THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE VS. FRANCISCO CASTILLO, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

The appellant was prosecuted for treason on
five counts in the Court of First Instance of Bulacan, acquitted on
Counts 1 and 5 and found guilty on Counts 2, 3 and 4.

Under Counts 1 and 5 the defendant was charged with being a
‘Makapili’, bearing arm, doing sentry duty, and allied acts. The nature
of the accusations under Counts 2, 3 and 4 is disclosed by the
following evidence:

COUNT 2: On December 13, 1944, Fructuoso Lasam was seized as a
guerrilla suspect by the appellant and companions at Lasam’s store in
Norzagaray, Bulacan. From his store, Lasam was taken to barrio
Bayombon, San Jose, where there were already several other prisoners
with their hands tied behind their back, among them being Mariano de la
Merced, Pedro Maningas, Servando Perez and Mariano Cruz, all
apprehended by another group of collaborators. The prisoners named,
Lasam and others were later lacked up in the municipal jail and
maltreated by the appellant and his confederates.

Lasam was able to escape on January 4, 1945 during the bombing of
San Jose by the Americans. Other prisoners fled from the municipal jail
on December 29 but two of them, Artemio Nicolas and Mariano Cruz were
shot and killed as they were running off.

Fructuoso Lasam’s arrest by the accused, his and some of the other
prisoners’ escape and the killing of Artemio Nicolas and Mariano Cruz
have been established by the testimony of Fructuoso Lasam, Pedro
Maningas, NerIo de la Merced and Jose L. Merced.

COUNT 3: On December 29, 1944, Primo Cruz was apprehended by the
accused and some companions in his house in Norzagaray and herded in
the town plaza with other persons. From the plaza, Primo and the other
prisoners were marched to San Jose. Since then, none of them have been
seen alive again. Primo Cruz’s body was later exhumed behind a rice
mill in San Jose.

On the same date, at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Mariano
Nicolas was picked up by the appellant at a public meeting organized by
Makapilis in the town plaza of Norzagaray. Nicolas was lined up with
other victims some of whom were Nicolas’ brother Jesus, Primo Cruz,
Pedro Payumo, Francisco Punzal, Galicano Bernabe, Domingo Esteban,
Mariano Esquivel and Eufronio de la Merced. With his hands bound,
Mariano Nicolas was struck on the knee by a Japanese soldier and later
taken, together with the other prisoners, to the Japanese headquarters.
Through the pleas of his mother, Mariano Nicolas was released
afterward, but the rest of the prisoners, including Jesus, Mariano’s
brother, were never seen again, except Payumo. The remains of these
people or of some of them were recovered after liberation from a common
grave in Bayombon, San Jose.

These facts have been established by the testimony of Mariano Cruz, Mariano Nicolas, Bernarda Silva and Pedro Payumo.

COUNT 4. On December 13, 1944, the appellant and some companions
raided the house of Martin de la Merced, a guerrilla major, and seized
there several sacks of rice, camotes and other foodstuffs, which they
carried to the municipal building of Norzagaray. The appellant with
Makapilis also confiscated several cavanes of rice, a bed and chinaware
from Pedro de la Merced’s house on the same date.

These facts are borne out by the testimony of Enriqueta Villarama, Flocerfida de la Merced, and Ignacia de la Cruz.

The defendant denied any part in the arrests, tortures and killings
charged, and swore that he was a prisoner of the Japanese since
December 10.

Viewed from every angle, the Government witnesses1 testimony merits
full credence. Notwithstanding the defendant’s imputation of improper
motives to these witnesses, in an effort to impeach their veracity,
their testimony remained unshaken.

If the appellant has not been shown to be a Makapili under the
two-witness rule, it is beyond question that he was in the service of
the enemy in some other capacity, helping the Japanese in their
campaign to round up and execute guerrillas. The victims were known or
suspected members of the underground organization In Bulacan. The
defendant’s actions were not the actions of a person working under
coercion.

The punishment assessed by the trial court is 20 years of reclusion temporal
and P10,000 fine. Upon all the circumstances of the case, and
considering that many deaths resulted from the defendant’s adherence to
the enemy, the appropriate penalty should be reclusion perpetua besides fine.

With this modification, the appealed decision will be affirmed with costs. So ordered.

Paras, C.J., Feria, Pablo, Bengzon, Padilla, Reyes, and Jugo, JJ., concur.

Bautista Angelo, J., no part.