TITLE: THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, NO.

26

Vs. MANUEL BERONILLA, FILIPINO VELASCO, POLICARPIO PACULDO, and JACINTO ADRIATICO,
defendants-appellants.

CITATION: G.R. No. L-4445 February 28, 1955

NATURE OF THE ACTION:

FACTS:

After Japanese occupation, Borjal served as mayor during the Japanese occupation. Beronilla, after being
appointed as Military Mayor of La Paz, Abra, received a copy of a memorandum issued by Lt. Col. Arnold
authorizing all military mayors to appoint a hury of 12 bolomen to try persons accused of treason,
espionage or the aiding of the enemy. He also received a list of all puppet officials of the province of
Abra (Borjal included) with a memorandum instructing all Military Mayors to investigate said persons
and gather against them complaints from people of the municipality. Beronilla, upon the return of Borjal
who left La Paz because of an attempt on his life, placed Borjal under custody. Pursuant to his
instructions, complaints were gathered, a 12-man jury was appointed, prosecutors and a clerk of the jury
were assigned. Trial lasted for 19 days and the jury found Borjal guilty on all counts (espionage, aiding
the enemy, abuse of authority). Death penalty was imposed. Beronilla forwarded the records of the case
to the Headquarters of the 15th Infantry for review. The records were returned by Lt. Col. Arnold adding
that the matter was best handled by the La Paz Government and whatever disposition taken was
approved. Upon receipt of the letter, Beronilla then ordered the execution of Borjal. The execution was
reported to Col. Arnold and Beronilla received compliments based on the reply of his superior. Two years
after, those who were involved were indicted in the CFI of Abra for murder for allegedly conspiring and
confederating in the execution of Borjal. The defendants were convicted, thus this appeal.

Issue: W/N the defendant-appellants actions are covered by justifying circumstances for obedience to
lawful order of superior

Ruling: Yes. The accused acted upon orders of their superior officers, which as military subordinates,
they could not question and obeyed in good faith without the being aware of its illegality.

Ratio Decidendi:

The evidence is sufficient to sustain the claim of the defense that arrest, prosecution and trial of Borjal
was done in pursuant to express orders of superiors. Additionally, it could not be established that
Beronilla received the radiogram from Colonel Volckmann, overall area commander, which called
attention to the illegality of Borjals conviction and sentence. Had Beronilla known the violation, he
would not have dared to report it to Arnold. The conduct of the accused also does not show malice on
their part because of the conduct of the trial, defense through counsel given to Borjal, suspension of trial
based on doubts of illegality and death sentence review sent to the superior officers.