code Provisions at Issue (Articles 153–156)
- Article 153:
- "The crime of piracy committed against Spaniards, or the subjects of another nation not at war with Spain, shall be punished with a penalty ranging from cadena temporal to cadena perpetua."
- "If the crime be committed against nonbelligerent subjects of another nation at war with Spain, it shall be punished with the penalty of presidio mayor."
- Article 154:
- Those who commit the crimes referred to in the first paragraph of the next preceding article shall suffer the penalty of cadena perpetua or death, and those who commit the crimes referred to in the second paragraph of the same article, from cadena temporal to cadena perpetua, where any of the following circumstances are present:
- Whenever they have seized some vessel by boarding or firing upon the same.
- Whenever the crime is accompanied by murder, homicide, or by any of the physical injuries specified in articles 414 and 415 and in paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 416.
- Whenever it is accompanied by any of the offenses against chastity specified in Chapter II, Title IX, of this book.
- Whenever the pirates have abandoned any persons without means of saving themselves.
- In every case, the captain or skipper of the pirates.
- Those who commit the crimes referred to in the first paragraph of the next preceding article shall suffer the penalty of cadena perpetua or death, and those who commit the crimes referred to in the second paragraph of the same article, from cadena temporal to cadena perpetua, where any of the following circumstances are present:
- Article 155:
- With respect to the provisions of this title, as well as all others of this code, when Spain is mentioned it shall be understood as including any part of the national territory.
- Article 156:
- For the purpose of applying the provisions of this code, every person who, according to the Constitution of the Monarchy, has the status of a Spaniard shall be considered as such.