PEOPLE Vs LOL-LO AND SARAW G.R. No.: 17958
February 27, 1922
Facts:
On or about June 30, 1920, two boats left Matuta for Peta. The first boat had one individual, a Dutch subject. While the second boat, with eleven men, women, and, children, who were subjects of Holland, arrived between the islands of Buang and Bukid in Dutch East Indies. There, the boat was surrounded by six vintas manned by 24 armed Moros. The Moros initially asked for food, but once on board, they took all the cargo, attacked the man and brutally violated the two women. Where ideally it would submerge, holes were made on the boat and the persons, with the exemption of the two women, were again placed on it. The Moros, two of which were Lol-lo and Saraw, arrived at Maruro. It was there were the two women escaped.
Upon returning home in South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Philippine Islands, Lol-lo and Saraw were arrested and charged in the Courts of First Instance (CFI) of Sulu the crime of piracy. A demurrer was interposed by the counsel de officio for the Moros based on the grounds that the CFI, nor any courts in the Philippine Islands has no jurisdiction over the offense charged for it did not constitute a public offense under the Philippine laws, but it was overruled. Trial proceeded and judgment was rendered.
Issues:
1. Whether or Not the Court of First Instance has jurisdiction over the case; and
2. Whether or Not the provisions of the Penal Code dealing with the crime of piracy are still in force
Ruling:
1. Yes, the Court of First Instance has jurisdiction over the case. Piracy is a robbery or forcible depredation on the high seas, without lawful authority and done in animo furandi, and in the spirit and intention of universal hostility. Moreover, it is a crime not against any particular state but against all mankind. 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 crimes has no territorial limits. As it is against all so may it be punished by all. Nor does it matter that the crime was committed within the jurisdictional 3-mile limit of a foreign state, “for those limits, though neutral to war, are not neutral to crimes.” Given such, it is beyond reasonable doubt that the CFI of Sulu has jurisdiction over the case at bar because Lol-lo and Saraw were found within the jurisdictional territory of the said court.
2. Yes, the provisions of the Penal Code dealing with the crime of piracy are still in force. By the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States. Correspondingly, the principle in public law that the political law of the former sovereignty is necessarily changed. The municipal law in so far as it is consistent with the Constitution, the laws of the United States or the characteristics and institutions of the government, remains in force. As corollary to the main rules, laws subsisting at the time of the transfer, designed to secure good order and peace in the community, which are strictly of a municipal character, continue until by direct action of the new government they are altered or repealed. Based on the aforementioned principle in public law, it is right to note that amidst the transfer of the Philippine Islands to the United States, its laws are not jeopardized and still in force. Thus, the provisions of the Penal Code dealing with the crime of piracy, particularly Art. 153-154, are hereby applicable.