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EN BANC

G.R. No. L-48227            September 9, 1942

DEMETRIO ENCARNACION, Petitioner, vs. THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Respondent.

Conrado V. Sanchez and Enrique M. Fernando for petitioner.
Barcelona for respondent.

MORAN, J.:

Petitioner, Demetrio Encarnacion, was found by the Court of Appeals to be in possession of jueteng lists and was on that ground convicted under article 195 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Commonwealth Act No. 235, the pertinent portion of which reads:

(c) The penalty of prision correccional in its medium degree shall be imposed upon any person who shall, knowingly and without lawful purpose, have in possession any lottery list, paper or other matter containing letters, figures, signs or symbols which pertains to or are in any manner used in the game of jueteng or any similar game which has taken place or about to take place.

Petitioner argues that, according to the aforequoted provision, possession alone of listas de jueteng will not suffice to sustain a judgment of conviction, it being necessary that having such list should be shown to be "knowingly and without lawful purpose" and that the listas de jueteng "pertain to or are in any manner used in the game of jueteng or any similar game which has taken place or about to take place."chanrobles virtual law library

Possession by the accused of an article shown to be really a jueteng list, unless otherwise satisfactorily explained, is sufficient proof that it is without lawful purpose and is connected with a game of jueteng which has taken place or about to take place. The reason is that, in the nature of things, a jueteng list naturally pertains to a game of jueteng and that the accused would not keep it in his possession but for its connection with such game of jueteng. The burden, therefore, of the evidence is shifted to the accused to show that his possession is lawful and that the jueteng list is in no way connected with jueteng game that has taken place or about to take place.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

Judgment is affirmed, with costs against petitioner.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

Yulo, C.J., Bocobo, Generoso and Lopez Vito, JJ., concur.