The Revised Penal Code[edit]

Main article: Revised Penal Code of the Philippines

The Revised Penal Code took effect on January 1, 1932. It is composed of two parts – Book One of
the Revised Penal Code provides the general provisions on the application of the law, and the
general principles of criminal law. It defines felonies and circumstances which affect criminal liability,
justifying circumstances and circumstances which exempt, mitigate or aggravate criminal liability,
and defines the classification, duration, and effects of criminal penalties. Finally, it provides for the
extinction and survival of criminal and civil liabilities in crimes.
Book Two of the Revised Penal Code on the other hand defines the specific crimes and the
penalties imposable for each crime. Crimes are classified into crimes against national security (such
as treason, espionage and piracy), crimes against the fundamental laws of the state (rebellion, coup
d'état, seditionand public disorders), crimes against public interest (counterfeiting of currency,
falsification of public documents), crimes against public morals, crimes committed by public officers,
crimes against persons (parricide, murder, physical injuries, rape), crimes against security
(kidnapping), and crimes against property (robbery, theft), among others. Criminal negligence is also
an offense under the Revised Penal Code. Under the Revised Penal Code, acts and omissions
punishable by law are called felonies. Thus, to be considered as a felony there must be an act
or omission.

Degree of consummation of crimes[edit]

Felonies can be consummated, frustrated, and attempted. A felony is consummated when all the
elements necessary for its execution and accomplishment are present. It is 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.
There is an attempt when the offender commences the commission of a felony directly or overt acts,
and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce the felony by reason of some
cause or accident other than his own spontaneous desistance.
Conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of a
felony and decide to commit it. Conspiracy can also be proven based on the idea of "unity of
purpose" and acts leading to a common design. There is proposal when the person who has decided
to commit a felony proposes its execution to some other person or persons. Conspiracy and
proposal to commit a felony are generally not punishable, except for conspiracy and proposal to
commit treason, coup d'État, and rebellion. Whilst not generally punishable, conspiracy can
determine the degree of participation in criminal offenses in order to determine criminal liability.

Circumstances that affect criminal liability[edit]

The presence of certain circumstances have the effect of removing, mitigating or aggravating
criminal liability of persons. Persons who commit crimes when justifying circumstances are present
do not incur criminal or civil liability. Acting in self-defense is one of these justifying circumstances.
The presence of exempting circumstances on the other hand will exempt the perpetrator from
criminal liability but not from civil liability. Some of these exempting circumstances are imbecility or
youth. On the other hand, the presence of one or more mitigating circumstances when a crime is
committed, can serve to reduce the penalty imposed. An example is voluntary surrender.
Lastly, the presence of aggravating circumstances will increase the penalty imposed under the
crime, upon conviction. Some examples are contempt or insult to public authority.

Participation in crimes[edit]
Under the Revised Penal Code, when more than one person participated in the commission of the
crime, the law looks into their participation because in punishing offenders, the Revised Penal Code
classifies them as principals, accomplices, or accessories. A persons can be liable as a principal for
(a) taking a direct part in the execution of the felony, (b) directly forcing or inducing others to commit
it, or (c) cooperate in the commission of the offense by another act without which it would not have
been accomplished. Accomplices are persons who, while not acting as a principal, cooperate in the
execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts.
Lastly, accessories are those who, having knowledge of the commission of the crime, and without
having participated therein, either as principals or accomplices, take part subsequent to its
commission by: (a) profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by the effects of the crime,
(b) concealing or destroying the body of the crime, or the effects or instruments thereof, in order to
prevent its discovery, or (c) harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principals of the
crime.
Principals are punished more severely than accomplices, who are punished more severely than
accessories. However, when there is conspiracy, there will no longer be a distinction as to whether a
person acted as a principal, accomplice or accessory, because when there is conspiracy, the
criminal liability of all will be the same, because the act of one is the act of all.

Murder[edit]
Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code defines murder as killing someone other than a family
member[1] with any of the following six circumstances:

1. With treachery [see below], taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed
men, or employing means to weaken the defense, or of means or persons to insure or afford
impunity;
2. In consideration of a price, reward, or promise;
3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment
or assault upon a railroad, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of
any other means involving great waste and ruin;
4. On occasion of any calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake,
eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any other public calamity;
5. With evident premeditation;
6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or
outraging or scoffing at his person or corps.[2]
Murder is punishable by reclusión perpetua (20 to 40 years' incarceration).[2] Without any of these six
aggravating circumstances, a killing is instead homicide punishable by reclusión temporal.[2] A
murder is committed “with treachery” by
employing means, methods, or forms in the execution, which tend directly and specially to insure its
execution, without risk to the offender arising from the defense which the offended party might make.
The essence of treachery is that the attack comes without a warning and in a swift, deliberate, and
unexpected manner, affording the hapless, unarmed, and unsuspecting victim no chance to resist or
escape. For treachery to be considered, two elements must concur: (1) the employment of means of
execution that gives the persons attacked no opportunity to defend themselves or retaliate; and (2)
the means of execution were deliberately or consciously adopted.[3]

Special Penal Laws[edit]

Apart from the crimes penalized in the Revised Penal Code, several other pieces of criminal
legislation have been passed, penalizing acts such as illegal possession and trafficking of
dangerous drugs, money laundering, and illegal possession of firearms. These laws are called
“Special Penal Laws” and they form part of Philippine Criminal Laws. There are certain differences
between crimes punished under the Revised Penal Code and Special Penal Laws.
Violations of the crimes listed in the Revised Penal Code are referred to as mala in se, which literally
means, that the act is inherently evil or bad or wrongful in itself. On the other hand, violations of
Special Penal Laws are generally referred to as malum prohibitum or an act that is wrong because it
is prohibited. Thus, no criminal intent is needed in order to find a person liable for crimes punished
under Special Penal Laws. As long as the act is committed, then it is punishable as a crime under
law.
Note, however, that not all violations of Special Penal Laws are mala prohibita. While intentional
felonies are always mala in se, it does not follow that prohibited acts done in violation of special laws
are always mala prohibita.
There are some important distinctions between crimes punishable under the Revised Penal Code
and Special Penal Laws. One of them is that in crimes punished under the Revised Penal Code, the
moral trait of the offender is considered. This is why liability would only arise when there is criminal
intent or negligence in the commission of the punishable act. In crimes punished under Special
Penal Laws, the moral trait of the offender is not considered; it is enough that the prohibited act was
voluntarily done.

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7659

AN ACT TO IMPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY ON CERTAIN HEINOUS CRIMES,

AMENDING FOR THAT PURPOSE THE REVISED PENAL LAWS, AS AMENDED,
OTHER SPECIAL PENAL LAWS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9165 June 7, 2002

AN ACT INSTITUTING THE COMPREHENSIVE DANGEROUS DRUGS ACT OF 2002,

REPEALING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6425, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE DANGEROUS DRUGS
ACT OF 1972, AS AMENDED, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

THE DANGEROUS DRUGS ACT OF 1972

Section 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known and cited as "The Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972."

THE ANTI-CATTLE RUSTLING LAW OF 1974

WHEREAS, large cattle are indispensable to the livelihood and economic growth of our people,
particularly the agricultural workers, because such large cattle are the work animals of our farmers
and the source of fresh meat and dairy products for our people, and provide raw material for our
tanning and canning industries;

WHEREAS, reports from the law-enforcement agencies reveal that there is a resurgence of thievery
of large cattle, commonly known as "cattle rustling", especially in the rural areas, thereby directly
prejudicing the livelihood of the agricultural workers and adversely affecting our food production
program for self-sufficiency in rice, corn and other staple crops, as well as in fresh meat;
WHEREAS, there is an urgent need to protect large cattle raising industry and small time large cattle
owners and raisers from the nefarious activities of lawless elements in order to encourage our
hardworking cattle raisers and farmers to raise more cattle and concentrate in their agricultural
works, thus increasing our source of meat and dairy products as well as agricultural production and
allied industries which depend on the cattle raising industry;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by

virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution and pursuant to Proclamations No. 1081, dated
September 21, 1972 and No. 1104, dated January 17, 1973 and General Order No. 1 dated
September 22, 1972, do hereby order and decree as part of the law of the land, the following: