I. Principles of Penal Law
Types of Felonies:
1. Prospectively – No Retroactive Infliction of Penal
Laws (No Ex-Post Facto Law / No Bill of Attainder) –
Exception: when they benefit the accused –
Situations where they benefit accused:
a. Penalties are made lighter
b. Crime is no longer a Felony
c. Separate Crimes made into One crime –
suits shall be unified
d. Repealing Penal Law no longer Punishes
what was previously punishable by Penal
Law
2. Generality – shall affect everyone who live or sojourn
in the Philippines (exception: Those Exempted under
Treaties and Laws of Preferential Application (basis:
RPC Art. 2 & NCC Art. 14)
3. Territoriality – observe English Rule (crimes done
aboard ship/airship within Philippine Territory unless
they affect only things within the vessel or they refer
to the internal management thereof)
II. Penal Laws
Penal Objectives:
1. Prevention – Classical
2. Deterrence – Positivist
3. Self-Defense – Classical
4. Reformation – Positivist
5. Retribution – Classical
Penal Theories:
1. Classical – Basis is Free Will
2. Positivist – Strange / Isolated Phenomenon forces
man to produce the evil contemplated by Penal Laws
Other Notes:
1. Art 1 - RPC took effect January 1, 1932
2. Art 2 – Territoriality of the RPC and Special Penal
Laws, and extraterritoriality of the same contemplated
below:
a. Philippine Ship or Airship (English Rule)
b. Person who forges or counterfeit Coin or
Currency note of the Philippines
c. Persons connected to the introduction of the
above to the Philippines
d. Public Officers or Employees In the Exercise
of their Function
e. Crimes against National Security and the
Law of Nations (e.g. Rebellion)
Art 3 – Felony
Requisites:
1. There is an Act or Omission
2. Act or Omission is Punishable by the RPC
3. Act or Omission is committed with Dolo or Culpa
II.
1. Dolo – Deliberate Felonies
a. Requisites:
i. Freedom
ii. Intelligence
iii. Intent
iv. Voluntariness
b. Freedom v Voluntariness – former refers to
lack of forces/influence that will coerce
performance of act or omission, later refers to
the desire of the Perpetrator of committing
the action
c. Intent v Motive – intent is derived from the
Act committed by the Perpetrator and is an
essential requisite of a felony, motive is not
essential in proving criminal liability for a
felony and is not directly derived from the
action of the perpetrator
**Note: Motive is essential in identifying the
criminal in case of doubt
d. Intelligence – knowledge needed to
determine the morality and consequences of
the act done.
e. Mistake of Fact (People v Ah Chong)
i. Requisites
1. Act Done would have been
lawful if the facts were as
believed by the Perpetrator
2. Intention in Performance is
Lawful
3. Mistake must have been
without fault or negligence
2. Culpa – Felonies done with Fault/Negligence
a. Requisites
i. Freedom – same as above
ii. Intelligence – same as above
iii. Negligence – an incident totally
independent from the intent of the
Perpetrator
3. Crimes Punishable by Special Penal Laws
a. Mala in Se v Mala Prohibita / Prohibitum
i. Mala in Se – Crime is inherently
wrong based on Natural Law
ii. Mala Prohibita – Crime is wrong
because it is prohibited
b. There is no need to prove intent or
negligence when the crime is prohibited by
law, it is wrong because it is prohibited
(Estrada v Sandiganbayan – Plunder Law)
III. Criminal Liability
1. Wrongful Act is different from that which is intended
a. Rationale: El Que es Causa de la Causa es
Causa del mal Causado (One who causes
the cause is the cause of the evil caused)
b. Kinds of Wrongful act different from intended
i. Error in Personae – the crime was
intended for one person, but was
done on another
ii. Aberratio Ictus – the crime was
done incorrectly on the right person,
causing harm to a different person
iii. Praeter Intentionem – the crime
caused more harm than intended
c. Proximate Cause – the natural and
continuous source unbroken by a sufficient
intervening cause
i. Death if Presumed as the
consequence of a Proximate Cause
when (examples)
• Victim at the time of physical
injuries was of good health
• Death is expected from the
acts committed
• Death ensued within
reasonable time from crime
committed
ii. Death is not presumed as the
consequence of the Proximal Cause
• There is an active force
between crime and death of
the victim
• Resulting Injury is due to
intentional act of Victim
(suicide)
2. Would be a crime if not for inherent impossibility of
accomplishment or on account of inadequate or
ineffectual means
a. Legal Impossibility – is not contemplated by
law (killing the dead, stealing what is stolen)
b. Factual Impossibility – cannot be
accomplished Physically
c. Inadequate Means – using means that is not
enough to effect the intended results (e.g.
using rat poison, but only in small quantity)
d. Ineffectual Means – using means that would
not effect the intended result (e.g. salt as
poison)
IV. Stages of a Felony
1. Internal v External Acts
a. Internal acts are mere ideas – they will never
incur criminal liability
b. External Acts are those explicitly visible or
apparent
i. Preparatory Acts – are generally not
punishable by law, unless such is
explicitly prohibited by law
ii. Acts of Execution – they are
punishable under the revised penal
Code
2. Phases of Execution
a. Subjective Phase – portion of the execution
of the crime where the result is still within the
perpetrators control
b. Objective Phase – portion of the execution of
the crime where the result can no longer be
changed, and the effect is:
i. If Crime is produced: the
consummation of the felony
ii. If Crime is not produced: the
frustration of the felony
3. Attempted
a. Elements
i. Offender commences the
commission of the felony directly by
overt acts (**Over acts a physical
activity or deed, indicating intention
to commit a crime – act must be
determinate where the
obvious/logical outcome would be
the crime contemplated)
ii. Does not perform all acts of
execution which should produce the
felony
iii. Act is not stopped by his own
spontaneous desistance
iv. The non-performance of all acts of
execution was due to a cause other
than own spontaneous desistance
4. Frustrated
a. Elements
i. Offender Performs all acts of
execution
ii. All the acts performed would produce
felony as consequence
iii. Felony is not produced
iv. Reason is independent from will of
Perpetrator
b. Frustrated v Impossible
i. F is possible of accomplishment, I is
not
ii. F is not completed because of a
cause independent from Perpetrator,
I is not completed because of
impossibility or inadequacy of
completion by Perpetrator or
otherwise
 5. Consummated
a. Elements
i. All the acts of execution are present
ii. The Result is achieved
6. Notes: Consider following to determine stage of
Felony
a. Nature of Offense – is partial
accomplishment possible?
b. Elements constituting the Felony – presence
or absence of an element
c. Manner of Committing crime
i. Formal Crime – committed by single
Act (e.g. Slander, Adultery)
ii. Consummated by Attempt (e.g.
treason, rebellion)
d. Felonies by Omission – is the non-action
sufficient to cause the felony?
e. Crimes Committed by Mere Agreement – is
participation necessary or is knowledge
sufficient to produce felony?
f. Material Crimes – has three stages
i. Exception:
1. Rape – consummated upon
penetration (partial or full)
2. Robery – can never be
frustrated (property is taken
or not) (People v Dio)
3. Theft – intent to gain, without
which there is no theft done
g. For Felonies against Life: Homicide,
Parricide, Murder
i. Mortal Wound would be the proximal
cause of death
ii. Attempt & Frustrated is differentiated
by the nature of the wound caused
by the blow/strike done for the
intended purpose
IV. Conspiracy and Proposal
1. General Rule – not punishable / will not incur criminal
liability (Exception: When Law Specifically penalizes
the same)
2. Conspiracy
a. Requisites
i. Two or more Persons came to
Agreement
ii. Agreement Concerns the
commission of a felony
iii. Execution of the Felony be decided
upon
3. Proposal
a. That a person has decided to commit felony
b. He proposes its execution to other person or
persons
V. Art. 5 and Art. 10
1. Article 5 – When action is required from legislation
a. Requisites – Not punishable but should be
punished by law
i. Act committed not punishable by law
ii. Court deems proper to repress act
iii. Court must render decision by
dismissing case
iv. Judge must report this to Chief
Executive, through the Secretary of
Justice, stating reasons why it should
be made subject of penal legislation
b. Requisites – excessive penalty
i. The court after trial finds accused
guilty
ii. Penalty by law appears excessive
because: 1) Accused acted with
lesser degree of malic; or b) there is
no injury or injury cause is of lesser
gravity
iii. Court will not suspend execution of
Sentence
iv. Judge will submit statement to Chief
Executive, through secretary of
Justice, recommending clemency
***Clemency – leniency (usually in
the form of a partial pardon)
2. Article 10 – Offenses not punishable by RPC will not
be subject to the provisions of RPC but the code will
be supplementary to such laws unless the latter
should provide contrary
a. Special Laws – any penal laws other than the
RPC
b. Stages of Crime under Penal Law – generally
attempted and frustrated not punishable,
unless otherwise stated)
c. Supplementary – will provide aid where
special law does not specify
d. Examples of Supplementary Provisions of the
RPC to the Special Penal Laws
i. Subsidiary Penalty – subsidiary
imprisonment in case of insolvency
ii. Civil Liability – criminal liability comes
with civil liability
iii. Service of Sentence – Art. 70,
successive service of sentence may
be done simultaneously
iv. Definition of Principal, Accomplices
and Accessories
v. Conspiracy / Proposal – how it is
defined by RPC is what is
contemplated in Special Laws
VI. Justifying Circumstances
1. Principle: There is no crime, there is no criminal
2. Self-Defense (Par 1-3)
a. Applicability
i. Self
ii. Relatives
iii. Stranger
b. Requisites
i. Unlawful Aggression – that there is
real/imminent threat to life, liberty or
property (may also refer to rights, or
in the case of Rape, Slander or Libel
– honor)
ii. Reasonable Necessity – rational
equivalence: a) absence of
alternative means to employ; b)
considers the circumstances case to
case
iii. Absence of Provocation – for
defense of self
iv. Absence of Provocation / or if there
is Provocation that the Person acting
in defense of a relative took no part
therein
v. Absence of a Induction of Defense
by revenge, resentment or other evil
motive
3. To avoid an evil or injury (par 4)
a. Requisites
i. Evil sought to be avoided actually
exists
ii. Injury feared greater than that done
to avoid it
iii. No Other Practical and Less harmful
means of Preventing it
4. Fulfillment of Duty or in Lawful Exercise of Right or
Office (Par 5)
a. Requisites
i. In Performance of Duty
ii. Effects are necessary consequence
of the Fulfillment of Duty
5. Obedience to Superior Order (Par 6)
a. Requisites
i. Order has been issued
ii. Order is for Lawful Purpose
iii. Means of following order is lawful
6. Battered Women Syndrome (RA 9262)
a. People v Genosa
b. A Condition where a battered wife feels
threatened by husband causing harm
c. Special Law exempts justifies crime done
due to the condition brought about by the
beating of the husband
VII. Exempting Circumstances
1. Principle: There is a crime, but there is no Criminal
2. Imbecility/Insanity (Par 1)
a. Imbecility – Autism, Down Syndrome, Mental
Retardation that must be proven my medical
professionals
b. Insanity – complete deprivation of intelligence
or freedom of the will: Proof required is that
insanity should be present before, during and
after the crime evidenced by Analysis of
Psychological Professional
c. Note: Alcoholism and Substance abuse is not
a state of Insanity
3. Minority (Par 2-3)
a. Before Child-in-Conflict-of-Law (RA 9344)
i. Minors from 9-12
ii. Minors from 9-15 unless if minor
acted with discernment
b. After RA 9344
i. Minors from 12-15
ii. Minors 15-18 unless minor acted with
discernment
c. Consideration to Establish Discernment
i. Degree of Intelligence
ii. Behavior
***Can reference academic capability
and situational circumstance
4. Accident without Fault (Par 4)
a. Requisites
i. Performing Lawful Act
ii. Act is performed with Due Care
iii. Causes injury to another by Accident
iv. No Fault or intention of causing
Consequence
5. Compulsion of Irresistible Force (Par 5) – Physical
Force
a. Requisites
i. Compulsion – Physical Force
ii. Irresistible
iii. Compulsion Comes from Third
Person
6. Impulse of an uncontrollable fear (Par 6) –
Psychological Threat
a. Requisites
i. Threat or Evil is greater or Equal to
what is to be committed
ii. Evil is with such gravitty and
imminence that will succumb an
ordinary man
7. Fails to perform an act required by law
a. Requisites
i. Act is required by law
ii. Person fails to do act
iii. Failure to perform is based on lawful
or insuperable cause