Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 453 views

    The People of The Philippines vs. Apolinario Adriano, G.R. No. L-477, June 30, 1947

    Uploaded by

    Hazel Estayan
    The case involves the appeal of Apolinarion Adriano's conviction for treason by the People's Court for sentencing him to life imprisonment. Adriano was accused of joining Makapili, a pro-Japanese organization during WWII, which violated his allegiance to the US and Philippines. However, the prosecution did not provide evidence to substantiate the specific acts of treason beyond one witness testifying to seeing Adriano in Makapili uniform. The Supreme Court held that the two-witness requirement for treason was not fulfilled, as membership in Makapili must be established by two witnesses. As such, the judgment was reversed and Adriano was acquitted.

    Copyright:

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

    The People of The Philippines vs. Apolinario Adriano, G.R. No. L-477, June 30, 1947

    Uploaded by

    Hazel Estayan
    453 views2 pages
    The case involves the appeal of Apolinarion Adriano's conviction for treason by the People's Court for sentencing him to life imprisonment. Adriano was accused of joining Makapili, a pro-Japanese organization during WWII, which violated his allegiance to the US and Philippines. However, the prosecution did not provide evidence to substantiate the specific acts of treason beyond one witness testifying to seeing Adriano in Makapili uniform. The Supreme Court held that the two-witness requirement for treason was not fulfilled, as membership in Makapili must be established by two witnesses. As such, the judgment was reversed and Adriano was acquitted.

    Original Title

    The People of the Philippines

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The case involves the appeal of Apolinarion Adriano's conviction for treason by the People's Court for sentencing him to life imprisonment. Adriano was accused of joining Makapili, a pro-Japanese organization during WWII, which violated his allegiance to the US and Philippines. However, the prosecution did not provide evidence to substantiate the specific acts of treason beyond one witness testifying to seeing Adriano in Makapili uniform. The Supreme Court held that the two-witness requirement for treason was not fulfilled, as membership in Makapili must be established by two witnesses. As such, the judgment was reversed and Adriano was acquitted.

    Copyright:

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

    The People of The Philippines vs. Apolinario Adriano, G.R. No. L-477, June 30, 1947

    Uploaded by

    Hazel Estayan
    The case involves the appeal of Apolinarion Adriano's conviction for treason by the People's Court for sentencing him to life imprisonment. Adriano was accused of joining Makapili, a pro-Japanese organization during WWII, which violated his allegiance to the US and Philippines. However, the prosecution did not provide evidence to substantiate the specific acts of treason beyond one witness testifying to seeing Adriano in Makapili uniform. The Supreme Court held that the two-witness requirement for treason was not fulfilled, as membership in Makapili must be established by two witnesses. As such, the judgment was reversed and Adriano was acquitted.

    Copyright:

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

    THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES vs.

    APOLINARIO ADRIANO,
    G.R. No. L-477, June 30, 1947

    The case is an appeal from a judgment of conviction for treason by the People's
    Court sentencing the accused Apolinarion Adriano to life imprisonment.
    Apolinarion Adriano, not a foreigner and owes allegiance to the United States
    and the Commonwealth of the Philippines violated said allegiance and have his
    membership to Makapili, a military organization established and designed to assist and
    aid militarily the Japanese Imperial forces in the Philippines in the said enemy's war
    efforts and operations against the United States.
    As a member, Adriano bore arm and joined and assisted the Japanese Military
    Forces and the Makapili Army in armed conflicts and engagements against the United
    States armed forces and the Guerrillas of the Philippine Commonwealth in the
    Municipalities of San Leonardo and Gapan, Province of Nueva Ecija, and in the
    mountains of Luzon, Philippines, sometime between January and April, 1945.
    The prosecution did not introduce any evidence to substantiate any of the facts
    alleged except that of defendant's having joined the Makapili organization. What the
    People's Court found is that the accused participated with Japanese soldiers in certain
    raids and in confiscation of personal property. The court, however, said these acts had
    not been established by the testimony of two witnesses, and so regarded them merely
    as evidence of adherence to the enemy. But the court did find established under the
    two-witness rule, as it only infer, "that the accused and other Makapilis had their
    headquarters in the enemy garrison at Gapan, Nueva Ecija; that the accused was in
    Makapili military uniform; that he was armed with rifle; and that he drilled with other
    Makapilis under a Japanese instructor; that during the same period, the accused in
    Makapili military uniform and with a rifle, performed duties as sentry at the Japanese
    garrison and Makapili headquarters in Gapan, Nueva Ecija; that upon the liberation of
    Gapan, Nueva Ecija, by the American forces, the accused and other Makapilis retreated
    to the mountains with the enemy;" and that the accused, rifle in hand, later surrendered
    to the Americans."
    Relative thereto, no two of the prosecution witnesses testified to a single one of
    the various acts of treason imputed by them to the appellant and their witnesses
    testified on the acts committed on different dates without coinciding in any one specific
    deed.

    ISSUE:
    Whether or not the two-witness requirement in the crime of treason be fulfilled by
    the testimony of one witness who saw the appellant in adherence to Makapili. 
    HELD:
    No. The Court held that the absent two witnesses to testify this claim of treason
    in which the law strictly applies. Membership as a Makapili, as an overt act, must be
    established by the deposition of two witnesses. Where two or more witnesses give
    oaths to an overt act and only one of them is believed by the court or jury, the
    defendant, it has been said and held, is entitled to discharge, regardless of any moral
    conviction of the culprit's guilt as gauged and tested by the ordinary and natural
    methods, with which we are familiar, of finding the truth.

    The Supreme Court cited the case of Cramer vs. United States (65 Sup. Ct.,
    918), which states that "The very minimum function that an overt act must perform in a
    treason prosecution is that it shows sufficient action by the accused, in its setting, to
    sustain a finding that the accused actually gave aid and comfort to the enemy.  Every
    act, movement, deed, and word of the defendant charged to constitute treason must be
    supported by the testimony of two witnesses."

    The judgment is reversed and the appellant acquitted.

    You might also like