CONSTITUTION I

A.Y. 1819– DEAN CANDELARIA

TOPIC Journal and Records then Act. 2381 would be null and void, and therefore acquitting Pons since the
CASE NO. G.R. No. 11530. August 12, 1916. law didn’t get passed on the last day for laws to be passed that year. TLDR: If
CASE NAME US v. Pons the law was passed on March 1, not on Feb 28 then the Law is void.
PONENTE Trent, J RATIO DECIDENDI
PETITIONER THE UNITED STATES 1. W/N the court can look to legislative journals as proof of when
RESPONDENT JUAN PONS the adjournment of Legislature happened. NO, THEY CAN’T
TYPE OF Appeal QUESTION ITS FACTS/ITS VALIDITY. But they can ask
CASE about when it was passed/adjourned/posted. Act. 2381, was
MEMBER Geoffrey Daniel R. Tungol passed on Feb 28 and therefore it is a valid law.

ISSUE
1. W/N the court can look to legislative journals as proof of when the
adjournment of Legislature happened. NO
2. W/N Pons can get acquitted given that the Law that made him
criminally liable was not yet official at the time of his criminal
activity. NO, Guilty
RELEVANT FACTS
Pons, along with 2 other accomplices, brought to the Philippines 520
Tins of Opium weighing 125 Kilograms at the estimated cost of 62,400 PHP.
They smuggled it through the ship named Lopez y Lopez, and aided each other
in the concealment, transportation and importing of said illegal drug. Pons was
tried separately from his accomplices and was charged with confinement in
the Bilibid prison for 2 years and “to pay a fine of P1,000 to suffer the
corresponding subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to the
payment of one-half of the costs.”
“Pons questioned the validity of Act. 2381, (The law Making him
criminally liable for importing opium) and offered to prove that the last day
of the special session of the Philippine Legislature for 1914 was the 28th day
of February; that Act No. 2381 was not passed or approved on the 28th of
February but on March 1 of that year. This is because Pons claimed that the
clock was stuck as 12 midnight, which means that the session went on and
technically went past the last official day of approving laws. If this was true,
Section 275 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that the existence of
the "official acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the
United States and of the Philippine Islands ... shall be judicially recognized by
the court without the introduction of proof…”
Official documents may be proved through: The proceedings of the
Philippine Commission, of any legislative body that may be provided for the
Philippine Islands, or of Congress, by the journals of those bodies or of either
house thereof.
“As the Constitution of the Philippine Government is modeled after those
of the Federal Government and the various states we do not hesitate to follow
the courts in that country in the matter now before us. The journals say that
the Legislature adjourned at 12 midnight on February 28, 1914. This settles
the question, and the court did not err in declining to go behind these journals.”
While the courts did look back at the journals it was just to ask if it was
passed on the day of 28th of February because “the said Journals are
conclusive on the Court and to inquire into the veracity of the journals of the
Philippine Legislature, when they are, as the SC have said, clear and explicit,
would be to violate both the letter and the spirit of the organic laws by which
the Philippine Government was brought into existence, to invade a coordinate
and independent department of the Government, and to interfere with the
legitimate powers and functions of the Legislature.”

1
 CONSTITUTION I
A.Y. 1819– DEAN CANDELARIA

2. W/N Pons can get acquitted given that the Law that made him
criminally liable was not yet official at the time of his
sentencing. NO, Guilty

Since his initial defense failed, it left him with only testimonies to try and
defend himself from the prosecution. He Testified and even helped the police
when they tried opening the barrels containing said Opium.

“The foregoing are substantially the facts found by the trial court and these
facts establish the guilt of the appellant beyond any question of a doubt,
notwithstanding his feeble attempt to show that the opium was shipped to him
from Spain by a childhood friend named Garcia. The appellant took a direct
part in this huge smuggling transaction and profited thereby. The penalty
imposed by the trial court is in accordance with law and the decisions of this
court in similar cases.”

DISPOSITIVE POSITION

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment appealed from is affirmed, with
costs. So, ordered.

RELEVANT LAWS
Section 275 of the Code of Civil Procedure:
“provides the existence of the "official acts of the legislative,
executive, and judicial departments of the United States and of the Philippine
Islands ... shall be judicially recognized by the court without the introduction
of proof; but the court may receive evidence upon any of the subjects in this
section stated, when it shall and it necessary for its own information, and may
resort for its aid to appropriate books, documents, or evidence.

Act. 2381: “Where a person takes a direct part in the illegal importation into
the Philippine Islands of a large quantity of opium and profits thereby, a
penalty of two year's imprisonment and a one of P1,000 is not excessive.