(G.R. No.

L-6, November 29, 1945)

ANICETO ALCANTARA, petitioner, vs. DIRECTOR OF PRISONS, respondent.

FACTS:
Petitioner was convicted of a crime of illegal discharge of firearms with less serious physical injuries.
Upon appeal, the Court of Appeals of Northern Luzon at Baguio modified his sentence from four months
and twenty-one days of arresto mayor to three years, nine months and three days of prision correccional
and became final.

Petitioner now questions the validity of the decision of the Court of Appeals on the ground that said
court was only a creation of the so-called Republic of the Philippines during the Japanese military
occupation of the Islands.

ISSUE:
Whether or not the decision of the Court of Appeals is not valid?

RULING:
Yes, the decision of the Court of Appeals is valid.

The Court ruled, in the case of Co Kim Cham v. Valdez Tan Keh and Dizon, that the so-called Republic of
the Philippines and the Philippine Executive Commission established in the Philippines during the
Japanese regime were governments de facto organized by the belligerent occupant by the judicial acts
thereof were good and valid and remained good and valid after the restoration of the Commonwealth
Government, except those with a political complexion.

A punitive or penal sentence is said to be of a political complexion when it penalizes either a new act not
defined in the municipal laws, or acts already penalized by the latter as a crime against the legitimate
government, but taken out of the territorial law and penalized as a new offenses committed against
belligerent occupant, incident to a state of a war and necessary for the control of the occupied territory
and the protection of the army of the occupier. They are acts penalized for public rather than private
reasons, acts which tend, directly or indirectly, to aid or favor the enemy and are directed against the
welfare, safety and security, of the belligerent occupant. As example, the crimes against national
security, such as treason, espionage, etc., and against public order, such as rebellion, sedition, etc., were
crimes against the Commonwealth or United States Government under the Revised Penal Code, which
were made crimes against the belligerent occupant.

Obviously, the sentence which petitioner is now serving has no political complexion. He was charged
with and convicted of an offense punishable under the municipal law of the Commonwealth, the
Revised Penal Code. Therefore, the sentence of the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur, as modified by
the Court of Appeals of Northern Luzon, is valid and enforceable.