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My grandfather Paterio has 8 brothers and sisters. Except for their names we don't know anything about them. One of the brothers is named Graciano. He could be the same person referred to by a Supreme Court decision dated February 24, 1904. The said decision mentioned Graciano as one of the witnesses in a case filed against a certain Martin Cabuenas. Martin Cabuenas was convicted of the crime of brigandage. In the said decision, it was metioned that Graciano was one of the companions of the accused when he organized a gang in Minglanilla and engage in banditry, robbing people of carabaos and other personal property and roamed the hills in Talisay and Pardo armed with deadly weapons. Thanks to his notoriety, we have a record of one of the brothers of my great grandfather.
Republic of the Philippines EN BANC G.R. No. 1498 February 24, 1904 UNITED STATES, complainant-appellee, Eulogio R. Chanco for appellant. TORRES, J.: The defendant was accused of brigandage by the provincial fiscal of Cebu, in a complaint dated July 23, 1903, wherein it was stated that after the 12th of November, 1902, and prior to the date of the complaint, Cabuenas had formed a numerous party of bandits in the barrio of Inagauan, of the pueblo of Talisay in said island, for the purpose of robbing carabaos and other personal property by means of force and violence, and that he led said party under the title of captain-general, and that he and his partisans, armed with deadly weapons, had been wandering through the mountains of Talisay and of Pardo, and that the defendant feloniously received property stolen by said band, and furnished it with provisions, clothing, arms, and ammunition, contrary to the law. The complaint having been filed and the case called for trial, from the evidence adduced thereat it appears that Martin Cabuenas in Talisay, Cebu, organized a numerous party of malefactors, altogether about 200 persons, of whom he constituted himself the leader with the title of captain-general, and that they, armed with bolos and revolvers, had been wandering over the country and through the mountains of the pueblo of Talisay and Pardo, and had engaged in robbing money, carabaos, and maize, besides committing other outrages against the residents of said towns and the agents of the Government. This is all shown by the testimony of the witnesses Agustin Cabunales, Ambrosio Bacalso, Gregorio Abapo, Melquiades Lasala, Mateo Luga, (lieutenant of Constabulary), Graciano Nadela, Pedro Sabillano, Miguel Bacalso, Meliton Canizares, Patricio Mosqueda, Graciano Ragasa, Bartolome Tabora, Vicente Badayos, Pedro Nadela, Juan Base Villarrosa (justice of the peace of Cebu), Juan Climaco (governor of the province), Juan Capalan, Benigno Timno, Luis Madazo, and Olimpio Deiparine (municipal president of Talisay). The last named witness was the one who arrested the accused with the aid of two volunteers. It is to be observed that some of the witnesses above mentioned had been watching the residence of the accused, by order of the authorities, for the purpose of determining his conduct and character. According to the testimony of Graciano Nadela, one of the companions of the accused, when the party was organized the Manduang, pueblo of Minglanilla, the accused demanded money, under threats and ill treatment, from one Botoy, who on this account died in May, 1903. The witness Graciano Ragasa testified that when he was sequestered with three other policemen by the partisans of the accused, his companions and he were disarmed, and that their captors then went to the house of Pablo Cabellon in Inagauan, and as the latter resisted them he was wounded with a bolo by the accused, although not seriously. Mateo Luga, a lieutenant of Constabulary, exhibited a document which appears on page 74 of the record, signed by the accused, which said document was found in the pocket of a person who died in a fight which the Constabulary had with some malefactors in Jacupan, in the town of Talisay, on the afternoon of July 27, 1903, which document is a lieutenant's commission. Governor Climaco testified that the signature appended to the document exhibited was that of Martin Cabuenas, he being familiar with the handwriting of the accused, and that the latter called himself first master, because the supreme chief was Roberto Caballero (record, p. 72). On page 75 of the record there appear the cedulas which the defendant distributed. The facts above stated unquestionably constitute the crime of brigandage, comprised in section 1 of Act No. 518, of November 12, 1902. It appears perfectly established in the case that the accused, after having organized a numerous band of ladrones, assumed the command of said party, and he, as well as the other members thereof, being armed with deadly weapons, engaged in the robbery of carabaos, provisions, and especially of money, which at different times of the day and night they demanded from the people under threats of death and by means of ill treatment and other personal outrages; that they also took the arms of several policemen whom they sequestered, and that they wandered over the fields and mountains of said towns committing the acts of violence and pillage which mark them as brigands. Consequently the defendant has incurred some of the penalties prescribed in said section, and according to the opinion of the court that of life imprisonment should be imposed. The death of Botoy can not be considered as fully established, and much less than of Pablo Cabellon, who, according to the witnesses, was only wounded, and that not seriously. For the reasons stated we are of the opinion that the decision of the court below must be reversed, and the accused, Martin Cabuenas, sentenced to the penalty of life imprisonment and the costs. The case will be remanded to the court below, with a copy of this decision and of the judgment to be entered therein, for execution. Arellano, C. J., Cooper, Mapa and McDonough, JJ., concur.
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