PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS vs.

GREGORIO PERFECTO (43 Phil 887) Case Digest

Facts:
On September 7, 1920, Mr. Gregorio Perfecto published an article in the newspaper La Nacion
regarding the disappearance of certain documents in the Office of Fernando M. Guerrero, the
Secretary of the Philippine Senate. The article of Mr. Perfecto suggested that the difficulty in finding
the perpetrators was due to an official concealment by the Senate since the missing documents
constituted the records of testimony given by witnesses in the investigation of oil companies. This
resulted to a case being filed against Mr. Perfecto for violation of Article 256 of the Penal Code. He
was found guilty by the Municipal Trial Court and again in the Court of First Instance of Manila. Mr.
Perfecto filed an appeal in the Supreme Court to dismiss the case on the ground that Article 256 was
not in force anymore.
Issue:
Will a law be abrogated by the change of Spanish to American Sovereignty over the Philippines?
Ruling:
The Supreme Court held that Article 256 of the Spanish Penal Code was enacted by the Government
of Spain to protect Spanish officials who were representative of the King. With the change of
sovereignty, a new government, and a new theory of government, was set up in the Philippines. It was
no sense a continuation of the old laws. No longer is there a Minister of the Crown or a person in
authority of such exalted position that the citizen must speak of him only in bated breath.

The crime of lese majeste disappeared in the Philippines with the ratification of the Treaty of Paris.
Ministers of the Crown have no place under the American flag.

Judgement is REVERED and the defendant and appellant ACQUITTED.

People v. Perfecto, G.R. No. L-18463, October 4, 1922

FACTS: The issue started when the Secretary of the Philippine Senate, Fernando Guerrero, discovered
that the documents regarding the testimony of the witnesses in an investigation of oil companies had
disappeared from his office. Then, the day following the convening of Senate, the newspaper La
Nacion edited by herein respondent Gregorio Perfecto published an article against the Philippine
Senate. Here, Mr. Perfecto was alleged to have violated Article 256 of the Spanish Penal Code
provision that punishes those who insults the Ministers of the Crown. Hence, the issue.
ISSUE: Whether or not Article 256 of the Spanish Penal Code (SPC) is still in force and can be applied
in the case at bar?
HELD: No.
REASONING: The Court stated that during the Spanish Government, Article 256 of the SPC was
enacted to protect Spanish officials as representatives of the King. However, the Court explains that
in the present case, we no longer have Kings nor its representatives for the provision to protect. Also,
with the change of sovereignty over the Philippines from Spanish to American, it means that the
invoked provision of the SPC had been automatically abrogated. The Court determined Article 256 of
the SPC to be political in nature for it is about the relation of the State to its inhabitants, thus, the
Court emphasized that it is a general principle of the public law that on acquisition of territory, the
previous political relations of the ceded region are totally abrogated. Hence, Article 256 of the SPC is
considered no longer in force and cannot be applied to the present case. Therefore, respondent was
acquitted.