PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. EUFRONIO VISAGAR, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

Appellant, who was a member of the Ganap Party, admitted in
open court that he is a Filipino citizen. Several witnesses for the prosecution
testified to his adherence to the enemy by constantly accompanying members of
the Japanese military police, wearing an arm band with Japanese characters and
carrying a revolver, and causing the oonfiscation of personal properties
belonging to Filipino civilians and the arrest of civilians and guerrillas. The
following specific acts of the accused were proven by the prosecution by the
testimony of at least two witnesses to the same overt act:

1. In February, 1942, the accused accompanied several Japanese soldiers and
   some Filipinos to the barrio of Pineda, near Fort McKinley, Pasig, Rizal, and
   searched the houses of Regino Santa Ana, Marcelo Espiritu, and Emilio Leron for
   goods distributed by the United States Army before it left for Bataan, and
   seized and confiscated from them palay, canned goods, shoes, clothes, and other
   personal properties.

2. One morning in the same month of February, 1942, the accused accompanied
   several Japanese soldiers to the house of Aurelio Cruz in Mandaluyong, Rizal,
   who arrested him, and brought him to the Japanese garrison located in the
   compound of the Insular Sugar Refining Corporation in the same municipality.
   There he was investigated by the Japanese soldiers regarding the possession of a
   firearm, which he denied.

3. On or about September 25, 1944, Dr. Andres Torres of Mandaluyong, Rizal, was
   arrested by Japanese soldiers at the indication of the accused and brought first
   to the Insular Sugar Refining Corporation and then to the Japanese garrison at
   Wack Wack, where he was charged with being a guerrilla officer and spy of the
   USAFFE, and with treating sick or wounded guerrillas, and investigated as to who
   his companions were. During the several days that he was detained there, he was
   tortured and beaten with a club.

4. About midday on September 34, 1944, five Japanese soldiers
   accompanied by the accused raided the house of Atty. Saturnino Castillo in
   Mandaluyong, Rizal, and arrested the latter and brought him to the Japanese
   garrison at Wack Wack, where he was charged with being a guerrilla officer,
   tortured, and sentenced to death. He was, however, saved at the last hour by the
   intervention of his former Japanese client named Imamura.

5. About ten o’clock one night in February, 1943, the accused accompanied by a
   Japanese officer and two soldiers arrested Edmundo (Eduardo) Chuakiko and
   Antonio Sta. Teresa in Mandaluyong, Rizal, and brought them to the Japanese
   garrison in the premises of the Philippine Hume Pipes, where they were
   investigated concerning guerrilla activities.

6. Felix Peralta, an enlisted man of the Philippine Army who was able to escape
   from the Death March of Bataan and found refuge in the house of his grandfather
   Joaquin Dimapili in Mandaluyong, Rizal, was arrested by the Japanese at the
   indication of the accused in the early dawn of April 29, 1942, and later sent to
   the concentration camp in Capas, Tarlac, where he remained confined for six
   months.

Testifying in his own behalf, the accused declared that during
the early days of the occupation and up to the end of 1942 he was engaged in
buying and selling oigarettes and other articles; that after that ha obtained
employment as a guard in the Insular Sugar Refining Corporation, of which Mr.
Marciano Angeles was the superintendent; that he worked in that firm up to the
end of 1943, after which he transferred to the Taiwan Pulp Factory, where he
worked as a chauffeur until February, 1944, and then “came to Manila to deal in
cigarettes.” He denied having accompanied Japanese soldiers to confiscate goods
and arrest civilians. He admitted having been Investigated by the CIG, in which
office he signed a document. On cross-examination he was shown the document
(Exhibit A) and he admitted that the signatures therein were his, although he
claimed that he signed it without reading its contents “because I was afraid
they would maltreat me.” In Exhibit A, which was subscribed and sworn to by the
accused on May 12, 1945, before Jose B. Ingojo, Second Lieutenant, QMC, Summary
Court Officer, he gives his biographical sketch from the time he was born in
Caibiran Leyte, on August 3, 1907, until January 6, 1945, when according to him
he separated from Mr. Kawakami, the assistant manager of the Taiwan Pulp
Factory, in Talavera, Nueva Ecija. Among other things the accused states the
following in Exhibit A:

“That about February 1942, Mr. Hikigi, a Japanese carpenter of
the Insular Sugar Refinery at Barrio Jolo, took me as driver for the Japanese
garrison at Barrio Jolo, Mandaluyong. This garrison was located in the house of
Mr. Marciano Angeles, Superintendent of the Insular Sugar Refinery at Jolo;

“That as driver of the Japanese Garrison, I was given by Capt.
Ochuka a .38 caliber revolver and provided with an arm band with Japanese
characters;

“That one night, at about eight or nine o’clock, in the month
of February, 1942, I was ordered by Capt. Ochuka of the Japanese garrison to
accompany the Japanese soldiers who arrested the chauffeur of Dr. Andres Torres.
I was with the Japanese soldiers when they arrested Francisco, Dr. Torres’
chauffeur, and was with them when they carried him to the garrison. I found out
that Francisco was arrested as ‘suspected ex-USAFFE soldier’ who did not
surrender to the Japanese Imperial Forces. Francisco was released that same
night after investigation.”

That statement of the accused, which we find from his testimony
to have been signed by him voluntarily, is admissible to contradict or impeach
his testimony during the trial.

The only other witnesses called by the defense were Marciano
Angeles and Numeriano Roxas. The testimony of these witnesses, however, does not
disprove that of the witnesses for the prosecution. Mr. Angeles testified that
in the latter part of 1943 a Japanese by the name of Kizi (probably the same man
referred to by the accused in his statement as Hikigi) recommended the accused
to him for employment as a guard in the Insular Sugar Refinery, but that the
accused left in the early part of 1944 and transferred to the Taiwan Pulp Kogyo
Kaisha, which occupied a part of the compound of the Insular Sugar Refinery. Mr.
Angeles admitted on eross-examination that he saw the accused going out with the
Japanese, although he did not remember how many times.

Numeriano Roxas testified that in the latter part of December,
1943, he worked as a draftsman for the Taiwan Pulp Factory and that he saw the
accused there working as a driver of the car used by the factory manager; that
during his stay there he did not see the accused in the company of any Japanese
soldier. On cross-examination he testified that he worked in the Taiwan Pulp
Factory only until the first week of February, 1944, and that he of course did
not know what happened there after he had left because he went to the
provinces.

It will be recalled that the overt acts attributed to the
accused by the witnesses for the prosecution were committed in February and
April, 1942, February, 1943, and September, 1944, while the period covered by
the testimony of Marciano Angeles and Numeriano Roxas was limited to the latter
part of 1943 and the early part of 1944.

In this appeal the attack made by counsel de oficio in
his lengthy brief against the decision of the People’s Court is centered mainly
upon the credibility of the witnesses for the prosecution.

After a careful examination of the evidence in relation to the
errors assigned by the appellant, we find no sufficient ground upon which to
reverse the findings of fact made by the trial court. We are persuaded that the
appellant coxamitted the treasonable acts of which he is accused.

The judgment appealed from is affirmed, with costs.

Moran, C. J., Paras, Feria, Bengzon, Tuason, Montemayor,
and Reyes, JJ., concur.

OZAETA:

I certify that Mr. Justice Perfecto and Mr. Justice Pablo voted
to affirm the decision of the trial court.