PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. ALFREDO CORPUZ, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

An amended information in the court of Ilocos Norte charged
Alfredo Corpuz with treason enumerated in six counts. After a regular
trial, he was found guilty of two counts, and sentenced to reclusion
perpetua, with accessories, and to pay a fine of P10,000 plus costs.
He appealed.

As to count 4, the record shows that in the afternoon of
January 30, 1945 two trucks loaded with Japanese soldiers arrived at
Barrio #54 Laoag, Ilocos Norte. The military men were accompanied by
the accused Alfredo Corpuz, then a member of the Constabulary, and his
brother Jose. The people ran to their shelters or hiding places,
knowing that the Corpuzes didn’t like them for favoring the guerrillas,
whom the brothers connected with the kidnapping of their mother, sister,
and nephews.

Alighting from the trucks, the military men proceeded to burn
the houses of the locality, after carting away some palay of the barrio.
In this they were assisted by Alredo and his brother.

Destroyed were the dwellings of Benita Galacion, Andres Damaso,
Eustaquio Ramos, Lorenzo Guillermo, Rufina Alejandro, Urbano Miguel,
Alejandro Ramos, Ignacia Domingo and Rosalia Albano. The last three
declared in court about the enemy’s visitation and looting and the
accused’s participation therein. (By the way Jose Corpuz is charged in
another case.)

As to count No. 5, Simon de la Cruz, Petronilo de la Cruz and
Teodora Fermin testified to the following facts:

Early in the afternoon of January 30, 1945 Alfredo Corpuz and
his brother Jose went to Barrio #28 and stopped in front of the house of
Simon de la Cruz. Some Japanese soldiers accompanied them, but the
latter remained on the street. On suspicion of sympathy with the
resistance movement, Simon was taken by the company to the Japanese
Military Police Headquarters in Laoag, where he was maltreated, by
hanging upside down and beating.

That same afternoon and on the same occassion, Mariano Burgos
and Petronilo de la Cruz, guerrilla sympathizers of Barrio #29, were
rounded up and brought, together with Simon, to the same Police
Headquarters in Laoag. Petronilo was tortured there by the Corpuzes and
was beaten with a batibot chair, because he refused to give
information about the disappearance of their mother and sisters,
captured by the guerillas. Mariano Burgos was found with stab wounds
the next day.

The defendant testified that when the Japanese invaded the
Ilocos he was arrested, tortured, and then “forced” to join the
Constabulary. He denied having taken part in the looting and raid in
barrios #54, #29 and #28, declaring simply that he was taken by the
Japanese in November 1944 and kept in prison until January 1945 when he
was compelled to be their “cargador” during their retreat from the
American forces of liberation.

His witnesses would prove that: advised of the disappearance of
his mother and sisters, Jose Corpuz complained to the Japanese; the
latter sent soldiers to barrio #54 in two trucks; failing to find the
missing persons, and probably suspecting the barrio people, the Japanese
started burning the houses; however Jose and Alfredo were not there.

We find that Alfredo’s alleged imprisonment and alibi was
contradicted by Rosalia Albano who swore to having seen him attending
gatherings during January and February 1945.

And the persons who declared he had taken part in the looting,
and the apprehension of Mariano Burgos and the De la Cruzes, had no
unworthy motives to falsify.

There is no doubt in our minds that the raid and destruction in
Barrio 54 was due to the suspicion of Alfredo and Jose Corpuz that the
owners of the burned houses together with the other barrio people had
helped the guerrillas, who were responsible for the kidnapping of their
mother, sisters and nephews. The depredation in effect tended to weaken
the resistance movement by terrorizing those suspected of connections
with the guerrillas. It may be admitted that the accused and Jose acted
partly in revenge for the disappearance of their near relatives. But
they went much further, and gave vent to their resentment against the
whole guerrilla outift with the willing assistance of the Japanese.
Therein they violated the laws of treason, because they joined hands
with the invaders in harassing and suppressing the underground
resistance movement.

Perhaps there is some ground to doubt that the connection of
the guerrillas with the disappearance of defendant’s relatives was a
mere imputation, a convenient smokescreen, concocted by appellant and
his brother to justify in some measure their active participation in the
Japanese operations against the guerrillas and their sympathizers.

There being no question that Alfredo Corpuz was and is a
Filipino citizen, the verdict of guilt must necessarily be upheld. And
as the penalty imposed on him does not exceed the limits prescribed by
law, (Art. 114, Revised Penal Code) the appealed judgment is hereby
affirmed with costs. No ordered.

Paras, C. J., Pablo, Padilla, Tuason, Montemayor, Jugo,
Bautista Angelo and Labrador, JJ., concur.
Feria and Reyes, JJ., no part.