THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,

vs.
MANUEL BERONILLA, FILIPINO VELASCO, POLICARPIO PACULDO, and JACINTO
ADRIATICO, defendants-appellants.
G.R. No. L-4445
February 28, 1955
Ponente: Reyes, J.B.L., J.

FACTS:

Manuel Beronilla, Policarpio Paculdo, Filipino Velasco and Jacinto Adriatico filed
an appeal from the judgement of the Abra Court of First Instance, which convicted
them of murder for the execution of Arsenio Borjal, the elected mayor of La Paz, Abra in
the evening of April 18, 1945 (at the outbreak of war), which was found to be aiding the
enemy. Borjal moved to Bangued because of death threats, and was succeeded by
Military Mayor Manuel Beronilla, who was appointed by Lt. Col. R. H. Arnold, regimental
commander of the 15th Infantry of the Philippine Army, operating as a guerilla unit in
Abra. Simultaneously upon his appointment, Beronilla received a memorandum which
authorized him to appoint a jury of 12 bolomen to try persons accused of treason,
espionage and aiding or abetting the enemy. He also received a list of puppet
government officials of Abra, including Arsenio Borjal, and was instructed to investigate
said persons and gather complaints against them.

Borjal and his family returned to Abra in March 1945 to escape bombing in
Bangued. Beronilla, pursuant to his instructions, placed Borjal under custody and asked
the residents of La Paz to file complaints against him. Charges of espionage, aiding the
enemy, and abuse of authority were led against Borjal. The jury found Borjal guilty on all
accounts and imposed upon him instruction from his superiors. Beronilla reported this to
Col. Arnold who replied, saying “This is a matter best handled by your government and
whatever disposition you make of the case is hereby approved.” A radiogram from Col.
Volckmann, overall commander, to Lt. Col. Arnold, called the attention to the illegality
of Borjal’s conviction and sentence which was unknown to Beronilla. On the night of
April 18, 1945, Beronilla ordered the execution of Borjal. Jacinto Adriatico acted as
executioner and Antonio Palope as grave digger. Immediately after the execution,
Beronilla reported the matter to Col. Arnold.

Two years thereafter, Beronilla, along with Policarpio Paculdo as Clerk of the jury,
Felix Alverne and Juan Balmaceda as prosecutors, Jesus Labuguen, Delfin Labuguen,
Filemon Labuguen, Servillano Afos, Andres Afos, Benjamin Adriatico, Juanito Casel,
Santiago Casel, Mariano Ajel, Felix Murphy, Benjamin Abella, and Pedro Turqueza as
members of the jury, Jacinto Adriatico as executioner, Severo Afos as grave digger, and
Father Filipino Velasco as an alleged conspirator, were indicted for the murder of Borjal.
Soon after, President Manuel Roxas issued Executive Proclamation 8, which granted
amnesty to persons who committed acts in furtherance of the resistance to the enemy
against persons aiding in the war efforts of the enemy. The rest of defendants applied
and were granted amnesty, but Beronilla and others were convicted on the grounds
that the crime was made on purely personal motives, as they were conspirator and co-
principals of the crime of murder, and that the crime was committed after the expiration
of time limit for amnesty proclamation.

ISSUES:

Whether or not the defendant-appellants’ actions were 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 being aware
of its illegality, without any fault or negligence on their part, criminal intent could not be
established. 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. It could
not be established that Beronilla received the radiogram from Colonel Volckmann,
overall area commander, which called attention to the illegality of Borjal’s 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.

To constitute a crime, the act must, except in certain crimes made such by
statute, be accompanied by a criminal intent, or by such negligence or indifference to
duty or to consequences, as, in law, is equivalent to criminal intent. The maxim is, actus
non facit reum, nisi mens rea-crime is not committed if the mind of the person performing
the act complained of be innocent."
 The charge of criminal conspiracy to do away with Borjal must be rejected,
because the accused had no need to conspire against a man who was, to their
knowledge, duly sentenced to death.

The lower court should not have denied their claim to the benefits of the Guerilla
Amnesty Proclamation No. 8 in spite of contradictory dates of liberation of La Paz, Abra.
Even if the dates were contradictory, the court should have not denied the claim to the
benefits of the Amnesty for the Beronila, et al because if there are “any reasonable
doubt as to whether a given case falls within the (amnesty) proclamation should be
resolved in favor of the accused”. Judgement reversed, appellants acquitted.