THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. RAMON E. TOLENTINO, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

Ramon E. Tolentino was accused before the Court of First Instance
of Davao of the crime of treason. After trial, he was found guilty and
sentenced to suffer 12 years and 1 day of reclusion temporal,
with the accessory penalties of the law, to pay a fine of P10,000.00,
without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to pay the
costs.

The defendant admitted being a Filipino citizen.

On November 19, 1942, he was seen by Miguela Baring and Jesus
Rodriguez accompanying some forty Japanese soldiers who arrived at the
house of Adriano Enero. Six Japanese soldiers went upstairs and the
rest remained below around said house. The Japanese were led by Lt.
Watanabe-sang and another Japanese, named Ibarrasang, who was the
executioner. Ibarrasang read a list of names, one of which was that of
Adriano Enero, who was asked by the Japanese whether he was feeding the
guerrillas. Enero answered in the affirmative. He was ordered to come
down the house. The other names read were those of Glicero Enero, Juan
Baring, Pablo Tablada, and Jesus Rodriguez. They were also ordered to
come down. The defendant tied the hands of Adriano Enero behind his
back with a piece of electric wire. The other inmates of the house were
tied by the Japanese. These five men were taken to the Japanese
garrison and none of them has returned, except Rodriguez. These facts
were testified to by Miguela Baring, Manuela Enero, and Jesus Rodriguez.

The defendant, in his defense, declared that he was himself a
guerilla, and, as he had been a foreman of the Bureau of Public Works
before the war, he had destroyed bridges and placed logs in the roads to
intercept the march of the Japanese. He further testified that he
himself had been arrested by the Japanese, but he was able to escape.
He impugned the testimony of the witnesses for the prosecution, Jesus
Rodriguez and Manuela Enero, saying that they had grudges against him,
for he had caught Jesus stealing nails, and that on one occasion he had
refused to give food to Manuela Enero as he did not have enough for his
own family.

The trial court did not believe the testimony of the defendant,
finding no sufficient motive for the witnesses of the prosecution to
testify falsely against him. Even supposing that he had given help to
the guerrillas, that fact does not excempt him from liability for the
crime that he committed in helping the Japanese arrest certain Filipinos
whom they suspected being in the underground movement against the
Empire of Japan.

In view of the foregoing, the judgment appealed from is
affirmed, with costs. So ordered.

Paras, C. J., Feria, Pablo, Bengzon, Tuason, Montemayor,
Reyes, and Bautista Angelo, JJ., concur.

Labrador, J., no part.