PEOPLE V. PEREZ
Whatever favorable effect the defendants
FACTS:
-Susano Perez alias Kid Perez was convicted of treason and was
sentenced to death by electrocution.
-TC found the accused, together with the other Filipinos, recruited,
apprehended and commandeered numerous girls and women
against their will for the purpose of using them, to satisfy the
sexual desire of the Japanese officers.
-The Solicitor General submitted an opposite view stating that the
deeds committed by the accused do not constitute treason. It
further discussed that if furnishing women for immoral purposes to
the enemies was treason because womens company kept up their
morale, so fraternizing them, entertaining them at parties, selling
them food and drinks, and kindred acts, would be treason . Any act
of hospitality produces the same result.
ISSUE: Whether the acts of the accused constituted the crime of
treason.
HELD: NO. The law of treason does not prescribe all kinds of social,
business and political intercourse between the belligerent
occupants of the invaded country and its inhabitants. What aid and
comfort constitute treason must depend upon their nature degree
and purpose.
As a general rule, to be treasonous, the extent of the aid and
comfort given to the enemies must be to render assistance to them
as enemies and not merely as individuals and in addition, be
directly in furtherance of the enemies hostile designs.
His commandeering of women to satisfy the lust of Japanese
officers or men or to enliven the entertainment helped to make life
more pleasant for the enemies and boost their spirit.
Sexual and social relations with the Japanese did not directly and
materially tend to improve their war efforts or to weaken the
power of US.
collaboration with the Japanese might have in their prosecution of
the war was trivial, imperceptible, and unintentional. Intent of
disloyalty is a vital ingredient in the crime of treason, which, in the
absence of admission, may be gathered from the nature and
circumstance of each particular case.
But the accused may be punished for the rape as principal by direct
participation. Without his coordination in the manner above stated,
these rapes could not have been committed.
PEOPLE V. PRIETO
FACTS:
-The appellant was prosecuted for treason.
-Two witnesses gave evidence but their statements do not coincide
in any single detail. The first witness testified that the accused
with other Filipino undercovers and Japanese soldiers caught an
American aviator and had the witness carry the American to town
on a sled pulled by a carabao. That on the way, the accused walked
behind the sled and asked the prisoner if the sled was faster than
the airplane; that the American was taken to the Kempetai
headquarters, after which he did not know what happened to the
flier.
-The next witness, testified that he saw the accused following an
American and the accused were Japanese and other Filipinos.
-The lower court believes that the accused is guilty beyond
reasonable doubt of the crime of treason complexed by murder and
physical injuries, with the aggravating circumstances mentioned
above. Apparently, the court has regarded the murders and
physical injuries charged in the information, not only as crimes
distinct from treason but also as modifying circumstances. The
Solicitor General agrees with the decision except as to the
technical designation of the crime. In his opinion, the offense
committed by the appellant is a complex crime of treason with
homicide.
 2.
-Accused being a member of the Japanese Military Police and acting
as undercover man for the Japanese forces with the purpose of
giving and with the intent to give aid and comfort feloniously and
treasonably lad, guide and accompany a patrol of Japanese soldiers
and Filipino undercovers for the purpose of apprehending guerillas
and locating their hideouts.
ISSUES;
1. Whether the two-witness rule was sufficiently complied.
2. Whether the TC erred in ruling that the murders and physical
injuries were crimes distinct from treason.
HELD:
1. NO, it was not sufficiently complied. The witnesses evidently
referred to two different occasions. The two witnesses failed to
corroborate each other not only on the whole overt act but on any
part of it.
The execution of some of the guerilla suspects mentioned and the
infliction of physical injuries on others are not offenses separate
from treason. There must concur both adherence to the enemy and
giving him aid and comfort. One without the other does not make
treason.
In the nature of things, the giving aid and comfort can only be
accomplished by some kind of action. Its very nature partakes of a
deed or physical activity as opposed to a mental operation. This
deed or physical activity may be, and often is, in itself a criminal
offense under another penal statute or provision. Even so, when
the deed is charged as an element of treason it becomes identified
with the latter crime and cannot be the subject of a separate
punishment.
However, the brutality with the killing or physical injuries were
carried out may be taken as an aggravating circumstances. Thus,
the use of torture and other atrocities on the victims instead of the
usual and less painful method of execution will be taken into
account to increase the penalty.