THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. PEDRO SABIDO Y DELANTAR, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

PEDRO SABIDO y DELANTAR is appealing from the decision of the
Court of First Instance of Manila finding him guilty of treason and
sentencing him to reclusion perpetua, to pay a fine of P10,000.00
plus costs.

Appellant was charged with treason under five (5) counts but
evidence was adduced only in support of counts 1, 2 and 3 which we are
reproducing below:

“1. That during and about the period from 1942 to February 1945,
in the City of Manila, Philippines, for the purpose of giving and with
intent to give aid and/or comfort to the enemy, the above named accused,
Pedro Sabido y Delantar, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and
feloniously act and serve as agent and informer of the Japanese Imperial
Forces, and to further realize his intention to give aid and/or comfort
to the enemy, the said accused, Pedro Sabido y Delantar, did then and
there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously join subsequently the
“KALIPUNAN MAKABAYAN NG MGA PILIPINO”, commonly known as ‘MAKAPILI’, a
military organization created and conceived in the spirit of
collaboration and to help Japan in her war efforts against the United
States.

“2. That in or about April 1943, in the City of Manila,
Philippines, for the purpose of giving and with intent to give aid
and/or comfort to the enemy, the above named accused, Pedro Sabido y
Delantar, together with a group of Japanese Military Police officers and
soldiers, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously raid
the house of Recto Palma, a querillero and upon finding that said Recto
Palma was not in his house the said accused, Pedro Sabido y Delantar,
wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously rounded up all members of the
family of said Recto Palma.

“3. That on or about December 5, 1944, in the City of Manila,
Philippines, for the purpose of giving and with intent to give aid
and/or comfort to the enemy, the above named accused, Pedro Sabido y
Delantar, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously aid
and help the Japanese Military Police in the zonification of Domingo
Santiago St., Sampaloc, City of Manila, as a result of which hundreds of
Filipinos residing in said street were taken to the Japanese Military
barracks and that at the gathering of said Filipinos in said barracks,
the above named accused, Pedro Sabido Delantar, did then and there
wilfully, unlawfully and feloniously help and assist the Japanese
Military Police in picking out guerrilla suspects and in torturing and
executing them, and that among those who were executed were Alejandro
Samonte and Cornelio Hernandez for being guerrillas.”

The trial court found him guilty under the above three counts,
except that the two evidence presented to show that the accused was a
MAKAPILI.

Under the second count Alicia Palma and her sister Isabel Palma
and one Atilano Sosa testified that on April 23, 1943, the appellant
accompanied by several Japanese soldiers went to the Palma home in San
Nicolas looking for Recto Palma, brother of Alicia and Isabel because he
was said to be a guerrilla. Recto was not in the house and the
appellant and his Japanese companions were about to take Alicia to the
garrison but a Japanese officer arrived and evidently intervened and he
through the accused told Alicia to tell her mother to see to it that
Recto Palma surrendered himself to the garrison as soon as he arrived,
otherwise his family would be taken to the garrison. After the Japanese
patrol had left, the Palma family moved or evacuated to Sampaloc
presumably to avoid being taken to the garrison because Recto never came
home and in fact he was never heard from since that day.

Under counts 1 and 3 Ramon Samonte said that in the years
1943-1944 he used to see the appellant in Manila going with Japanese
soldiers; that he saw him at the Wise Building, pushing people inside;
that he wore an arm band with Japanese characters; and that Samonte
considered him as a Japanese spy. He further declared that on December
5, 1944, about 2:00 a.m. hundreds of Japanese soldiers surrounded
Domingo Santiago street in Sampaloc and proceeded to place it under what
was then called “zona”. All the men residing in that street were
forced to go down from their homes and once in the street those who were
suspected as guerrillas were separated from the rest and taken away.
The accused pointed to Alejandro Samonte, son of witness Ramon Samonte
as a guerilla, then going to the other side of the street he again
pointed to Cornelio Hernandez as another guerrilla. Thereafter, the two
guerrilla suspects Alejandro and Cornelio were taken away by the
accused and the Japanese soldiers and were never heard from until the
date of the trial, June 22, 1951. At that time, defendant carried a
pistol and a carborata. In his testimony Ramon Samonte was
corroborated by Ramon Galit who was at the time living in the same house
with Alejandro Samonte and Cornelio Hernandez.

The evidence for the prosecution further proved that appellant
was born in Balanhiga, Samar, over fifty years ago; his father and
mother being Ignacio and Felipa respectively, and that he was a Filipino
citizen.

Like the trial court, we are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt
that appellant Pedro Sabido y Delantar has committed treason. His very
counsel de officio who made a detailed statement of the evidence
for the prosecution and the defense believes in his client’s guilt and
recommends affirmance of the decision of the lower court. We reproduce
portions of his briefs.

“After a thorough study of the appealed decision, carefully
analyzing and weighing the various testimonies of the witnesses for the
prosecution and the conflicting testimonies of the witnesses for the
defense, the undersigned counsel de oficio for the defendant-appellant
has arrived at the conclusion that the lower court has not erred in its
appreciation of the facts and laws involved in the case at bar.

x x x

“The lower court in resolving the issues involved in the case at
bar has unmistakably arrived at the conclusion in which the undersigned
counsel de oficio fully concurs, that the defendant-appellant committed
the overt acts alleged in the information, particularly counts 1, 2 and
3.” (Appellant’s Brief, pp. 6 & 7).

The decision appealed from is hereby affirmed, with costs.

Paras, C. J., Pablo, Bengzon, Padilla, Tuason, Reyes, Jugo,
Bautista Angelo and Labrador, JJ., concur.