March 28, 1924, the following information was filed against the defendants in the Court  of  First Instance of Occidental Negros:

"That the aforesaid accused on  or about March 26th of this year 1924, in the municipality of Cadiz, of this province, confederating and conspiring among themselves,  voluntarily,  illegally and criminally and  forming a band of more than three armed persons,  with known premeditation, began to execute, by  external acts, the realization of their purpose of murdering Cesar Lacson in his hacienda, situated within the limits of the said municipality of Cadiz, by  striking  him with  bolos, lances and  walking sticks which they carried, and if the accused failed  to carry out all  the acts  of execution  that should have  produced the crime, it was because the  said Cesar  Lacson was able to ward off the  aggression; but not by the voluntary and free desistance of the defendants.

"Contrary  to law."

As a result of the  trial, they were all found guilty as charged,  and sentenced to four years, two months and one day of prision  correccional, with the exception of the defendant,  Arcadio Dingson, who, on  account of his youth, was sentenced  to  four months and one day of arresto mayor.

From this  judgment, an  appeal was taken and perfected by eight  of the defendants, by whom the following assignment of error is made:

"The lower court erred in holding that the accused,  Leocadio Ubamos, Damaso de Leon, Claro Parondon, Jose Diaz,. Alejo Pareño, Juan Morante, Pelagio  Dingson, Gualberto- Villanueva and Florentino  Dosa, forming an armed band of more  than three persons, committed the crime of attempted homicide upon the person of Cesar Lacson, and in sentencing them to the penalty of  four  years, two months and one  day of prision correccional, and the payment of the proportionate costs, instead of acquitting them for lack of conclusive  proof."

The  defendants, Eusebio Acero and  Leocadio  Ubamos,. died, and the appeal of the defendants, Arcadio Dingson, Consorcio de Leon, Pedro  Divinagracia, Casiano Villena, Quinto Castor, Carlos Sabanal and Lazaro de la Rosa, was dismissed.


JOHNS, J.:

The only question involved is one  of fact.   The lower court, in  a well written and exhaustive opinion in which he made a careful and detailed analysis of all of the material facts, found all of the defendants guilty as charged.

It appears that Cesar Lacson, the  offended party,  was the manager of a farm known as  Hacienda Lilia.  That about March 26, 1924, he had his men plow a certain piece of land; that the defendant, Carlos Sabanal, undertook to plow  the  same land, which, it appears, had been cleaned, cleared and plowed by the workmen of Cesar Lacson since 1923, and that portion of it had been planted with sugar cane; that while Sabanal was plowing a  portion of the land,  which on the same day had been plowed by the men of Lacson, he was ordered off and left the field, saying to the men  of  Cesar Lacson that: "Today is the eve  and to-morrow will be the mass."  That  on March 25, 1924, Catalino Nacion, who was formerly a member of the society Kusug Sang Imol, went to attend a meeting of that society, and while on the stairway, overheard Sabanal asking the members  to aid and assist him in  plowing the land over which he had a controversy with Cesar Lacson; that on the morning of March 26, 1924,  the workmen of Cesar Lacson planted sugar cane on the land which had been plowed.  Soon thereafter Sabanal came and again plowed the same land, uprooting the sugar  cane which had already been planted.  The laborers of Lacson again drove Sabanal away who left disgusted, and went in the  direction of a nearby "Nangca" tree, and conversed  with a man in a low tone; that after his  conversation  with  Sabanal, this man hurriedly left and went to the barrio of Cadiz Viejo where the meeting of the society Kusug Sang Imol was held on the previous evening; that about noon, several armed persons came from Cadiz Viejo towards the Hacienda Lilia, at which time the bell rang calling the laborers in the hacienda to lunch.  Upon the arrival of the men from Cadiz Viejo, the laborers of Lacson had left the field and were no longer at  work.  That  Sabanal  again began to plow the field in question, and when the workmen of Lacson returned, they found Sabanal on the land, and again undertook  to  stop  him; that  Sabanal then drew his bolo and shouted  and made certain signs.  When the defendants hastily  appeared on the scene coming from the direction of the house of Jose Diaz from behind a bamboo tree and under the leadership  of Casiano Villena,  who  was  the president of Kusug Sang Imol of Cadiz Viejo, that Lacson's men then retreated, and notified him of what had happened. Lacson appeared upon the scene, and Sabanal and his companions  shouted, saying: "Here  is the man whom we are looking for," and directed their attack against Lacson, saying:  "You will kill two  among  us but we will  kill you."" Lacson  defended himself with an automatic revolver, and wounded two of the defendants, all of whom then retreated.

The evidence of the conspiracy is clear and convincing. It is very apparent that  Sabanal appealed to the members of his society  to aid and assist him in driving Lacson and his laborers off the land, and to take possession of it by force, and that they went there for that purpose, and that all of them were more or less armed, and with evil intention,  and that they would have killed Lacson had he not defended himself with his revolver.  The defendants were in the form of a mob, and  to accomplish their purpose resorted to mob  force and violence, and the trial  court found that all  of them were equally guilty of the crime charged. The language used and the  threats made are clear and convincing evidence of their purpose and intent.

The attorney de oficio has filed an exhaustive brief upon questions of fact.  But in the final analysis, the record is conclusive that at  the special instance and request of Sabanal, the members of the society Kusug Sang Imol, in response to a  given signal, came upon the land in  dispute with  force and arms, and  it is  very apparent that their original purpose and  intent was to take the law into their own hands and to kill Lacson.

There is no merit in the appeal.  The judgment of the lower court is affirmed, with costs.   So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Ostrand, and Romualdez, JJ., concur.
Villa-Real, J., did not take part.