United States vs. Caballeros

A person who performs an act constituting a crime by reason of irresistible force is exempt from criminal liability, and an extrajudicial confession obtained through a promise of pardon is inadmissible as evidence.

The defendants, Roberto Baculi and Apolonio Caballeros, were charged as accessories after the fact to the assassination of four American school-teachers: Louis A. Thomas, Clyde O. France, John E. Wells, and Ernest Eger. The case arose in the context of the early American colonial period in the Philippines, where the Penal Code and acts of the Philippine Commission governed criminal liability.

The defendants, Roberto Baculi and Apolonio Caballeros, were charged as accessories after the fact to the assassination of four American school-teachers—Louis A. Thomas, Clyde O. France, John E. Wells, and Ernest Eger. The Court of First Instance of Cebu sentenced them to seven years of presidio mayor, finding that they had participated in burying the victims' corpses to conceal the crime without having acted as principals or accomplices.

According to the evidence, the murders were committed by a band led by Damaso and Isidoro. Roberto Baculi was not a member of the group; he was gathering bananas on his property when he heard gunshots and attempted to flee. He was seen by the leaders of the band, who struck him with the butts of their guns and forced him to bury the corpses. This account was corroborated by Teodoro Sabate, the only eyewitness to the crime and a witness for the prosecution, who confirmed that Baculi was not part of the group that killed the Americans.

As for Apolonio Caballeros, there was no proof that he took part in the execution of the crime or the burial of the corpses. Both Baculi and the prosecution witness Sabate expressly declared that Caballeros was not present at the place of occurrence during the burial. Caballeros had made a confession of supposed liability before Enrique Calderon, an official of the division of information of the Constabulary. However, another prosecution witness, Meliton Covarrubias, stated that Caballeros's confession was made through a promise that nothing would be done to him and the other defendants. The lower court also considered the defendants' failure to report the crime to the authorities as a basis for conviction.

• Exempting Circumstances: Whether Roberto Baculi is exempt from criminal liability for burying the corpses because he acted under irresistible force.
• Admissibility of Confession: Whether the extrajudicial confession of Apolonio Caballeros is admissible as evidence given that it was obtained through a promise of pardon.
• Failure to Report a Crime: Whether the failure to report the commission of a crime to the authorities constitutes a criminal offense under the Penal Code.

• Exempting Circumstances: Yes. Baculi is exempt from criminal liability under Article 8, paragraph 9 of the Penal Code because he acted under irresistible force.
• Admissibility of Confession: No. The extrajudicial confession of Caballeros is inadmissible because it was not made voluntarily, having been obtained through a promise of pardon.
• Failure to Report a Crime: No. Failure to report the commission of a crime is not an offense punished by the Penal Code.

• Exempting Circumstances: The Penal Code exempts from liability any person who performs an act by reason of irresistible force (par. 9, art. 8). Baculi was compelled by the murderers, who struck him with their guns, to bury the corpses. His claim was corroborated by the prosecution's eyewitness, Teodoro Sabate, establishing that he acted under compulsion and not of his own free will.
• Admissibility of Confession: Under Section 4 of Act No. 619 of the Philippine Commission, confessions that are not made freely and voluntarily, without force, intimidation, or promise of pardon, cannot be accepted as proof. The witness Meliton Covarrubias testified that Caballeros's confession was induced by a promise that nothing would be done to him. Additionally, there was conclusive proof, including testimony from Baculi and Sabate, that Caballeros did not participate in the burial.
• Failure to Report a Crime: The lower court considered the defendants' failure to report the crime as a motive for conviction. However, such failure is not penalized by the Penal Code, and therefore cannot serve as a basis for criminal liability.

• Exempting Circumstance of Irresistible Force — A person who performs an act constituting a crime by reason of irresistible force is exempt from criminal liability. The Court applied this by recognizing that Baculi was forced at gunpoint by the murderers to bury the corpses, thereby exempting him from liability as an accessory after the fact.
• Involuntary Confessions — Extrajudicial confessions not made voluntarily, or those obtained through force, intimidation, or promise of pardon, cannot be received in evidence. The Court applied this doctrine by excluding Caballeros's confession because it was induced by a promise of pardon.
• Non-liability for Failure to Report a Crime — Mere failure to report to the authorities the commission of a crime is not an offense punished by the Penal Code. The Court applied this by rejecting the lower court's reliance on the defendants' failure to report the murders as a basis for their conviction.

• "The Penal Code exempts from liability any person who performs the act by reason of irresistible force (par. 9, art. 8). Baculi acted, doubtless, under such circumstances when he executed the acts which are charged against him." — This passage establishes the application of the exempting circumstance of irresistible force to the defendant who was compelled to bury the murder victims.
• "Confessions which do not appear to have been made freely and voluntarily, without force, intimidation, or promise of pardon, can not be accepted as proof on a trial. (Sec. 4 Act No. 619 of the Philippine Commission.)" — This passage articulates the rule on the inadmissibility of involuntary confessions, specifically those obtained through a promise of pardon, which was applied to exclude the confession of Caballeros.
• "The fact of the defendants not reporting to the authorities the perpetration of the crime, which seems to be one of the motives for the conviction and which the court below takes into consideration in his judgment, is not punished by the Penal Code and therefore that can not render the defendants criminally liable according to law." — This passage clarifies that mere failure to report a crime does not incur criminal liability under the Penal Code.

• Article 8, Paragraph 9, Penal Code — Exempts from criminal liability any person who performs an act by reason of irresistible force. Applied to acquit Roberto Baculi, who was forced by the murderers to bury the corpses.
• Section 4, Act No. 619 of the Philippine Commission — Provides that extrajudicial confessions not made voluntarily, without force, intimidation, or promise of pardon, cannot be received in evidence. Applied to exclude the confession of Apolonio Caballeros.

Arellano, C.J., Torres, Johnson, and Carson, JJ., concurred.