Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-2570 March 21, 1906
THE UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee,
vs.
ANASTASIO ASUNCION, ET AL., defendants-appellants.
Jose Generoso, for appellants.
Office of the Solicitor-General Araneta, for appellee.
ARELLANO, C.J.:
This case having proceeded against the defendants, Victor Acabado, Eugenio Salvador, and Francisco Merced, only, as appears from the judgment appealed from, the court below acquitted the last two and convicted Victor Acabado, sentencing him to three year's imprisonment at hard labor, to pay a fine of $2,000, United States currency, or in default thereof to suffer the corresponding subsidiary imprisonment, and to pay one-third of the cost of the proceedings, from which judgment the defendant Acabado, appealed.
The complaint charged that Acabado gave shelter to Artemio Ricarte, while he was armed with a revolver, upon his return from Hongkong; that he stated to one Manuel Castino that Ricarte had written to the brigand leaders Felizardo and Montalan; and that he failed to notify the authorities of Ricarte's presence in town before the latter left, although it was publicly known that efforts were being made by the police to arrest the said Ricarte. He did notify the police, however; after Ricarte's departure.
These facts, in our opinion, are not sufficient to show that the defendant and implicated in any plans which Ricarte may have had. Much less can they constitute the crime defined and punished in section 4 of Act No. 292, the Philippine Commission, which provides that "if two or more persons conspire to overthrow, put down, or destroy by force the Government," etc. None of the facts hereinbefore set and constitute and conspiracy as is penalized in the above-mentioned act.
The judgment appealed from is therefore reversed and the defendant, Victor Acabado, is acquitted, with his share of the costs de oficio. So ordered.
Torres, Mapa, Johnson, Carson and Willard, JJ., concur.
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