PEOPLE VS AMADO HERNANDEZ (99 PHIL 515) 1.

What happened: About March 15, 1945, Amado Hernandez and other appellants were accused of conspiring, confederating and cooperating with each other, as well as with the thirty-one (31) defendants charged in the criminal cases of the Court of First Instance of Manila. They were accused of being members of PKP Community Party of the Philippines which was actively engaged in an armed rebellion against the government of the Philippines. With the party of HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon), they committed the crime of rebellion causing murder, pillage, looting plunder, etc., enumerated in 13 attacks on government forces or civilians by HUKS. 2. Crime Committed: Rebellion with multiple murder, arsons and robberies 3. Contention of the State: The government, headed by the Solicitor General, argued that the gravity of the crime committed required the denial of bail. Moreover, the complex crime charged by the government against Hernandez has been successfully imposed with other arrested communist leaders and was sentenced to life imprisonment. 4. Contention of the Accused: An appeal prosecuted by the defendants regarding the judgment rendered by the CFI in Manila that rebellion cannot be a complex crime with murder, arson or robbery. 5. Ruling: The court ruled that murder, arson, and robbery are mere ingredient of the crime of rebellion as means necessary for the perpetration of the offense. Such common offense is absorbed or inherent of the crime of rebellion. Inasmuch as the acts specified in Article 135 constitutes, one single crime it follows that said acts offer no occasion for the application of Article 48 which requires therefore the commission of at least two crimes. *** HERNANDEZ DOCTRINE: Rebellion cannot be complexed with common crimes such as killings, destruction of property, etc., committed on the occasion and in furtherance thereof. The thinking is not anymore correct more so that there is no legal basis for such rule now. Rebellion constitutes ONLY ONE CRIME. ***
Atanacio, Zinnia Valdez Criminal Law 2 LLB-1 Special Section