[ G.R. No. 2688, August 07, 1906 ]
THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. MARCIANO ORUGA, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.
D E C I S I O N
ARELLANO, C. J.:
"One Sunday afternoon," as found by the court below, " about the middle of May of last year (1904) the defendant, Marciano Oruga, delivered to Simeon Manaig a letter in which the brigand, Carlos Oruga, asked the said Simeon Manaig to lend him the of 50 pesos. Simeon
Manaig, upon receiving the letter, inquired of the defendant the contents of the same latter told him that it was request from Carlos Oruga for the sum of 50 pesos" (p. 36).
This finding of the court below is supported by the evidence. Marciano Oruga knew the contents of the letter, according to the third finding of fact contained in the judgment of the court below, and was accordingly sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and to pay the costs.
The Attorney-General in his brief in this court recommends that the judgment be affirmed under section 4 of Act No. 1121, dated April 27, 1904, and says: "Section 4 of the aforesaid act punishes as an act of assistance to brigands the procuring of money for them." Such is the language used in the Spanish text and such is the meaning that might be given to the verb procurar. But the word procuring as used in the English text, which is the one that should prevail, means to obtain, to secure, and to get, and certainly Marciano Oruga did not secure the 50 pesos fop Carlos Oruga. He failed in his errand because he was taken with the letter to the police authorities.
The judgment appealed from is accordingly reversed, and the defendant, Marciano Oruga, is hereby acquitted, with the costs of both instances de oficio. Let judgment be entered forthwith and the case be remanded at once. So ordered.
Torres, Mapa, Carson, Willard, and Tracey, JJ., concur.