Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(Part 1)
Criminal Law
Criminal law is that branch or division of law which defines crimes, treats of
their nature, and provides for their punishment.
Felonies are acts and omissions punishable by the Revised Penal Code.
Felonies are classified according to the means by which they are committed, into:
(a) intentional felonies, and (b) culpable felonies. (Article 3, Revised Penal Code)
Accused is a person formally charged in court for having violated a penal law
either the Revised Penal Code or a special penal law.
c. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into the
Philippines of the obligations and securities mentioned in the preceding
number.
e. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law
of nations defined in Title One of Book Two of the Revised Penal Code.
(Article 2, Revised Penal Code)
Prospective. A penal law can not make an act punishable when it was not
punishable when committed. Crimes are punished under the laws in force at the
time the same were perpetrated. There is no crime without a penalty and there is
no penalty without a law. Exception: Penal laws shall have a retroactive effect
insofar as they favor the person guilty of a felony who is not a habitual criminal.
Mala in se are crimes which are wrong from their nature, such as murder,
theft, rape, etc., while those that are mala prohibita are wrong, merely because
they are prohibited by statute, like Illegal Possession of Firearm or violation of the
Omnibus Election Law.
Crimes mala in se are those so serious in their effects or society as to call for
the almost unanimous condemnation of its members, while crimes mala prohibita
are violations of mere rules of convenience designed to secure a more orderly
regulation of the affairs of society.
When the acts punished by special penal laws are inherently immoral or
inherently wrong, they are still considered as mala in se and it does not matter that
such acts are punished under the Revised Penal Code. In fact, in plunder, its
predicate crimes are mainly mala in se for being wrong by nature. Thus, it would be
absurd to treat prosecutions for plunder as though they are mere prosecutions for
violations of the Bouncing Check Law or of an ordinance against jaywalking, without
regard to the inherent wrongness of the acts. (Estrada vs. Sandiganbayan, G.R. No.
148560, 10 November 2001)
Motive is the moving power which impels one to action for a definite result.
Intent, on the other hand, is the purpose to use a particular means to effect such
result. Motive alone is not proof of a crime. In order to tip the scales in its favor,
intent and not motive must be established by the prosecution. Motive is hardly ever
an essential element of a crime.
Criminal Liability
That cause, which, in the natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any
efficient intervening cause, produces the injury without which the result would not
have occurred.
Aberratio ictus or mistake in the blow occurs when the offender delivered the
blow at his intended victim but missed, and instead such blow landed on another
person. The situation generally brings about complex crimes where from a single
act, two or more grave or less grave felonies resulted, namely the attempt against
the intended victim and the consequences on the unintended victim.
Error in personae or mistake in identity occurs when the offender actually hit
the person to whom the blow was directed but turned out to be different from and
not the victim intended. The criminal liability of the offender is not affected, unless
the mistake in identity resulted to a crime different from what the offender intended
to commit, in which case the lesser penalty between the crime intended and the
crime committed shall be imposed but in the maximum period. (Article 49 of the
Revised Penal Code).
a. Consummated when all the elements necessary for its execution and
accomplishment are present.
b. Frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of execution which
would produce the felony as a consequence but which nevertheless do
not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the
perpetrator.
The ability of the offender to freely dispose of the property stolen is not a
constitutive element of the crime of theft. Viewed from that perspective, it is
immaterial to the product of the felony that the offender, once having committed all
the acts of execution for theft, is able or unable to freely dispose of the property
stolen since the deprivation from the owner alone has already ensued from such
acts of execution. Theft, thus, cannot have a frustrated stage. Theft can only be
attempted or consummated. (Valenzuela vs. People, G.R. No. 160188, 21 June
2007)
There is no such crime as frustrated rape. Clearly, in the crime of rape, from
the moment the offender has carnal knowledge of his victim, he actually attains his
purpose and, from that moment also all the essential elements of the offense have
been accomplished. Nothing more is left to be done by the offender, because he
has performed the last act necessary to produce the crime. Thus, the felony is
consummated.
Overt Acts
Indeterminate Offense
Light Felonies
Light Felonies are punishable only when they have been consummated,
unless committed against persons or property where the acts would be punishable
even if not consummated. (Art. 7, Revised Penal Code).
In light felonies only principals and accomplices are liable, accessories are
not liable even if committed against persons or property. (Art. 16, Revised Penal
Code)
There may even be conspiracy even if an offender does not know the
identities of the other offenders, and even though he is not aware of all the details
of the plan of operation or was not in on the scheme from the beginning. One need
only to knowingly contribute his efforts in furtherance of it. One who joins a
criminal conspiracy in effect adopts as his own the criminal designs of his co-
conspirators.
a. Grave felonies are those to which the law attaches the capital
punishment or penalties which in any of their periods are afflictive, in
accordance with Article 25 of the Revised Penal Code.
b. Less grave felonies are those which the law punishes with
penalties which in their maximum period are correctional, in
accordance with Article 25 of the Revised Penal Code.
Justifying Circumstances
The following persons do not incur any criminal liability, their acts being
justified and lawful (Article 11, Revised Penal Code):
1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights, provided that there
was: (a) unlawful aggression; (b) reasonable necessity of the means
employed to prevent or repel it; and, (c) lack of sufficient provocation
on the part of the person defending himself.
2. Anyone who acts in defense of the person or rights of his spouse,
ascendants, descendants, or legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or
sisters, or his relatives by affinity in the same degrees and those
consanguinity within the fourth civil degree.
4. Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or injury, does an act which
causes damage to another.
Self-Defense
Self-defense includes not only the defense of the person or body of the one
assaulted but also that of his rights, the enjoyment of which is protected by law.
Self-defense also includes defense of honor and defense of a persons property
rights. Thus, a slap on the face is considered as unlawful aggression directed
against the honor of the actor which may give rise to a valid claim of self-defense.
Unlawful Aggression
The reasonableness of the means employed depends upon the nature and
quality of the (1) weapon used by the aggressor, and (2) his physical condition,
character, size and other circumstances, (3) and those of the person defending
himself, (4) and also the place and occasion of the assault. However, perfect
equality between the weapons used by the one defending himself and that of the
aggressor is not required since the person assaulted may not have sufficient
tranquility of mind to think and to calculate.
Exempting Circumstances
The following are exempt from criminal liability (Article 12, Revised Penal
Code):
3. A person over nine years of age and under fifteen, unless he has acted
with discernment. (Amended by Republic Act No. 9344)
4. Any person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes
an injury by mere accident without fault or intention of causing it.
A child fifteen (15) years of age or under at the time of the commission of the
offense shall be exempt from criminal liability. However, the child shall be
subjected to an intervention program under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of
2006 (RA 9344).
A child above fifteen (15) years but below eighteen (18) years of age shall
likewise be exempt from criminal liability and be subjected to an intervention
program, unless he/she has acted with discernment.
The exemption from criminal liability however does not include exemption
from civil liability, which shall be enforced in accordance with existing laws.
For duress to exempt accused-appellant of the crimes charged, the fear must
be well-founded, and immediate and actual danger of death or great bodily harm
must be present and the compulsion must be of such a character as to leave no
opportunity for the accuse to escape or interpose self-defense in equal combat.
Entrapment and Instigation
Instigation is the means by which the accused is lured into the commission of
the offense charged in order to prosecute him. On the other hand, entrapment is
the employment of such ways and means for the purpose of trapping or capturing a
lawbreaker.
Thus, in instigation, officers of the law or their agents incite, induce, instigate
or lure an accused into committing an offense which he or she would otherwise not
commit and has no intention of committing. But in entrapment, the criminal intent
or design to commit the offense charged originates in the mind of the accused, and
law enforcement officials merely facilitate the apprehension of the criminal by
employing ruses and schemes; thus, the accused cannot justify his or her conduct.
In instigation, where law enforcers act as co-principals, the accused will have
to be acquitted. But entrapment cannot bar prosecution and conviction. As has
been said, instigation is a "trap for the unwary innocent", while entrapment is a
"trap for the unwary criminal. (People vs. Bayani, G.R. No. 179150, 17 June 2008).
Mitigating Circumstances
The following are mitigating circumstances (Article 13, Revised Penal Code):
2. That the offender is under eighteen year of age or over seventy years.
(Amended by Republic Act No. 9344)
8. That the offender is deaf and dumb, blind or otherwise suffering some
physical defect which thus restricts his means of action, defense, or
communications with his fellow beings.
9. Such illness of the offender as would diminish the exercise of the will-
power of the offender without however depriving him of the
consciousness of his acts.
Passion or Obfuscation
The following are the requisites of voluntary surrender: (a) that the offender
had not actually been arrested; (b) that the offender surrendered himself to a
person in authority or to the latters agent; and, (c) that the surrender was
voluntary.
On the other hand, the requisites for voluntary plea of guilty are as follows:
(a) that the offender spontaneously confessed his guilt; (b) that the confession of
guilt was made in open court, that is, before the competent court that is to try the
case; and, (c) that the confession of guilt was made prior to the presentation of
evidence for the prosecution.
Aggravating Circumstances
9. That the crime be committed with the aid of armed men or persons
who insure or afford impunity.
11. That the offender has been previously punished by an offense to which
the law attaches an equal or greater penalty or for two or more crimes
to which it attaches a lighter penalty.
20. That the crime be committed with the aid of persons under fifteen
years of age or by means of motor vehicles, motorized watercraft,
airships, or other similar means. (As amended by RA 5438).
21. That the wrong done in the commission of the crime be deliberately
augmented by causing other wrong not necessary for its commissions.
c. Qualifying those that change the nature of the crime like treachery
and evident premeditation which qualify the killing of a person to
murder.
The offender must have abused his public position or at least that the same
facilitated the commission of the offense. To appreciate this aggravating
circumstance, the public officer must use the influence, prestige or ascendancy
which his office gives him as a means by which he realizes his purpose. The
essence of the matter is presented in the inquiry "Did the accused abuse his office
to commit the crime?" (People vs. Villamor, G.R. Nos. 140407-08, 15 January 2002).
Treachery absorbs: (a) craft; (b) abuse of superior strength; (c) employing
means to weaken the defense; (d) band; (e) aid of armed men; and, (f) nighttime.
A recidivist is one who, at the time of his trial for one crime, shall have been
previously convicted by final judgment of another crime embraced in the same title
of the Revised Penal Code.
Habitual delinquent is a person who, within a period of ten (10) years from
the date of his release or last conviction of the crimes of serious or less serious
physical injuries, robbery, theft, estafa, or falsification, is found guilty of any said
crimes a third time or oftener.
Reiteracion or habituality is present when the accused, who is on trial for one
offense, has been previously sentenced for another offense to which the law
attaches an equal or greater penalty, or for two (2) or more crimes to which it
attaches a higher penalty than that for the new offense
Evident Premeditation
Nighttime
That period of darkness beginning at end of dusk and ending at dawn. Nights
are from sunset to sunrise. It is necessary that the commission of the crime was
begun and completed at nighttime.
There must be proof of the relative physical strength of the aggressors and
the assaulted party or proof that the accused simultaneously assaulted the
deceased. The circumstance of taking advantage of superior strength depends on
the age, size and strength of the parties. It is considered whenever there is a
notorious inequality of forces between the victim and the aggressor, assessing a
superiority of strength notoriously advantageous for the aggressor which is selected
or taken advantage of by him in the commission of the crime (People vs. Aliben, GR
No. 140404, 27 February 2003).
Ignominy
e. where the victim was pregnant and whose pleas on that ground were
ignored by the accused who went on to force his lust on her; and,
f. when the accused tied a banana fiber around his penis and inserted it
into the vagina of the offended party, then the accused pulled out his
organ and forced the victim to suck it. (People vs. Bacule, G.R. No.
127568, 28 January 2000)
Cruelty
Principals are those: (a) those who take a direct part in the execution of the
act; (b) those who directly force or induce others to commit it; and, (c) those who
cooperate in the commission of the offense by another act without which it would
not have been accomplished. (Article 17, Revised Penal Code)
Accomplices are those persons who, not being principals, cooperate in the
execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts. (Article 18, Revised
Penal Code)
Liable Accomplices
The penalties prescribed for accessories shall not be imposed upon those who
are such with respect to principals who are their spouses, ascendants, descendants,
legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters, or relatives by affinity within
the same degrees, with the single exception of accessories who profited themselves
or assisted the offender to profit themselves by the effects of the crime. (Article 20,
Revised Penal Code)
Penalties
Penalty is the suffering that is inflicted by the State for the transgression of
the law. The State has an existence of its own to maintain, a conscience to assert,
and moral principles to be vindicated. The following are the juridical conditions of
penalty:
6. Must be correctional.
Pardon by the Chief Executive: (a) extinguishes criminal liability; (b) can
extend to any crime, unless otherwise provided by or subject to conditions in the
Constitution or the laws; (c) cannot affect the civil liability ex delicto of the offender;
(d) can be extended only after conviction by final judgment of the accused; (e) may
be absolute or conditional; and, (f) extended to any or all of the accused.
Pardon of the Offended Party: (a) does not extinguish criminal liability
although it may constitute a bar to the prosecution of the offender; (b) applies only
to the offenses of seduction, abduction, rape, acts of lasciviousness, adultery and
concubinage; (c) the offended party may waive the civil liability; (d) can be granted
only before the institution of the criminal action; (e) cannot validly be made subject
to a condition; and, (f) in adultery and concubinage, the pardon must include both
offenders. (People vs. Dela Cerna, G.R. Nos. 136899-904, 9 October 2002)
Reclusion perpetua Twenty years and one day to forty years. Any person
sentenced to any of the perpetual penalties shall be pardoned after
undergoing the penalty for thirty years, unless such person by reason of his
conduct or some other serious cause shall be considered by the Chief
Executive as unworthy of pardon.
Prision correccional, suspension, and destierro Six months and one day to
six years.
Bond to keep the peace The bond to keep the peace shall be required to
cover such period of time as the court may determine. (Article 27, Revised
Penal Code)
Complex Crimes
There is a complex crime when a single act constitutes two or more grave or
less grave felonies or when an offense is a necessary means for committing the
other. In a complex crime, although two or more crimes are actually committed,
they constitute only one crime in the eyes of the law as well as in the conscience of
the offender. The offender has only one criminal intent, hence there is only one
penalty imposed for the commission of a complex crime.
The penalty for complex crime is the penalty for the most serious crime, the
same to be applied in its maximum period. If different crimes resulting from one
single act are punished with the same penalty, the penalty for any one of them shall
be imposed, the same to be applied in the maximum period. (Article 48, Revised
Penal Code)
A sentence with a minimum term and a maximum term which, the court is
mandated to impose for the benefit of a guilty person who is not disqualified
therefore, when the maximum imprisonment exceeds one (1) year. It applies to
both violations of Revised Penal Code and special penal laws.
The basic purpose of the Indeterminate Sentence Law is to "to uplift and
redeem valuable human material, and prevent unnecessary and excessive
deprivation of personal liberty and economic usefulness" (People vs. Temporada,
G.R. No. 173473, 17 December 2008).
The Indeterminate Sentence Law shall not apply to the following persons:
4. piracy;
5. habitual delinquents;
Period of Probation
3. Amnesty, which completely extinguishes the penalty and all its effects;
4. Absolute pardon;
1. Conditional pardon;
Pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the
execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from
the punishment the law inflicts for the crime he has committed. It looks backward
and abolishes and puts into oblivion the offense itself; it so overlooks and
obliterates the offense with which he is charged that the person released by
amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he had committed no offense
(Llamas vs. Orbos, G.R. No. 99031, 15 October 1991).
Prescription of the crime is the forfeiture or loss of the right of the State to
prosecute the offender, after the lapse of a certain time. Meanwhile, prescription of
the penalty is the loss or forfeiture of the right of the government to execute the
final sentence, after the lapse of a certain time. (Board of Commissioners vs. Dela
Rosa, G.R. Nos. 95122-23, 31 May 1991)
Civil Liability
Every person criminally liable for a felony is also civilly liable. The civil liability
of an offender includes: (a) Restitution; (b) Reparation of the damage caused; (c)
Indemnification for consequential damages. (Articles 100 and 104, Revised Penal
Code)
Restitution of the thing itself must be made whenever possible even when
found in the possession of a third person except when acquired by such person in
any manner and under the requirements which, by law, bar an action for its
recovery.
Reparation will be ordered by the court if restitution is not possible. The court
shall determine the amount of damage, taking into consideration the price of the
thing, whenever possible, and its special sentimental value.
A crime has a dual character: (1) as an offense against the State because of
the disturbance of the social order; and, (2) as an offense against the private person
injured by the crime unless it involves the crime of treason, rebellion, espionage,
contempt and others (wherein no civil liability arises on the part of the offender
either because there are no damages to be compensated or there is no private
offended party injured by the crime) (Nuguid vs. Nicdao, G.R. No. 150785, 15
September 2006)
The extinction of the penal action does not carry with it extinction of the civil
unless the extinction proceeds from a declaration in a final judgment that the fact
from which the civil liability might arise did not exist.
The dismissal of the information or the criminal action does not affect the
right of the offended party to institute or continue the civil action already instituted
arising from the offense, because such dismissal or extinction of the penal action
does not carry with it the extinction of the civil action (Dayap vs. Sendiong, G.R. No.
177960, 29 January 2009).