[ G.R. No. 3971. February 03, 1908 ] 10 Phil. 79
[ G.R. No. 3971. February 03, 1908 ]
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. HILARIO BRAGANZA AND MARTIN SAMBIO, DEFENDANTS AND APPELLANTS. D E C I S I O N
WILLARD, J.:
We take the same view of this case as to the guilt of the defendants as that taken by the Attorney-General. He says in his brief:
“Article 200 of the Penal Code reads: " ‘The public official who, unless it be by reason of a crime, should detain a person without being authorized to do so by a law, or by regulations of a general character in force in the Philippines, shall incur the penalty of a line of from 325 to 3,250 pesetas if the detention should not have exceeded three days; * * *.’ “At the time when the crime herein was committed the accused were municipal officials, Hilario Braganza being then a councilor of the municipality of Sagay and Martin Salibio a lieutenant of the barrio of Vito in said municipality ; therefore, they were public officers * * * “There is no doubt as to the accused having detained Father Feliciano Gomez, inasmuch as, according to the evidence, they themselves seized him within the church and took him out of it, telling him that he was under arrest; they made him pass through the door of the vestry and afterwards took him to the municipal building and there told him that he was under arrest * * *. The accused detained Father Gomez, not by reason of a crime but arbitrarily. He had committed no crime, rather on the contrary, he was the victim of coercion and other outrages. As a priest of the Roman Church, and the question herein referring also to a Roman church which he is alleged to be in possession of, he went there to say mass, but a group of Aglipayano women violently prevented him from carrying out his purpose. No law or regulation of a general character in force authorizes the accused to commit the act which they committed * * *.”
The judgment of the court below is affirmed, without taking into consideration, however, article 11 of the Penal Code as an extenuating circumstance. So ordered. Arellano, C. J., Torres, Mapa, Johnson, and Tracey, JJ., concur.