Pp v Lol-lo and Saraw

GR 17958; 02-27-1922
Facts:
- two boats left matuta for peta (Dutch possessions), one Dutch subject in one of the boats and 11 men, women and children
citizens of Holland in the second boat.
- The second arrived between the islands of Buang and Bukid in the Dutch East Indies and was surrounded by 6 vintas,
manned by 24 Moros, all armed. They initially asked for food but once aboard the boat, took all the cargo, attacked some of
the men and brutally violated two of the women.
Thereafter, all the persons in the second boat except the 2 women were placed on it and holes were made in it, the idea was
to submerge the boat.
- After 11 days, the Moros arrived at Maruro, a Dutch possession, 2 of them were Lol-lo, who raped one of the women and
Saraw. The 2 women escaped at Maruro.
- When Lol-lo and Saraw returned to their home in South Ubian, Tawi-tawi, Sulu, they were arrested and charged in the CFI of
Suli with piracy. A demurrer was interposed by the counsel de officio for the Moros, on the ground that the offense is not within
the jurisdiction of the CFI, nor of any courts in the Phils.; and the facts did not constitute a public offense under Phil. laws. The
judge overruled the demurrer, sentencing Lol-lo and Saraw with life imprisonment and to return, together with other defendants
in another case, the items they robbed or indeminification as well as half of the costs.
- The proven facts are not disputed, all the elements of the crime of piracy are present - being robbery or forcible depredation
on the high seas without lawful authority and done in the spirit and intention of universal hostility.
- pirates are in law hostes humani generis, piracy is a crime not against any particular state but against all mankind and it may
be punished in the competent tribunal of any country where the offender may be found or into which he may be carried. The
jurisdiction of piracy unlike all other crimes has no territorial limits, as it is against all, so it may be punished by all. Nor does it
matter that the crime was committed within the jurisdictional 2-mile limit of a foreign state, for those limits, though neutral to
war, are not neutral to crimes.(US v Fulong, 1820)
Issue: W/N the provisions of the Penal Code regarding piracy is applicable. YES
Ruling:
* The general rules of public law recognized and acted on by the US relating to the effect of a transger of territory from another
State to the US are well-known. Laws subsisting at the time of transfer, designed to secure good order and peace in the
community which are strictly of a municipal charater, continue until by direct action of the new govt they are altered or
repealed. (Chicago, Rock Islands, etc v McGlinn, 1885)
* The Penal Code, Articles 153-156, deals with piracy, applicable not only to Spaniards but to its territories, Filipinos in effect
which was transferred to the US.
- The crime falls under the 1st paragraph of Art. 153, in relation to Art. 154 with at least 2 of the circumstances incurring either
cadena perpetua or death, namely: 1) an offense against chastity; and 2) the abandonment of persons without apparent
means of saving themselves.
-That being said, it is necessary to determine which penalty is to be imposed between cadena perpetua or death. The trial
court found one aggracating circumstands of nocturnity, compensated by one mitigating circumstance of lack of instruction
(art. 11), sentenced to life imprisonment.
- There are at least 3 aggravating circumstances present: 1) that the wrong done in the commission of the crime was
deliberately augmented by causing other wrongs not necessary for its commission; 2) taking advantage of superior strength;
and 3) the means employed added ignominy to the natural effects of the act.
- Lol-lo was sentenced with DP (the accused who raped one of the women) and the trial court's judgment of life imprisonment
against Saraw is affirmed.
* These principle of the public law were given specific application to the Phis by Instructions of Pres. McKinley to Gen. Wesley
Meritt, published in the OG 01-01-1903.
* US Consti - Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and thereafter brought
into the US,, shall be imprisoned for life.
* The Penal Code provisions in force in the Phils. relating to piracy are not inconsistent with the corresponding provisions in
force in the US.