Crimlaw Book 1

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ATENEO CENTRAL BAR OPERATIONS 2007
Criminal Law
SUMMER REVIEWER
—Advisers: Atty. Lorenzo Padilla, Justice Diosdado Peralta; Head: Kristine Quimpo; Understudies: Ivy
Patdu, Krizna
Gomez—
BOOK I
CRIMINAL LAW – A branch of municipal law which
defines crimes, treats of their nature and provides for
their punishment.
Characteristics of Criminal Law:
1. General – binding on all persons who reside
or sojourn in the Philippines
Exceptions:
a. Treaty Stipulation
b. Laws of Preferential Application
c. Principles of Public International Law
Ex:
i. sovereigns and other chiefs of
state
ii. Ambassadors, ministers
plenipotentiary, minister resident
and charges d’affaires
(BUT consuls, vice-consuls and other
foreign commercial representatives
CANNOT claim the privileges and
immunities accorded to ambassadors and
ministers.)
2. Territorial – penal laws of the Philippines are
enforceable only within its territory
Exceptions: (Art. 2 of RPC – binding
even on crimes committed outside the
Philippines)
a. offense committed while on a
Philippine ship or airship
b. forging or counterfeiting any coin or
currency note of the Philippines or
obligations and the securities issued
by the Government
c. introduction into the country of the
above-mentioned obligations and
securities
d. while being public officers and
employees, an offense committed in
the exercise of their functions
e. crimes against national security and
the law of the nations defined in Title
One of Book Two
3. Prospective – the law does not have any
retroactive effect.
Exception: when the law is favorable to the
accused
Exceptions to the Exception:
a. The new law is expressly made
inapplicable to pending actions
or existing causes of action
b. Offender is a habitual criminal
Theories of Criminal Law:
1. Classical Theory – basis is man’s free will to
choose between good and evil, that is why
more stress is placed upon the result of the
felonious act than upon the criminal himself.
The purpose of penalty is retribution. The
RPC is generally governed by this theory.
2. Positivist Theory – basis is the sum of
social and economic phenomena which
conditions man to do wrong in spite of or
contrary to his volition. This is exemplified in
the provisions on impossible crimes and
habitual delinquency.
3. Mixed Theory – combination of the classical
and positivist theories wherein crimes that
are economic and social in nature should be
dealt in a positive manner. The law is thus
more compassionate.
Construction of Penal Laws:
1. Liberally construed in favor of offender
Ex:
a. the offender must clearly fall within
the terms of the law
b. an act is criminal only when made so
by the statute
2. In cases of conflict with official translation,
original Spanish text is controlling,
3. No interpretation by analogy.
LIMITATIONS ON POWER OF CONGRESS TO
ENACT PENAL LAWS:
1. ex post facto law
2. bill of attainder
3. law that violates the equal protection clause
of the constitution
4. law which imposes cruel and unusual
punishments nor excessive fines
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BOOK ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
RPC took effect February 1, 1932.
RULES:
1. Philippine vessel or airship – Philippine
law shall apply to offenses committed in
vessels registered with the Philippine Bureau
of Customs. It is the registration, not the
citizenship of the owner which matters.
2. Foreign vessel
a. French Rule
General Rule: Crimes committed aboard
a foreign vessel within the territorial
waters of a country are NOT triable in the
courts of such country.
Exception: commission affects the
peace and security of the territory, or
the safety of the state is endangered.
b. English Rule
General Rule: Crimes committed aboard
a foreign vessel within the territorial
waters of a country are triable in the
courts of such country.
Exception: When the crime merely
affects things within the vessel or it
refers to the internal management
thereof.
*This is applicable in the Philippines.
Title One: FELONIES AND CIRCUMSTANCES
WHICH AFFECT CRIMINAL LIABILITY
Chapter One: FELONIES
Felonies – acts and omissions punishable by the
Revised Penal Code
Crime – acts and omissions punishable by any law
Act – an overt or external act
Omission – failure to perform a duty required by law
ELEMENTS:
1. there must be an act or omission
2. this must be punishable by the RPC
3. act or omission was done by means of dolo
or culpa
NULLUM CRIMEN, NULLA POENA SINE LEGE –
There is no crime when there is no law punishing it.
Classification Of Felonies According To The
Means By Which They Are Committed:
1. Intentional Felonies- by means of deceit
(dolo)
Requisites:
a. freedom
b. intelligence
c. intent.
MISTAKE OF FACT – misapprehension of
fact on the part of the person who caused
injury to another. He is not criminally liable.
Requisites:
a. the act done would have been lawful
had the facts been as the accused
believed them to be
bintention is lawful
b. mistake must be without fault or
carelessness by the accused
2. Culpable Felonies- by means of fault (culpa)
Requisites:
a. freedom
b. intelligence
c. negligence (lack of foresight) and
imprudence (lack of skill)
MALA IN SE v. MALA PROHIBITA
Mala in se Mala Prohibita
moral trait of
offender
considered not considered
good faith as a
defense
valid defense,
unless the crime is
the result of culpa
not a defense;
intent not
necessarysufficient
that the
offender has the
intent to perpetrate
the act prohibited
by the special law
ART.1: TIME WHEN ACT TAKES EFFECT
ART. 2: APPLICATION OF ITS PROVISIONS
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degree of
accomplishme
nt of the crime
taken into account taken into account
only when
consummated
mitigating and
aggravating
circumstance
taken into account
in imposing penalty
GENERALLY not
taken into account
degree of
participation
when there is more
than one offender,
it is taken into
consideration
GENERALLY not
taken into account
laws violated General Rule:
RPC
General Rule:
Special Penal
Laws
INTENT v. MOTIVE
Intent Motive
purpose to use a
particular means to effect
a result
moving power which impels
one to act
element of crime except
in crimes committed with
culpa
not an element
essential in intentional
felonies
essential only when the identity
of the felon is in doubt
ART. 4: CRIMINAL LIABILITY
Requisites:
1. felony has been committed intentionally
2. injury or damage done to the other party is
the direct, natural and logical consequence
of the felony
Hence, since he is still motivated by criminal intent,
the offender is criminally liable in:
1. Error in personae – mistake in identity
2. Abberatio ictus – mistake in blow
3. Praetor intentionem – lack of intent to
commit so grave a wrong
PROXIMATE CAUSE – the 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
Requisites:
1. Act would have been an offense against
persons or property.
2. There was criminal intent.
3. Accomplishment is inherently impossible; or
inadequate or ineffectual means are
employed.
4. Act is not an actual violation of another
provision of the Code or of special law.
Impossible crime occurs when there is:
1. inherent impossibility to commit the crime
2. inadequate means to consummate the crime
3. ineffectual means to consummate the crime
Note: Paragraph 2 does not apply to crimes
punishable by special law, including profiteering, and
illegal possession of firearms or drugs. There can be
no executive clemency for these crimes.
STAGES OF EXECUTION:
1. CONSUMMATED – when all the elements
necessary for its execution and accomplishment
are present
2. FRUSTRATED
Elements:
a. offender performs all acts of execution
b. all these acts would produce the felony
as a consequence
c. BUT the felony is NOT produced
d. by reason of causes independent of the
will of the perpetrator
3. ATTEMPTED
Elements:
a. offender commences the felony directly
by overt acts
b. does not perform all acts which would
produce the felony
c. his acts are not stopped by his own
spontaneous desistance
Par.1 Criminal liability for a felony committed
different from that intended to be committed
Par. 2 Impossible Crime
Art. 5: Duty of the court in connection with
acts which should be repressed but which are
not covered by the law, and in cases of
excessive penalties
ART. 6: CONSUMMATED, FRUSTRATED, AND
ATTEMPTED FELONIES
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Crimes, which do not admit of Frustrated and
Attempted Stages:
1. Offenses punishable by Special Penal Laws,
unless the law provides otherwise
2. Formal crimes – consummated in one
instance
(Ex: slander, adultery, etc.)
3. Impossible Crimes
4. Crimes consummated by mere attempt
(Ex: attempt to flee to an enemy
country, treason, corruption of minors)
5. Felonies by omission
6. Crimes committed by mere agreement
(Ex: betting in sports: “ending,”
corruption of public officers)
Crimes which do not admit of Frustrated Stage:
1. Rape
2. Bribery
3. Corruption of Public Officers
4. Adultery
5. Physical Injury
2 stages in the development of a crime:
1. Internal acts
- e.g. mere ideas of the mind
- not punishable
2. External acts
a. Preparatory acts - ordinarily not
punishable except when
considered by law as independent
crimes
(e.g. Art. 304, Possession of
picklocks and similar tools)
b. Acts of Execution - punishable under
the RPC
General Rule: Punishable only when they have been
consummated
Exception: Even if not consummated, if
committed against persons or property
Ex: slight physical injuries, theft, alteration of
boundary marks, malicious mischief, and intriguing
against honor.
Note: Only principals and accomplices are liable;
accessories are NOT liable even if committed against
persons or property.
CONSPIRACY
Requisites:
1. Two or more persons come to an agreement
2. For the commission of a felony
3. And they decide to commit it
Concepts of Conspiracy:
1. As a crime in itself
Ex: conspiracy to commit rebellion,
insurrection, treason, sedition, coup d’ etat
2. Merely as a means to commit a crime
Requisites:
a. a prior and express agreement
b. participants acted in concert or
simultaneously, which is indicative of
a meeting of the minds towards a
common criminal objective
Note: Conspiracy to commit a felony is different from
conspiracy as a manner of incurring criminal liability.
General Rule: Conspiracy to commit a felony is not
punishable since it is merely a preparatory act.
Exception: when the law specifically provides for
a penalty
Ex: rebellion, insurrection, sedition, coup d’
etat
General Rule: The act of one is the act of all.
Exception: Unless one or some of the
conspirators committed some other crime which
is not part of the intended crime.
Attempted Frustrated Consummated
Overt acts of
execution are
started
All acts of execution are
present
All the acts of
execution are
present
Not all acts of
execution are
present
Crime sought to be
committed is not
achieved
The result
sought is
achieved
Due to reasons
other than the
spontaneous
desistance of the
perpetrator
Due to intervening
causes independent of
the will of the perpetrator
ART. 7: WHEN LIGHT FELONIES ARE
PUNISHABLE
ART. 8: CONSPIRACY AND PROPOSAL TO
COMMIT FELONY
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Exception to the exception: When the act
constitutes an indivisible offense.
PROPOSAL TO COMMIT A FELONY
Requisites:
1. A person has decided to commit a felony
2. And proposes its execution to some other
person or persons
Importance of Classification
1. To determine whether the felonies can be
complexed or not.
2. To determine the prescription of the crime
and of the penalty.
Penalties (imprisonment):
1. Grave felonies – afflictive penalties: 6 yrs.
and 1 day to reclusion perpetua (life)
2. Less grave felonies – correctional penalties:
1 month and 1 day to 6 years
3. Light felonies - arresto menor (1 day to 30
days)
General Rule: RPC provisions are supplementary to
special laws.
Exceptions:
1. when special law provides otherwise
2. when provision of RPC are impossible of
application, either by express provision
or by necessary implication
Special Laws RPC
Terms imprisonment prision
correccional,
prision mayor,
arresto mayor,
etc.
Attempted or
Frustrated
Stages
General Rule: Not
punishable
Exception: Unless
otherwise stated
Punishable
Plea of guilty as
mitigating
circumstance
No Yes
Minimum,
medium and
maximum
periods
Not applicable Yes
Penalty for
accessory or
accomplice
General Rule:
None
Exception: Unless
otherwise stated
Yes
Provisions of RPC applicable to special laws:
• Art. 16 Participation of Accomplices
• Art. 22 Retroactivity of Penal laws if favorable
to the accused
• Art. 45 Confiscation of instruments used in
the crime
Note: When the special law adopts the penalties
imposed in the RPC i.e. penalties as reclusion
perpetua, prision correccional, etc. the provisions of
the RPC on imposition of penalties based on stages
of execution, degree of participation and attendance
of mitigating and aggravating circumstance may be
applied by necessary implication.
Conspiracy Proposal
Elements Agreement to
commit AND
commission
person decides to
commit a crime
AND proposes the
same to another
Crimes Conspiracy to
commit: sedition,
treason, rebellion,
coup d’ etat
Proposal to
commit: treason,
rebellion, coup d’
etat
*no proposal to
commit sedition
OVERT ACTS IN CONSPIRACY MUST
CONSIST OF:
1. Active participation in the actual
commission of the crime itself, or
2. Moral assistance to his co-conspirators by
being present at the time of the
commission of the crime, or
3. Exerting a moral ascendance over the
other co-conspirators by moving them to
execute or implement the criminal plan
People v. Abut, et al. (GR No. 137601, April 24,
2003)
ART. 9: GRAVE FELONIES, LESS GRAVE
FELONIES AND LIGHT FELONIES
ART. 10: OFFENSES NOT SUBJECT TO THE
PROVISIONS OF THIS CODE
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Chapter Two
JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES
AND CIRCUMSTANCES, WHICH EXEMPT
FROM CRIMINAL LIABILITY
ART. 11. JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES
JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES – where the act of
a person is in accordance with law such that said
person is deemed not to have violated the law.
General Rule: No criminal and civil liability incurred.
Exception: There is civil liability with respect to
par. 4 where the liability is borne by persons
benefited by the act.
Elements:
1. Unlawful Aggression
� indispensable requirement
� There must be actual physical assault or
aggression or an immediate and
imminent threat, which must be offensive
and positively strong.
� The defense must have been made
during the existence of aggression,
otherwise, it is no longer justifying.
� While generally an agreement to fight
does not constitute unlawful aggression,
violation of the terms of the agreement to
fight is considered an exception.
2. Reasonable necessity of the means
employed to prevent or repel it –
Test of reasonableness depends on:
(1) weapon used by aggressor
(2) physical condition, character, size
and other circumstances of
aggressor
(3) physical condition, character, size
and circumstances of person
defending himself
(4) place and occasion of assault
3. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part
of the person defending himself
NOTE: Perfect equality between the weapons used,
nor material commensurability between the means of
attack and defense by the one defending himself and
that of the aggressor is not required
REASON: the person assaulted does not have
sufficient opportunity or time to think and calculate.
Rights included in self-defense:
1. defense of person
2. defense of rights protected by law
3. defense of property (only if there is also an
actual and imminent danger on the person of
the one defending)
4. defense of chastity
Kinds of Self-Defense:
1. self-defense of chastity – there must be an
attempt to rape the victim
2. defense of property – must be coupled with
an attack on the person of the owner, or on
one entrusted with the care of such property.
3. self-defense in libel – justified when the
libel is aimed at a person’s good name.
“Stand ground when in the right” - the law does
not require a person to retreat when his assailant is
rapidly advancing upon him with a deadly weapon.
NOTE: Under Republic Act 9262 (Anti-Violence
Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004),
victim-survivors who are found by the Courts to be
suffering from Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) do
not incur any criminal or civil liability despite absence
of the necessary elements for the justifying
circumstance of self-defense in the RPC. BWS is a
scientifically defined pattern of psychological and
behavioral symptoms found in women living in
battering relationships as a result of cumulative
abuse.
Elements:
1. unlawful aggression (indispensable
requirement)
Par. 1 Self-defense People v. Narvaez, (GR No. L-33466-67,
April 20, 1983)
Attack on property alone was deemed
sufficient to comply with element of
unlawful aggression
Par. 2 Defense of Relative
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2. reasonable necessity of the means employed
to prevent or repel it
3. In case the provocation was given by the
person attacked, the one making the defense
had no part in such provocation.
Relative entitled to the defense:
1. spouse
2. ascendants
3. descendants
4. legitimate, natural or adopted brothers and
sisters, or relatives by affinity in the same
degrees
5. relatives by consanguinity within the 4th civil
degree
NOTE: The relative defended may be the original
aggressor. All that is required to justify the act of the
relative defending is that he takes no part in such
provocation.
Elements:
1. unlawful aggression (indispensable
requirement)
2. reasonable necessity of the means employed
to prevent or repel it
3. person defending be not induced by revenge,
resentment or other evil motive
Elements:
1. evil sought to be avoided actually exists
2. injury feared be greater than that done to
avoid it
3. no other practical and less harmful means of
preventing it
NOTE: The necessity must not be due to the
negligence or violation of any law by the actor.
Elements:
1. accused acted in the performance of duty or
in the lawful exercise of a right or office
2. the injury caused or offense committed be
the necessary consequence of the due
performance of the duty, or the lawful
exercise of such right or office.
NOTE: The accused must prove that he was duly
appointed to the position claimed he was discharging
at the time of the commission of the offense. It must
also be shown that the offense committed was the
necessary consequence of such fulfillment of duty, or
lawful exercise of a right or office.
Elements:
1. an order has been issued
2. order has a lawful purpose (not patently
illegal)
3. means used by subordinate to carry out said
order is lawful
NOTE: The superior officer giving the order cannot
invoke this justifying circumstance. Good faith is
material, as the subordinate is not liable for carrying
out an illegal order if he is not aware of its illegality
and he is not negligent.
General Rule: Subordinate cannot invoke this
circumstance when order is patently illegal.
Exception: When there is compulsion of an
irresistible force, or under impulse of
uncontrollable fear.
EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES – grounds for
exemption from punishment because there is wanting
in the agent of the crime any of the conditions which
make the act voluntary or negligent.
Basis: The exemption from punishment is based on
the complete absence of intelligence, freedom of
action, or intent, or on the absence of negligence on
the part of the accused.
Burden of proof: Any of the circumstances is a
matter of defense and must be proved by the
defendant to the satisfaction of the court.
Justifying Exempting
Who/what
is
affected?
Act Actor
Nature of
act
act is considered
legal
act is wrongful but
actor not liable
Existence None Yes, but since
Par. 6 Obedience to a Superior Order
Par. 3 Defense of Stranger
Par. 4 State of Necessity (Avoidance of Greater
Evil or Injury)
Par. 5 Fulfillment of Duty or Lawful Exercise of
a Right or Office
ART. 12: CIRCUMSTANCES, WHICH EXEMPT
FROM CRIMINAL LIABILITY
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of a crime voluntariness is absent
the actor is not liable
Liability No criminal and civil
liability BUT there is
civil liability as to
Art.11(4) (state of
necessity)
No criminal liability but
there is civil liability
EXCEPT as to Art.
12(4) (injury by mere
accident) and (7)
(lawful cause)
IMBECILE – one while advanced in age has a mental
development comparable to that of children between
2 and 7 years old. He is exempt in all cases from
criminal liability.
INSANE – one who acts with complete deprivation of
intelligence/reason or without the least discernment
or with total deprivation of freedom of will. Mere
abnormality of the mental faculties will not exclude
imputability.
General Rule: Exempt from criminal liability
Exception: The act was done during a lucid
interval.
NOTE: Defense must prove that the accused was
insane at the time of the commission of the crime
because the presumption is always in favor of sanity.
Requisite: Offender is under 9 years of age at the
time of the commission of the crime. There is
absolute criminal irresponsibility in the case of a
minor under 9 years of age.
NOTE: Under R.A. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice And
Welfare Act a minor 15 years and below is exempt
from criminal liability
NOTE: Such minor must have acted without
discernment to be exempt. If with discernment, he is
criminally liable.
Presumption: The minor committed the crime
without discernment.
DISCERNMENT – mental capacity to fully appreciate
the consequences of the unlawful act, which is shown
by the:
1. manner the crime was committed
2. conduct of the offender after its commission
NOTE: Under R.A. 9344 a minor over 15 but but
below 18 who acted without discernment is
exempt from criminal liability
Elements:
1. A person is performing a lawful act
2. with due care
3. He causes injury to another by mere accident
4. Without fault or intention of causing it.
IRRESISTIBLE FORCE – offender uses violence or
physical force to compel another person to commit a
crime.
Elements:
1. The compulsion is by means of physical
force.
2. The physical force must be irresistible.
3. The physical force must come from a third
person.
NOTE: Force must be irresistible so as to reduce the
individual to a mere instrument.
UNCONTROLLABLE FEAR – offender employs
intimidation or threat in compelling another to commit
a crime.
DURESS – use of violence or physical force
Elements:
1. The threat which causes the fear is of an evil
greater than, or at least equal to, that which
he is required to commit.
2. It promises an evil of such gravity and
imminence that an ordinary man would have
succumbed to it.
NOTE: Duress to be a valid defense should be based
on real, imminent or reasonable fear for one’s life or
limb. It should not be inspired by speculative, fanciful
or remote fear. A threat of future injury is not enough.
Par. 4 Accident without fault or intention of
causing it
Par. 5 Irresistible Force
Par. 6 Uncontrollable Fear
Par. 3 Person Over 9 and Under 15 Acting
Without Discernment
Par. 1 Imbecility or Insanity
Par. 2 Under Nine Years of Age
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ACTUS ME INVITO FACTUS NON EST MEUS
ACTUS – Any act done by me against my will is not
my act.
PAR 7. Insuperable Cause
INSUPERABLE CAUSE – some motive, which has
lawfully, morally or physically prevented a person to
do what the law commands
Elements:
1. An act is required by law to be done.
2. A person fails to perform such act.
3. His failure to perform such act was due to
some lawful or insuperable cause.
Ex:
1. A priest can’t be compelled to reveal what
was confessed to him.
2. No available transportation – officer not liable
for arbitrary detention
3. Mother who was overcome by severe
dizziness and extreme debility, leaving child
to die – not liable for infanticide (People v.
Bandian, 63 Phil 530)
ABSOLUTORY CAUSES – where the act committed
is a crime but for some reason of public policy and
sentiment, there is no penalty imposed. Exempting
and justifying circumstances are absolutory causes.
Examples of such other circumstances are:
1. spontaneous desistance (Art. 6)
2. accessories exempt from criminal liability
(Art. 20)
3. Death or physical injuries inflicted under
exceptional circumstances (Art. 247)
4. persons exempt from criminal liability from
theft, swindling, malicious mischief (Art 332)
5. instigation
NOTE: Entrapment is NOT an absolutory cause. A
buy-bust operation conducted in connection with
illegal drug-related offenses is a form of entrapment.
Entrapment Instigation
The ways and means
are resorted to for the
purpose of trapping
and capturing the
lawbreaker in the
execution of his
criminal plan.
Instigator practically induces the
would-be accused into the
commission of the offense and
himself becomes a co-principal
NOT a bar to
accused’s prosecution
and conviction
Accused will be acquitted
NOT an absolutory
cause
Absolutory cause
Privileged Mitigating Ordinary Mitigating
Offset by any
aggravating
circumstance
Cannot be offset Can be offset by a
generic aggravating
circumstance
Effect on
penalty
Effect of imposing the
penalty by 1 or 2
degrees lower than
that provided by law
If not offset, has the
effect of imposing the
minimum period of
the penalty
Kinds
(Sources)
Minority, Incomplete
Self-defense, two or
more mitigating
circumstance without
any aggravating
circumstance (has the
effect of lowering the
penalty by one
degree). Art. 64, 68
and 69
Those
circumstances
enumerated in
paragraph 1 to 10 of
Article 13
Age Criminal Responsibility/ Effect
≤ 15years Absolute irresponsibility, exempting
circumstance
* as amended by RA 9344
15 < and <
18
Conditional responsibility
Without discernment – not criminally
liable
With discernment – criminally liable
* as amended by RA 9344
Minor
delinquent
Sentence is suspended
18 ≤ and ≤ 70 Full responsibility
Chapter Three
CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MITIGATE CRIMINAL
LIABILITY
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Par. 4 Provocation or Threat
> 70 Mitigated responsibility, no imposition of
death penalty, execution of death
sentence may be suspended and
commuted
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES – those which if
present in the commission of the crime reduces the
penalty of the crime but does not erase criminal
liability nor change the nature of the crime
NOTE: A mitigating circumstance arising from a
single fact absorbs all the other mitigating
circumstances arising from that same fact.
NOTE: This applies when not all the requisites are
present.
If two requisites are present, it is considered a
privileged mitigating circumstance. However, in
reference to Art.11(4) if any of the last two requisites
is absent, there is only an ordinary mitigating
circumstance. Remember though, that in selfdefense,
defense of relative or stranger, unlawful
aggression must always be present as it is an
indispensable requirement.
NOTE: Age of accused is determined by his age at
the date of commission of crime, not date of trial.
NOTE: Can be used only when the proven facts
show that there is a notable and evident disproportion
between the means employed to execute the criminal
act and its consequences.
Factors that can be considered are:
1. weapon used
2. injury inflicted
3. part of the body injured
4. mindset of offender at the time of commission
of crime
This provision addresses the intention of the offender
at the particular moment when the offender executes
or commits the criminal act, not to his intention during
the planning stage
NOTE: In crimes against persons – if victim does not
die, the absence of the intent to kill reduces the
felony to mere physical injuries. It is not considered
as mitigating. It is mitigating only when the victim
dies.
NOTE: It is not applicable to felonies by negligence
because in felonies through negligence, the offender
acts without intent. The intent in intentional felonies is
replaced by negligence or imprudence. There is no
intent on the part of the offender, which may be
considered as diminished
Provocation – any unjust or improper conduct or act
of the offended party, capable of exciting, inciting or
irritating anyone.
Requisites:
1. provocation must be sufficient
2. it must originate from the offended party
3. must be immediate to the commission of the
crime by the person who is provoked
NOTE: Threat should not be offensive and positively
strong. Otherwise, it would be an unlawful
aggression, which may give rise to self-defense and
thus no longer a mitigating circumstance.
Provocation Vindication
Made directly only to the
person committing the
felony
Grave offense may be also
against the offender’s
relatives mentioned by law
Cause that brought
about the provocation
need not be a grave
offense
Offended party must have
done a grave offense to the
offender or his relatives
Necessary that
provocation or threat
immediately preceded
the act. No time interval
May be proximate. Time
interval allowed
Par. 1 Incomplete Justifying or Exempting
Circumstances
Par. 2 Under 18 or Over 70 Years Old
Par. 3 No Intention to Commit so Grave a
Wrong
ART. 13: MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES
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Requisites:
1. a grave offense done to the one committing
the felony, his spouse, ascendants,
descendants, legitimate, natural or adopted
brothers or sisters or relatives by affinity
within the same degrees
2. the felony is committed in immediate
vindication of such grave offense
NOTE: “Immediate” allows for a lapse of time, as
long as the offender is still suffering from the mental
agony brought about by the offense to him.
(proximate time, not just immediately after)
Requisites:
1. offender acted upon an impulse
2. the impulse must be so powerful that it
naturally produced passion or obfuscation in
him
NOTE: Act must have been committed not in the
spirit of lawlessness or revenge; act must come from
lawful sentiments.
Act, Which Gave Rise To Passion And
Obfuscation:
1. That there be an act, both unlawful and
unjust
2. The act be sufficient to produce a condition
of mind
3. That the act was proximate to the criminal
act, not admitting of time during which the
perpetrator might recover his normal
equanimity
4. The victim must be the one who caused the
passion or obfuscation
NOTE: Passion and obfuscation cannot co-exist with
treachery since this means that the offender had time
to ponder his course of action.
PASSION & OBFUSCATION IRRESISTIBLE
FORCE
Mitigating Exempting
No physical force needed Requires physical
force
From the offender himself Must come from a
3rd person
Must come from lawful sentiments Unlawful
PASSION & OBFUSCATION PROVOCATION
Produced by an impulse which
may be caused by provocation
Comes from injured
party
Offense which engenders
perturbation of mind need not be
immediate. It is only required that
the influence thereof lasts until
the crime is committed
Immediately precede
the commission of the
crime
Effect is loss of reason and selfcontrol
on the part of the offender
Same
VOLUNTARY
SURRENDER
VOLUNTARY
PLEA OF GUILT
Requisites: 1. offender not
actually arrested
2. offender
surrendered to
person in
authority
3. surrender was
voluntary
1. offender
spontaneously
confessed his
guilt
2. confession was
made in open
court, that is,
before the
competent court
that is to try the
case
3. confession of guilt
was made prior to
the presentation
of the evidence
for the
prosecution
WHEN SURRENDER VOLUNTARY
- must be spontaneous, showing the intent of the
accused to submit himself unconditionally to the
authorities, either because:
1. he acknowledges his guilt; or
2. he wishes to save them the trouble and
expense necessarily incurred in his search
and capture.
NOTE: If both are present, considered as two
independent mitigating circumstances. Further
mitigates penalty.
Par. 5 Vindication of Grave Offense
Par. 6 Passion or Obfuscation
Par. 7 Surrender and Confession of Guilt
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NOTES:
� plea made after arraignment and after trial
has begun does not entitle accused to the
mitigating circumstance
� If accused pleaded not guilty, even if during
arraignment, he is entitled to mitigating
circumstance as long as he withdraws his
plea of not guilty to the charge before the
fiscal could present his evidence.
� Plea to a lesser charge is not a Mitigating
Circumstance because to be such, the plea
of guilt must be to the offense charged.
� Plea to the offense charged in the amended
info, lesser than that charged in the original
info, is Mitigating Circumstance.
The offender is deaf and dumb, blind or otherwise
suffering from some physical defect, restricting his
means of action, defense or communication with
others.
NOTE: The physical defect must relate to the offense
committed.
Requisites:
1. The illness of the offender must diminish the
exercise of his will-power.
2. Such illness should not deprive the offender
of consciousness of his acts.
Examples Not examples
defendant who is 60 years old
with failing eyesight is similar to a
case of one over 70 yrs old
killing the wrong
person
outraged feeling of owner of
animal taken for ransom is
analogous to vindication of grave
offense
not resisting arrest is
not the same as
voluntary surrender
impulse of jealous feeling, similar
to passion and obfuscation
running amuck is not
mitigating
voluntary restitution of property,
similar to voluntary surrender
extreme poverty, similar to
incomplete justification based on
state of necessity
CHAPTER FOUR
CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH AGGRAVATE
CRIMINAL LIABILITY
AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES – Those which,
if attendant in the commission of the crime, serve to
have the penalty imposed in its maximum period
provided by law for the offense or those that change
the nature of the crime.
BASIS: The greater perversity of the offender
manifested in the commission of the felony as shown
by:
1. the motivating power itself,
2. the place of the commission,
3. the means and ways employed
4. the time, or
5. the personal circumstances of the offender,
or the offended party.
KINDS OF AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES:
1. Generic - those which apply to all crimes
2. Specific - those which apply only to specific
crimes,
3. Qualifying - those that change the nature of
the crime
4. Inherent - which of necessity accompany
the commission of the crime, therefore not
considered in increasing the penalty to be
imposed
5. Special - those which arise under special
conditions to increase the penalty of the
offense and cannot be offset by mitigating
circumstances
GENERIC
AGGRAVATING
CIRCUMSTANCE
QUALIFYING
AGGRAVATING
CIRCUMSTANCE
EFFECT : When not set
off by any mitigating
circumstance,
Increases the penalty
which should be
imposed upon the
accused to the
EFFECT: Gives the
crime its proper and
exclusive name and
places the author of
the crime in such a
situation as to
deserve no other
Par. 8 Physical Defect of Offender
Par. 9 Illness of the Offender
Par. 10 Similar and Analogous Circumstances
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maximum period but
without exceeding the
limit prescribed by law
penalty than that
specially prescribed
by law for said
crimes (People v.
Bayot, 64Phil269,
273)
If not alleged in the
information, a
qualifying aggravating
circumstance will be
considered generic
To be considered
as such, MUST be
alleged in the
information
May be offset by a
mitigating circumstance.
Cannot be offset by a
mitigating
circumstance
RULES ON AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES:
1. Aggravating circumstances shall NOT be
appreciated if:
a) They constitute a crime specially
punishable by law, or
b) It is included by the law in defining a crime
with a penalty prescribed, and therefore
shall not be taken into account for the
purpose of increasing the penalty.
Ex: “That the crime be committed by means of
…fire,…explosion” (Art. 14, par. 12) is in itself a
crime of arson (Art. 321) or a crime involving
destruction (Art. 324). It is not to be considered to
increase the penalty for the crime of arson or for
the crime involving destruction.
2. The same rule shall apply with respect to any
aggravating circumstance inherent in the crime to
such a degree that it must of necessity
accompany the commission thereof(Art.62, par.2)
3. Aggravating circumstances which arise:
a) From the moral attributes of the offender;
b) From his private relations with the offended
party; or
c) From any personal cause,
shall only serve to aggravate the liability of the
principals, accomplices and accessories as to
whom such circumstances are attendant. (Art.
62, par. 3)
4. The circumstances which consist :
a) In the material execution of the act, or
b) In the means employed to accomplish it,
shall serve to aggravate the liability of only those
persons who had knowledge of them at the time
of the execution of the act or their cooperation
therein. Except when there is proof of conspiracy
in which case the act of one is deemed to be the
act of all, regardless of lack of knowledge of the
facts constituting the circumstance. (Art. 62, par.
4)
5. Aggravating circumstances, regardless of its
kind, should be specifically alleged in the
information AND proved as fully as the crime
itself in order to increase the penalty. (Sec. 9,
Rule 110, 2000 Rules of Criminal Procedure)
6. When there is more than one qualifying
aggravating circumstance present, one of them
will be appreciated as qualifying aggravating
while the others will be considered as generic
aggravating.
ART. 14: AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES
Par. 1. That advantage be taken by the offender of
his public position
Requisites:
1. Offender is public officer
2. Public officer must use the influence,
prestige, or ascendancy which his office
gives him as means to realize criminal
purpose
� It is not considered as an aggravating
circumstance where taking advantage of official
position is made by law an integral element of the
crime or inherent in the offense,
Ex: malversation (Art. 217), falsification of a
document committed by public officers (Art.
171).
� When the public officer did not take advantage of
the influence of his position, this aggravating
circumstance is not present
� NOTE : Taking advantage of a public position is
also inherent in the case of accessories under
Art. 19, par. 3 (harboring, concealing, or assisting
in the escape of the principal of the crime), and in
crimes committed by public officers (Arts. 204-
245).
Par. 2. That the crime be committed in contempt
of or with insult to public authorities
Requisites:
1. That the public authority is engaged in the
exercise of his functions.
2. That he who is thus engaged in the exercise
of said functions is not the person against
whom the crime is committed.
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3. The offender knows him to be a public
authority.
4. His presence has not prevented the offender
from committing the criminal act.
PERSON IN AUTHORITY – public authority, or
person who is directly vested with jurisdiction and has
the power to govern and execute the laws
Ex:
1. Governor
2. Mayor
3. Barangay captain/ chairman
4. Councilors
5. Government agents
6. Chief of Police
NOTE: A teacher or professor of a public or
recognized private school is not a “public authority
within the contemplation of this paragraph. While he
is a person in authority under Art. 152, that status is
only for purposes of Art. 148 (direct assault) and Art.
152 (resistance and disobedience).
� The crime should not be committed against the
public authority (otherwise it will constitute direct
assault under Art.148)
� This is NOT applicable when committed in the
presence of a mere agent.
AGENT – subordinate public officer charged w/ the
maintenance of public order and protection and
security of life and property
Ex: barrio vice lieutenant, barrio councilman
Par. 3. That the act be committed:
(1) with insult or in disregard of the respect
due the offended party on account of his
(a)rank, (b) age, or (c) sex or
(2) that it be committed in the dwelling of the
offended party, if the latter has not given
provocation
Rules regarding par 3(1):
1. These circumstances shall only be
considered as one aggravating circumstance.
2. Rank, age, sex may be taken into account
only in crimes against persons or honor, they
cannot be invoked in crimes against property.
3. It must be shown that in the commission of
the crime the offender deliberately intended
to offend or insult the sex, age and rank of
the offended party.
RANK – The designation or title of distinction used to
fix the relative position of the offended party in
reference to others (There must be a difference in the
social condition of the offender and the offended
party).
AGE – may refer to old age or the tender age of the
victim.
SEX– refers to the female sex, not to the male sex.
The AC of disregard of rank, age, or sex is not
applicable in the following cases:
1. When the offender acted with passion and
obfuscation.
2. When there exists a relationship between the
offended party and the offender.
3. When the condition of being a woman is
indispensable in the commission of the
crime.
(Ex: in parricide, abduction, seduction
and rape)
People vs. Lapaz, March 31, 1989
Disregard of sex and age are not absorbed in
treachery because treachery refers to the manner of
the commission of the crime, while disregard of sex
and age pertains to the relationship of the victim.
DWELLING – must be a building or structure
exclusively used for rest and comfort (combination of
house and store not included), may be temporary as
in the case of guests in a house or bedspacers. It
includes dependencies, the foot of the staircase and
the enclosure under the house
NOTES:
� The aggravating circumstance of dwelling
requires that the crime be wholly or partly
committed therein or in any integral part thereof.
� Dwelling does not mean the permanent
residence or domicile of the offended party or
that he must be the owner thereof. He must,
however, be actually living or dwelling therein
even for a temporary duration or purpose.
� It is not necessary that the accused should have
actually entered the dwelling of the victim to
commit the offense; it is enough that the victim
was attacked inside his own house, although the
assailant may have devised means to perpetrate
the assault from without.
What aggravates the commission of the crime in
one’s dwelling:
1. The abuse of confidence which the offended
party reposed in the offender by opening the
door to him; or
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2. The violation of the sanctity of the home by
trespassing therein with violence or against
the will of the owner.
Meaning of provocation in the aggravating
circumstance of dwelling:
The provocation must be:
1. Given by the owner of the dwelling,
2. Sufficient, and
3. Immediate to the commission of the crime.
NOTE: If all these conditions are present, the
offended party is deemed to have given the
provocation, and the fact that the crime is committed
in the dwelling of the offended party is NOT an
aggravating circumstance.
REASON: When it is the offended party who has
provoked the incident, he loses his right to the
respect and consideration due him in his own
house.
Dwelling is not aggravating in the following
cases:
1. When both the offender and the offended
party are occupants of the same house, and
this is true even if offender is a servant in the
house.
exception: In case of adultery in the
conjugal dwelling, the same is
aggravating. However, if the paramour
also dwells in the conjugal dwelling, the
applicable aggravating circumstance is
abuse of confidence.
2. When robbery is committed by the use of
force upon things, dwelling is not aggravating
because it is inherent.
� However, dwelling is aggravating in
robbery with violence against or
intimidation of persons because this class
of robbery can be committed without the
necessity of trespassing the sanctity of the
offended party’s house.
3. In the crime of trespass to dwelling, it is
inherent or included by law in defining the
crime.
4. When the owner of the dwelling gave
sufficient and immediate provocation.
� There must exist a close relation between
the provocation made by the victim and the
commission of the crime by the accused.
5. The victim is not a dweller of the house.
Par. 4. That the act be committed with:
(1) abuse of confidence or
(2) obvious ungratefulness
� There are two aggravating circumstances present
under par.4 which must be independently
appreciated if present in the same case
� While one may be related to the other in the factual
situation in the case, they cannot be lumped
together. Abuse of confidence requires a special
confidential relationship between the offender and
the victim, while this is not required for there to be
obvious ungratefulness
Requisites Of Abuse Of Confidence:
1. That the offended party had trusted the
offender.
2. That the offender abused such trust by
committing a crime against the offended
party.
3. That the abuse of confidence facilitated the
commission of the crime.
NOTE: Abuse of confidence is inherent in
malversation (Art. 217), qualified theft (Art. 310),
estafa by conversion or misappropriation (Art. 315),
and qualified seduction (Art. 337).
Requisites of obvious ungratefulness:
1. That the offended party had trusted the
offender;
2. That the offender abused such trust by
committing a crime against the offended
party.
3. That the act be committed with obvious
ungratefulness.
NOTE: The ungratefulness contemplated by par. 4
must be such clear and manifest ingratitude on the
part of the accused.
Par. 5. That the crime be committed in the palace
of the Chief Executive, or in his presence, or
where public authorities are engaged in the
discharge of their duties, or in a place
dedicated to religious worship.
� Actual performance of duties is not necessary
when crime is committed in the palace or in the
presence of the Chief Executive
Requisites Regarding Public Authorities:
1. crime occurred in the public office
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2. public authorities are actually performing
their public duties
PAR. 5. Where public
authorities are engaged
in the discharge of their
duties
PAR. 2. Contempt or
insult to public
authorities
FOR BOTH, Public authorities are in the performance
of their duties
Place where public duty is performed
In their office. Outside of their office.
The offended party
May or may not be the
public authority
Public authority should
not be the offended
party
Requisites (Place Dedicated To Religious
Worship):
1. The crime occurred in a place dedicated to
the worship of God regardless of religion
2. The offender must have decided to commit
the crime when he entered the place of
worship
� Except for the third which requires that official
functions are being performed at the time of the
commission of the crime, the other places
mentioned are aggravating per se even if no
official duties or acts of religious worship are
being conducted there.
� Cemeteries, however respectable they may be,
are not considered as place dedicated to the
worship of God.
Par. 6. That the crime be committed
(1) in the nighttime, or
(2) in an uninhabited place, or
(3) by a band,
whenever such circumstance may facilitate
the commission of the offense
NOTE: When present in the same case and their
element are distinctly palpable and can subsist
independently, they shall be considered separately.
When nighttime, uninhabited place or band
aggravating:
1. When it facilitated the commission of the
crime; or
2. When especially sought for by the offender to
insure the commission of the crime or for the
purpose of impunity; or
3. When the offender took advantage thereof
for the purpose of impunity
NIGHTTIME (obscuridad) – that period of darkness
beginning at the end of dusk and ending at dawn.
� Commission of the crime must begin and be
accomplished in the nighttime. When the
place of the crime is illuminated by light,
nighttime is not aggravating. It is not
considered aggravating when the crime
began at daytime.
� Nighttime is not especially sought for when
the notion to commit the crime was
conceived of shortly before commission or
when crime was committed at night upon a
casual encounter
� However, nighttime need not be specifically
sought for when (1) it facilitated the
commission of the offense, or (2) the
offender took advantage of the same to
commit the crime
� A bare statement that crime was committed
at night is insufficient. The information must
allege that nighttime was sought for or taken
advantage of, or that it facilitated the crime
GENERAL RULE: Nighttime is absorbed in
treachery.
EXCEPTION: Where both the treacherous mode
of attack and nocturnity were deliberately decided
upon in the same case, they can be considered
separately if such circumstances have different
factual bases. Thus:
� In People vs. Berdida, et. al. (June 30,
1966), nighttime was considered since it was
purposely sought, and treachery was further
appreciated because the victim’s hands and
arms were tied together before he was
beaten up by the accused.
� In People vs. Ong, et. al. (Jan. 30, 1975),
there was treachery as the victim was
stabbed while lying face up and defenseless,
and nighttime was considered upon proof
that it facilitated the commission of the
offense and was taken advantage of by the
accused.
UNINHABITED PLACE (despoblado) – one where
there are no houses at all, a place at a considerable
distance from town, where the houses are scattered
at a great distance from each other
� Solitude must be sought to better attain the
criminal purpose
� What should be considered here is whether in the
place of the commission of the offense, there was
a reasonable possibility of the victim receiving
some help.
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BAND (en cuadrilla) – whenever there are more
than 3 armed malefactors that shall have acted
together in the commission of an offense
NOTE: There must be four or more armed men
� If one of the four-armed malefactors is a principal
by inducement, they do not form a band because
it is undoubtedly connoted that he had no direct
participation.
� “By a band” is aggravating in crimes against
property or against persons or in the crime of
illegal detention or treason but does not apply to
crimes against chastity
� “By a band” is inherent in brigandage
� This aggravating circumstance is absorbed in the
circumstance of abuse of superior strength
Par. 7. That the crime be committed on the
occasion of a conflagration, shipwreck,
earthquake, epidemic or other calamity or
misfortune.
Requisites:
1. The crime was committed when there was a
calamity or misfortune
2. The offender took advantage of the state of
confusion or chaotic condition from such
misfortune
� If the offended was PROVOKED by the offended
party during the calamity/misfortune, this
aggravating circumstance may not be taken into
consideration.
Par. 8.That the crime be committed with the aid of
(1) armed men or
(2) persons who insure or afford impunity
Requisites:
1. That armed men or persons took part in the
commission of the crime, directly or
indirectly.
2. That the accused availed himself of their aid
or relied upon them when the crime was
committed.
NOTE: This aggravating circumstance requires that
the armed men are accomplices who take part in a
minor capacity directly or indirectly, and not when
they were merely present at the crime scene. Neither
should they constitute a band, for then the proper
aggravating circumstance would be cuadrilla.
When This Aggravating Circumstance Shall Not
Be Considered:
1. When both the attacking party and the party
attacked were equally armed.
2. When the accused as well as those who
cooperated with him in the commission of the
crime acted under the same plan and for the
same purpose.
3. When the others were only “casually present”
and the offender did not avail himself of any
of their aid or when he did not knowingly
count upon their assistance in the
commission of the crime
Par. 6 “By a band” Par. 8. “With the aid of
armed men”
As to their number
Requires more than three
armed malefactors (i.e.,
at least four)
At least two
As to their action
Requires that more than
three armed malefactors
shall have acted together
in the commission of an
offense.
This circumstance is
present even if one of the
offenders merely relied on
their aid, for actual aid is
not necessary.
� If there are four armed men, aid of armed men is
absorbed in employment of a band. If there are
three armed men or less, aid of armed men may
be the aggravating circumstance.
� “Aid of armed men” includes “armed women.”
Par. 9. That the accused is a recidivist
RECIDIVIST – 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 RPC.
Requisites:
1. That the offender is on trial for an offense;
2. That he was previously convicted by final
judgment of another crime;
3. That both the first and the second offenses
are embraced in the same title of the Code;
4. That the offender is convicted of the new
offense.
MEANING OF “at the time of his trial for one
crime.”
It is employed in its general sense, including the
rendering of the judgment. It is meant to include
everything that is done in the course of the trial, from
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arraignment until after sentence is announced by the
judge in open court.
� What is controlling is the TIME OF THE TRIAL,
not the time of the commission of the offense.
GENERAL RULE: To prove recidivism, it is
necessary to allege the same in the information and
to attach thereto certified copy of the sentences
rendered against the accused.
Exception: If the accused does not object and
when he admits in his confession and on the
witness stand.
� Recidivism must be taken into account no matter
how many years have intervened between the
first and second felonies.
� Amnesty extinguishes the penalty and its effects.
However, pardon does not obliterate the fact that
the accused was a recidivist. Thus, even if the
accused was granted a pardon for the first
offense but he commits another felony embraced
in the same title of the Code, the first conviction
is still counted to make him a recidivist
� Being an ordinary aggravating circumstance,
recidivism affects only the periods of a penalty,
except in prostitution and vagrancy (Art. 202) and
gambling (PD 1602) wherein recidivism increases
the penalties by degrees. No other generic
aggravating circumstance produces this effect
� In recidivism it is sufficient that the succeeding
offense be committed after the commission of the
preceding offense provided that at the time of his
trial for the second offense, the accused had
already been convicted of the first offense.
� If both offenses were committed on the same
date, they shall be considered as only one,
hence, they cannot be separately counted in
order to constitute recidivism. Also, judgments of
convicted handed down on the same day shall be
considered as only one conviction.
REASON: Because the Code requires that to be
considered as separate convictions, at the time of
his trial for one crime the accused shall have
been previously convicted by final judgment of
the other.
Par. 10. That the offender has been previously
punished for 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.
Requisites Of Reiteracion Or Habituality:
1. That the accused is on trial for an offense;
2. That he previously served sentence for
another offense to which the law attaches an
a) Equal or
b) Greater penalty, or
c) For two or more crimes to which it
attaches a lighter penalty than that
for the new offense; and
3. That he is convicted of the new offense
HABITUALITY RECIDIVISM
As to the first offense
It is necessary that the
offender shall have
served out his
sentence for the first
offense
It is enough that a
final judgment has
been rendered in the
first offense.
As to the kind of offenses involved
The previous and
subsequent offenses
must not be em
braced in the same
title of the Code.
Requires that the
offenses be included
in the same title of the
Code.
THE FOUR FORMS OF REPETITION ARE:
1. Recidivism (par. 9, Art. 14) – Where a person,
on separate occasions, is convicted of two offenses
embraced in the same title in the RPC. This is a
generic aggravating circumstance.
2. Reiteracion or Habituality (par. 10, Art. 14) –
Where the offender has been previously punished for
an offense to which the law attaches an equal or
greater penalty or for two crimes to which it attaches
a lighter penalty. This is a generic aggravating
circumstance.
3. Multi-recidivism or Habitual delinquency (Art.
62, par, 5) – Where a person within a period of ten
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
the said crimes a third time or oftener. This is an
extraordinary aggravating circumstance.
4. Quasi-recidivism (Art. 160) – Where a person
commits felony before beginning to serve or while
serving sentence on a previous conviction for a
felony. This is a special aggravating circumstance.
� Since reiteracion provides that the accused has
duly served the sentence for his previous
conviction/s, or is legally considered to have
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done so, quasi-recidivism cannot at the same
time constitute reiteracion, hence this
aggravating circumstance cannot apply to a
quasi-recidivist.
� If the same set of facts constitutes recidivism and
reiteracion, the liability of the accused should be
aggravated by recidivism which can easily be
proven.
Par. 11. That the crime be committed in
consideration of price, reward or promise.
Requisites:
1. There are at least 2 principals:
• The principal by inducement (one who
offers)
• The principal by direct participation
(accepts)
2. The price, reward, or promise should be
previous to and in consideration of the
commission of the criminal act
NOTE: The circumstance is applicable to both
principals .It affects the person who received the
price / reward as well as the person who gave it.
� If without previous promise it was given
voluntarily after the crime had been committed as
an expression of his appreciation for the
sympathy and aid shown by the other accused, it
should not be taken into consideration for the
purpose of increasing the penalty.
� The price, reward or promise need not consist of
or refer to material things or that the same were
actually delivered, it being sufficient that the offer
made by the principal by inducement be
accepted by the principal by direct participation
before the commission of the offense.
� The inducement must be the primary
consideration for the commission of the crime.
Par. 12. That the crime be committed by means of
inundation, fire, poison, explosion, stranding
of a vessel or intentional damage thereto,
derailment of a locomotive, or by use of any
artifice involving great waste and ruin
� The circumstances under this paragraph will only
be considered as aggravating if and when they
are used by the offender as a means to
accomplish a criminal purpose
� When another aggravating circumstance already
qualifies the crime, any of these aggravating
circumstances shall be considered as generic
aggravating circumstance only
� When used as a means to kill another person,
the crime is qualified to murder.
PAR. 12 “by means
of inundation, fire,
etc.”
PAR. 7 “on the
occasion of a
conflagration,
shipwreck, etc.
The crime is
committed by means
of any such acts
involving great waste
or ruin.
The crime is committed
on the occasion of a
calamity or misfortune.
Par. 13. That the act be committed with evident
premeditation
Requisites:
The prosecution must prove –
1. The time when the offender determined to
commit the crime;
2. An act manifestly indicating that the culprit
has clung to his determination; and
3. A sufficient lapse of time between the
determination and execution, to allow him to
reflect upon the consequences of his act and
to allow his conscience to overcome the
resolution of his will.
Essence of premeditation: The execution of the
criminal act must be preceded by cool thought and
reflection upon the resolution to carry out the criminal
intent during the space of time sufficient to arrive at a
calm judgment.
� To establish evident premeditation, it must be
shown that there was a period sufficient to afford
full opportunity for meditation and reflection, a
time adequate to allow the conscience to
overcome the resolution of the will, as well as
outward acts showing the intent to kill. It must be
shown that the offender had sufficient time to
reflect upon the consequences of his act but still
persisted in his determination to commit the
crime. (PEOPLE vs. SILVA, et. al., GR No.
140871, August 8, 2002)
� _____Premeditation is absorbed by reward or promise.
� When the victim is different from that intended,
premeditation is not aggravating. However, if the
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offender premeditated on the killing of any
person, it is proper to consider against the
offender the aggravating circumstance of
premeditation, because whoever is killed by him
is contemplated in his premeditation.
Par. 14. That (1) craft, (2) fraud, or (3) disguise be
employed.
Requisite
The offender must have actually used craft, fraud, or
disguise to facilitate the commission of the crime.
CRAFT (astucia) – involved the use of intellectual
trickery or cunning on the part of the accused.
A chicanery resorted to by the accused to aid in the
execution of his criminal design. It is employed as a
scheme in the execution of the crime.
FRAUD (fraude) – insidious words or machinations
used to induce the victim to act in a manner which
would enable the offender to carry out his design.
FRAUD CRAFT
Where there is a direct
inducement by insidious
words or machinations,
fraud is present.
The act of the
accused done in
order not to arouse
the suspicion of the
victim constitutes
craft.
� Craft and fraud may be absorbed in treachery if
they have been deliberately adopted as the
means, methods or forms for the treacherous
strategy, or they may co-exist independently
where they are adopted for a different purpose in
the commission of the crime.
Ex:
� In People vs. San Pedro (Jan. 22, 1980),
where the accused pretended to hire the
driver in order to get his vehicle, it was held
that there was craft directed to the theft of the
vehicle, separate from the means
subsequently used to treacherously kill the
defenseless driver.
� In People vs. Masilang (July 11, 1986) there
was also craft where after hitching a ride, the
accused requested the driver to take them to
a place to visit somebody, when in fact they
had already planned to kill the driver.
� DISGUISE (disfraz) – resorting to any device to
conceal identity.
� The test of disguise is whether the device or
contrivance resorted to by the offender was
intended to or did make identification more
difficult, such as the use of a mask or false hair or
beard.
� The use of an assumed name in the publication
of a libel constitutes disguise.
Par. 15. That (1) advantage be taken of superior
strength, or (2) means be employed to
weaken the defense.
Par. 15 contemplates two aggravating circumstances,
either of which qualifies a killing to murder.
MEANING OF “advantage be taken”:
To deliberately use excessive force that is out of
proportion to the means for self-defense available to
the person attacked. (PEOPLE vs. LOBRIGAS, et.
al., GR No. 147649, December 17, 2002)
No Advantage Of Superior Strength In The
Following:
1. One who attacks another with passion and
obfuscation does not take advantage of his
superior strength.
2. When a quarrel arose unexpectedly and the
fatal blow was struck at a time when the
aggressor and his victim were engaged
against each other as man to man.
� TEST for abuse of superior strength: the
relative strength of the offender and his victim
and whether or not he took advantage of his
greater strength.
� When there are several offenders participating in
the crime, they must ALL be principals by direct
participation and their attack against the victim
must be concerted and intended to be so.
� Abuse of superior strength is inherent in the
crime of parricide where the husband kills the
wife. It is generally accepted that the husband is
physically stronger than the wife.
� Abuse of superior strength is also present when
the offender uses a weapon which is out of
proportion to the defense available to the
offended party.
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“BY A BAND” “ABUSE OF
SUPERIOR
STRENGTH”
The element of
band is appreciated
when the offense is
committed by more
than three armed
malefactors
regardless of the
comparative
strength of the
victim or victims.
The gravamen of
abuse of superiority
is the taking
advantage by the
culprits of their
collective strength to
overpower their
relatively weaker
victim or victims.
Hence, what is taken
into account here is
not the number of
aggressors nor the
fact that they are
armed, but their
relative physical
strength vis-a vis the
offended party.
NOTE: Abuse of superior strength absorbs cuadrilla
(“band”).
MEANING OF “Means employed to weaken
defense” - the offender employs means that
materially weaken the resisting power of the offended
party.
Ex:
1. Where one, struggling with another, suddenly
throws a cloak over the head of his opponent
and while in this situation he wounds or kills
him.
2. One who, while fighting with another,
suddenly casts sand or dirt upon the latter
eyes and then wounds or kills him.
3. When the offender, who had the intention to
kill the victim, made the deceased
intoxicated, thereby materially weakening the
latter’s resisting power.
NOTE: This circumstance is applicable only to
crimes against persons, and sometimes against
person and property, such as robbery with
physical injuries or homicide.
Par. 16. That the act be committed with treachery
(alevosia)
TREACHERY – when the offender commits any of
the crimes against the person, employing means,
methods or forms in the execution thereof which tend
directly and specially to insure its execution without
risk to himself arising from the defense which the
offended party might make.
Requisites:
1. That at the time of the attack, the victim was
not in a position to defend himself; and
2. That the offender consciously adopted the
particular means, method or form of attack
employed by him.
TEST: It is not only the relative position of the parties
but, more specifically, whether or not the victim was
forewarned or afforded the opportunity to make a
defense or to ward off the attack.
Rules Regarding Treachery:
1. Applicable only to crimes against persons.
2. Means, methods or forms need not insure
accomplishment of crime.
3. The mode of attack must be consciously
adopted.
� Treachery is taken into account even if the crime
against the person is complexed with another
felony involving a different classification in the
Code. Accordingly, in the special complex crime
of robbery with homicide, treachery but can be
appreciated insofar as the killing is concerned.
� The suddenness of attack in itself does not
constitute treachery, even if the purpose was to
kill, so long as the decision was made all of a
sudden and the victim’s helpless position was
accidental.
� Treachery applies in the killing of a child even if
the manner of attack is not shown.
� Treachery must be proved by clear and
convincing evidence
� Treachery is considered against all the offenders
when there is conspiracy.
WHEN MUST TREACHERY BE PRESENT:
1. When the aggression is continuous,
treachery must be present in the beginning of
the assault. (PEOPLE vs. MANALAD, GR
No. 128593, August 14, 2002)
� Thus, even if the deceased was shot
while he was lying wounded on the
ground, it appearing that the firing of the
shot was a mere continuation of the
assault in which the deceased was
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wounded, with no appreciable time
intervening between the delivery of the
blows and the firing of the shot, it cannot
be said that the crime was attended by
treachery.
2. When the assault was not continuous, in
that there was interruption, it is sufficient that
treachery was present at the moment the
fatal blow was given.
� Hence, even though in the inception of
the aggression which ended in the death
of the deceased, treachery was not
present, if there was a break in the
continuity of the aggression and at the
time of the fatal wound was inflicted on
the deceased he was defenseless, the
circumstance of treachery must be taken
into account.
Treachery Should Be Considered Even If:
1. The victim was not predetermined but there
was a generic intent to treacherously kill any
first two persons belonging to a class. (The
same rule obtains for evident premeditation).
2. There was aberratio ictus and the bullet hit a
person different from that intended. (The rule
is different in evident premeditation).
3. There was error in personae, hence the
victim was not the one intended by the
accused. (A different rule is applied in
evident premeditation).
REASON FOR THE RULE: When there is
treachery, it is impossible for either the intended
victim or the actual victim to defend himself
against the aggression.
TREACHERY ABSORBS:
1. Craft
2. Abuse of superior strength
3. Employing means to weaken the defense
4. Cuadrilla (“band”)
5. Aid of armed men
6. Nighttime
TREACHERY ABUSE OF
SUPERIOR
STRENGTH
MEANS
EMPLOYED TO
WEAKEN
DEFENSE
Means, methods
or forms are
employed by the
offender to make it
impossible or hard
for the offended
party to put any
sort of resistance
Offender does
not employ
means,
methods or
forms of attack,
he only takes
advantage of his
superior
strength
Means are
employed but it
only materially
weakens the
resisting power of
the offended
party
Par. 17. That means be employed or
circumstances brought about which add
ignominy to the natural effects of the act
IGNOMINY – is a circumstance pertaining to the
moral order, which adds disgrace and obloquy to the
material injury caused by the crime.
MEANING OF “which add ignominy to the natural
effects thereof”
The means employed or the circumstances brought
about must tend to make the effects of the crime
more humiliating to victim or to put the offended party
to shame, or add to his moral suffering. Thus it is
incorrect to appreciate ignominy where the victim was
already dead when his body was dismembered, for
such act may not be considered to have added to the
victim’s moral suffering or humiliation. (People vs.
Carmina, G.R. No. 81404, January 28, 1991)
� Applicable to crimes against chastity, less
serious physical injuries, light or grave
coercion, and murder.
Par. 18. That the crime be committed after an
unlawful entry.
UNLAWFUL ENTRY - when an entrance is effected
by a way not intended for the purpose.
NOTE: Unlawful entry must be a means to effect
entrance and not for escape.
REASON FOR AGGRAVATION:
One who acts, not respecting the walls erected by
men to guard their property and provide for their
personal safety, shows a greater perversity, a greater
audacity; hence, the law punishes him with more
severity.
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Par. 19. That as a means to the commission of a
crime, a wall, roof, floor, door, or window be
broken.
� Applicable only if such acts were done by
the offender to effect ENTRANCE. If the
wall, etc., is broken in order to get out of the
place, it is not an aggravating circumstance.
� It is NOT necessary that the offender should
have entered the building Therefore, If the
offender broke a window to enable himself to
reach a purse with money on the table near
that window, which he took while his body
was outside of the building, the crime of theft
was attended by this aggravating
circumstance.
PAR. 19 PAR. 18
It involves the breaking
(rompimiento) of the
enumerated parts of
the house.
Presupposes that there
is no such breaking as
by entry through the
window.
NOTE: Breaking in is lawful in the following
instances:
1. An officer, in order to make an arrest, may
break open a door or window of any building
in which the person to be arrested is or is
reasonably believed to be;
2. An officer, if refused admittance, may break
open any door or window to execute the
search warrant or liberate himself,
3. Replevin, Section 4, Rule 60 of the Rules of
Court
Par. 20. That the crime be committed
(1) with the aid of persons under fifteen (15)
years of age, or
(2) by means of motor vehicles, airships, or
other similar means.
TWO DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES GROUPED
IN THIS PARAGRAPH:
1. With the aid of persons under fifteen years of
age:
� Intends to repress, so far as possible, the
frequent practice resorted to by professional
criminals to avail themselves of minors taking
advantage of their irresponsibility.
2. By means of motor vehicles, airships, or
other similar means:
� Intended to counteract the great facilities
found by modern criminals in said means to
commit crime and flee and abscond once the
same is committed.
� Use of motor vehicle is aggravating where
the accused purposely and deliberately used
the motor vehicle in going to the place of the
crime, in carrying away the effects thereof,
and in facilitating their escape.
MEANING OF “or other similar means”
Should be understood as referring to motorized
vehicles or other efficient means of transportation
similar to automobile or airplane.
Par. 21. That the wrong done in the commission
of the crime be deliberately augmented by
causing other wrong not necessary for its
commission
CRUELTY – there is cruelty when the culprit enjoys
and delights in making his victim suffer slowly and
gradually, causing unnecessary physical pain in the
consummation of the criminal act.
Requisites:
1. That the injury caused be deliberately
increased by causing other wrong;
2. That the other wrong be unnecessary for the
execution of the purpose of the offender.
� Cruelty is not inherent in crimes against persons.
� In order for it to be appreciated, there must be
positive proof that the wounds found on the body
of the victim were inflicted while he was still alive
in order unnecessarily to prolong physical
suffering.
� Cruelty cannot be presumed
� If the victim was already dead when the acts of
mutilation were being performed, this would also
qualify the killing to murder due to outraging of
his corpse.
IGNOMINY (PAR.17) CRUELTY (PAR. 21)
Involves MORAL
suffering
Refers to PHYSICAL
suffering
� Unlike mitigating circumstances (par. 10, Art.
13), there is NO provision for aggravating
circumstances of a similar or analogous
character.
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CHAPTER FIVE
ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES
ART.15 Concept of Alternative Circumstances
BASIS:
The nature and effects of the crime and the other
conditions attending its commission.
THE ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE:
1. Relationship;
2. Intoxication; and
3. Degree of instruction and education of the
offender.
RELATIONSHIP
The alternative circumstance of relationship shall be
taken into consideration when the offended party is
the –
1. Spouse,
2. Ascendant,
3. Descendant,
4. Legitimate, natural, or adopted brother or
sister, or
5. Relative by affinity in the same degree of the
offender.
Other Relatives Included (By Analogy):
1. The relationship of stepfather or stepmother
and stepson or stepdaughter.
REASON: It is the duty of the
stepparents to bestow upon their
stepchildren a mother’s/father’s affection,
care and protection.
2. The relationship of adopted parent and
adopted child.
NOTE: But the relationship of uncle and niece is not
covered by any of the relationship mentioned.
When Relationship Mitigating And When
Aggravating:
1. As a rule, relationship is mitigating in crimes
against property, by analogy to the provisions of
Art. 332.
� Thus, relationship is mitigating in the crimes
of robbery (Arts. 294-302), usurpation (Art.
312), fraudulent insolvency (Art. 314) and
arson (Arts. 321-322, 325-326).
2. In crimes against persons –
a) It is aggravating where the offended party is
a relative of
I. a higher degree than the offender, or
II. when the offender and the offended party
are relatives of the same level (e.g.
brothers)
b) But when it comes to physical injuries:
i. It is aggravating when the crime
involves serious physical injuries (Art.
263), even if the offended party is a
descendant of the offender. But the
serious physical injuries must not be
inflicted by a parent upon his child by
excessive chastisement.
ii. It is mitigating when the offense
committed is less serious physical
injuries or slight physical injuries, if the
offended party is a relative of a lower
degree.
iii. It is aggravating if the offended party is
a relative of a higher degree of the
offender.
c) When the crime is homicide or murder,
relationship is aggravating even if the victim
of the crime is a relative of a lower degree.
d) In rape, relationship is aggravating where a
stepfather raped his stepdaughter or in a
case where a father raped his own daughter.
3. In crimes against chastity, like acts of
lasciviousness (Art. 336), relationship is always
aggravating, regardless of whether the offender
is a relative of a higher or lower degree of the
offended party.
� When the qualification given to the crime is
derived from the relationship between the
offender and the offended party, it is neither
mitigating nor aggravating, because it is
inseparable from and inherent in the offense.
(e.g. parricide, adultery and concubinage).
ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES – Those
which must be taken into consideration as
aggravating or mitigating according to the
nature and effects of the crime and the other
conditions attending its commission.
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INTOXICATION
When Intoxication Mitigating And When
Aggravating:
1. Mitigating –
i. If intoxication is not habitual, or
ii. If intoxication is not subsequent to the plan to
commit a felony.
2. Aggravating –
i. If intoxication is habitual, or
ii. If it is intentional (subsequent to the plan to
commit a felony).
To Be Entitled To The Mitigating Circumstance Of
Intoxication, It Must Be Shown:
1. That at the time of the commission of the
criminal act, the accused has taken such
quantity of alcoholic drinks as to blur his
reason and deprive him of a certain degree
of control, and
2. That such intoxication is not habitual, or
subsequent to the plan to commit the felony.
� To be mitigating, the accused’s state of
intoxication must be proved. Once
intoxication is established by satisfactory
evidence, in the absence of proof to the
contrary, it is presumed to be non-habitual or
unintentional.
INSTRUCTION OR EDUCATION
� As an alternative circumstance it does not
refer only to literacy but more to the level of
intelligence of the accused.
� Refers to the lack or presence of sufficient
intelligence and knowledge of the full
significance of one’s acts.
� Low degree of instruction and education
or lack of it is generally mitigating. High
degree of instruction and education is
aggravating, when the offender took
advantage of his learning in committing the
crime.
GENERAL RULE: Lack of sufficient education is
mitigating.
EXCEPTIONS:
1. Crimes against property (e.g. arson,
estafa, theft, robbery)
2. Crimes against chastity, and
3. Treason – because love of country
should be a natural feeling of every
citizen, however unlettered or uncultured
he may be.
TITLE TWO
PERSONS CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOR
FELONIES
ART.16.WHO ARE CRIMINALLY LIABLE
� Note that accessories are not liable for light
felonies. REASON: In the commission of light
felonies, the social wrong as well as the
individual prejudice is so small that penal
sanction is unnecessary.
� The classification of the offenders as principal,
accomplice or an accessory is essential under
the RPC. The classification maybe applied to
special laws only if the latter provides for the
same graduated penalties as those provided
under the RPC.
There Are Two Parties In All Crimes:
1. Active subject (the criminal)
� Art. 16 enumerates the active subjects
of the crime.
2. Passive subject (the injured party)
� Is the holder of the injured right: the
man, the juristic person, the group, and
the State.
� Note: Only natural persons can be the
active subject of crime because of the
highly personal nature of the criminal
responsibility.
� However, corporation and partnership
can be a passive subject of a crime.
� GENERALLY: Corpses and animals
cannot be passive subjects because
they have no rights that may be
injured.
EXCEPTION: Under Art. 253, the
crime of defamation may be
committed if the imputation tends to
blacken the memory of one who is
dead.
� This article applies only when the
offenders are to be judged by their
individual, and not collective, liability.
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ART.17.PRINCIPALS
THREE TYPES OF PRINCIPALS:
1. Principal by DIRECT PARTICIPATION
(par.1)
2. Principal by INDUCTION (par.2)
3. Principal by INDISPENSABLE
COOPERATION (par.3)
Requisites:
1. That they participated in the criminal
resolution; and (conspiracy)
2. That they carried out their plan and
personally took part in its execution by acts
which directly tended to the same end.
NOTE: If the second element is missing, those who
did not participate in the commission of the acts of
execution cannot be held criminally liable, unless the
crime agreed to be committed is treason, sedition,
coup d’ etat or rebellion.
MEANING OF “personally took part in its
execution”
� That the principal by direct participation must
be at the scene of the commission of the
crime, personally taking part in its execution.
� Under conspiracy, although he was not
present in the scene of the crime, he is
equally liable as a principal by direct
participation.
Ex: One serving as guard pursuant to the
conspiracy is a principal by direct
participation
CONSPIRACY – there is unity of purpose and
intention.
How conspiracy is established:
• It is proven by overt act and beyond reasonable
doubt
• Mere knowledge or approval is insufficient
• It is not necessary that there be formal
agreement
• Conspiracy is implied when the accused had a
common purpose and were united in execution.
• Unity of purpose and intention in the commission
of the crime may be shown in the following
cases:
1. Spontaneous agreement at the moment of
the commission of the crime
2. Active cooperation by all the offenders in the
perpetration of the crime
3. Contribution by positive acts to the realization
of a common criminal intent
4. Presence during the commission of the crime
by a band and lending moral support thereto.
• While conspiracy may be implied from the
circumstances attending the commission of the
crime, it is nevertheless a rule that conspiracy
must be established by positive and conclusive
evidence.
NOTES:
� Conspirator is not liable for the crimes of the
others which are not the object of the conspiracy
nor are logical or necessary consequences
thereof
� Regarding multiple rape – each rapist is liable for
another’s crime because each cooperated in the
commission of the rapes perpetrated by the
others
EXCEPTION: in the crime of murder w/
treachery – all the offenders must at least
know that there will be treachery in executing
the crime or cooperate therein.
� No such thing as conspiracy to commit an
offense through negligence. However, special
laws may make one a co-principal.
� Conspiracy is negated by the acquittal of codefendant.
Requisites:
1. That the inducement be made directly with
the intention of procuring the commission of
the crime; and
2. That such inducement be the determining
cause of the commission of the crime by the
material executor.
� One cannot be held guilty of having instigated the
commission of the crime without first being
shown that the crime was actually committed (or
attempted) by another.
� Thus, there can be no principal by inducement
(or by indispensable cooperation) unless there is
a principal by direct participation. But there can
be a principal by direct participation without a
Par. 1 – Principals by direct participation
Par. 2 – Principals by induction
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principal by inducement (or by indispensable
cooperation).
Two Ways Of Becoming Principal By Induction:
1. By directly forcing another to commit a crime
by :
a) Using irresistible force.
b) Causing uncontrollable fear.
� In these cases, there is no conspiracy, not
even a unity of criminal purpose and
intention. Only the one using the force or
causing the fear is criminally liable. The
material executor is not criminally liable
because of Art. 12, pars. 5 and 6
(exempting circumstances)
2. By directly inducing another to commit a
crime by –
a) Giving of price, or offering of reward or
promise.
� The one giving the price or offering the
reward or promise is a principal by
inducement while the one committing the
crime in consideration thereof is a principal
by direct participation. There is collective
criminal responsibility.
b) Using words of command
� The person who used the words of
command is a principal by inducement
while the person who committed the crime
because of the words of command is a
principal by direct participation. There is
also collective criminal responsibility.
Requisites for words of command to be
considered inducement:
1. Commander has the intention of procuring
the commission of the crime
2. Commander has ascendancy or influence
3. Words used be so direct, so efficacious, so
powerful
4. Command be uttered prior to the commission
5. Executor had no personal reason
NOTE: Words uttered in the heat of anger and in the
nature of the command that had to be obeyed do not
make one an inductor.
� The inducement must precede the act induced
and must be so influential in producing the
criminal act that without it, the act would not have
been performed. Mere imprudent advice is not
inducement.
� If the person who actually committed the crime
had reason of his own to commit the crime, it
cannot be said that the inducement was
influential in producing the criminal act.
PRINCIPAL BY
INDUCEMENT
OFFENDER WHO
MADE PROPOSAL TO
COMMIT A FELONY
In both
There is an inducement to commit a crime
When liable
Becomes liable only
when the crime is
committed by the
principal by direct
participation.
The mere proposal to
commit a felony is
punishable in treason or
rebellion. However, the
person to whom the
proposal is made should
not commit the crime,
Otherwise, the proponent
becomes a principal by
inducement.
What kind of crime involved
Involves any crime The proposal to be
punishable must involve
only treason or rebellion.
Effects Of Acquittal Of Principal By Direct
Participation Upon Liability Of Principal By
Inducement:
1. Conspiracy is negatived by the acquittal of codefendant.
2. One cannot be held guilty of having instigated the
commission of a crime without first being shown
that the crime has been actually committed by
another.
� But if the one charged as principal by direct
participation is acquitted because he acted
without criminal intent or malice, his acquittal
is not a ground for the acquittal of the
principal by inducement.
� REASON FOR THE RULE: In exempting
circumstances, such as when the act is not
voluntary because of lack of intent on the
part of the accused, there is a crime
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committed, only that the accused is not a
criminal.
Requisites:
1. Participation in the criminal resolution, that is,
there is either anterior conspiracy or unity of
criminal purpose and intention immediately
before the commission of the crime charged;
and
2. Cooperation in the commission of the offense
by performing another act, without which it
would not have been accomplished.
MEANING OF “cooperation in the commission of
the offense”
To desire or wish in common a thing. But that
common will or purpose does not necessarily mean
previous understanding, for it can be explained or
inferred from the circumstances of each case.
NOTE: If the cooperation is not indispensable,
the offender is only an accomplice.
Collective Criminal Responsibility:
� This is present when the offenders are criminally
liable in the same manner and to the same
extent. The penalty to be imposed must be the
same for all.
� Principals by direct participation have collective
criminal responsibility. Principals by induction,
(except those who directly forced another to
commit a crime) and principals by direct
participation have collective criminal
responsibility. Principals by indispensable
cooperation have collective criminal
responsibilities with the principals by direct
participation.
Individual Criminal Responsibility:
� In the absence of any previous conspiracy,
unity of criminal purpose and intention
immediately before the commission of the
crime, or community of criminal design, the
criminal responsibility arising from different acts
directed against one and the same person is
considered as individual and not collective, and
each of the participants is liable only for the act
committed by him.
QUASI-COLLECTIVE criminal responsibility:
Some of the offenders in the crime are principals and
the others are accomplices.
ART.18.ACCOMPLICES–
ACCOMPLICES - Persons who do not act as
principals but cooperate in the execution of the
offense by previous and simultaneous acts, which are
not indispensable to the commission of the crime.
They act as mere instruments that perform acts not
essential to the perpetration of the offense
Requisites: (the following must concur)
1. That there be community of design; that is,
knowing the criminal design of the principal
by direct participation, he concurs with the
latter his purpose;
2. That he cooperates in the execution of the
offense by previous or simultaneous acts,
with the intention of supplying material or
moral aid in the execution of the crime in an
efficacious way; and
3. That there be a relation between the acts
done by the principal and those attributed to
the person charged as an accomplice.
NOTES:
� Before there could be an accomplice, there
must be a principal by direct participation.
� The person charged as an accomplice should
not have inflicted a mortal wound. If he inflicted
a mortal wound, he becomes a principal by
direct participation.
� In case of doubt, the participation of the
offender will be considered that of an
accomplice rather than that of a principal.
ART.19.ACCESSORIES
Accessories are those who:
1. having knowledge of the commission of the
crime, and
2. without having participated therein either as
principals or accomplices, take part
subsequent to its commission in any of the
following acts:
a. By profiting themselves or assisting the
offender to profit by the effects of the
crime.
Par. 3 – Principal by indispensable
cooperation
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b. Assisting the offender to profit by the
effects of the crime.
c. By concealing or destroying the body of
the crime to prevent its discovery.
In profiting by the effects of the crime, the accessory
must receive the property from the principal. He
should not take it without the consent of the principal.
If he took it without the consent of the principal, he is
not an accessory but a principal in the crime of theft.
EXAMPLE:
PAR. 1 - person received and used property from
another, knowing it was stolen
PAR. 2 - placing a weapon in the hand of the
dead who was unlawfully killed to plant evidence,
or burying the deceased who was killed by the
principals
PAR. 3 - a) public officers who harbor, conceal or
assist in the escape of the principal of any crime
(not light felony) with abuse of his public
functions
b) private persons who harbor, conceal or assist
in the escape of the author of the crime – guilty of
treason, parricide, murder or an attempt against
the life of the President, or who is known to be
habitually guilty of some crime.
GENERAL RULE: If the Principal is acquitted the
Accessory is also acquitted. The responsibility of the
accessory is subordinate to that of the principal in a
crime
Exception: When the crime was in fact
committed by the principal, but the principal is
covered by exempting circumstances (Art 12)
and as a result he is not held liable. However, it is
possible that the accessory may still be held
liable even if the principal was acquitted by an
exempting circumstance
� Trial of accessory may proceed without awaiting
the result of the separate charge against the
principal because the criminal responsibilities are
distinct from each other
Two classes of accessories contemplated in par.
3 of art. 19
1. PUBLIC officers, who harbor, conceal or
assist in the escape of the principal of any
crime (not light felony) with abuse of his
public functions.
Requisites:
1. The accessory is a public officer.
2. He harbors, conceals, or assists in the
escape of the principal.
3. The public officer acts with abuse of his
public functions.
4. The crime committed by the principal is
any crime, provided it is not a light felony.
2. PRIVATE persons who harbor, conceal or
assist in the escape of the author of the crime
who is guilty of treason, parricide, murder, or
attempts against the life of the President, or
who is known to be habitually guilty of some
other crime.
Requisites:
1. The accessory is a private person.
2. He harbors, conceals or assists in the
escape of the author of the crime.
3. The crime committed by the principal is
either:
a. Treason,
b. Parricide,
c. Murder,
d. An attempt against the life of the
President, or
e. That the principal is known to be
habitually guilty of some other crime.
� Neither the letter nor the spirit of the law requires
that the principal be convicted before one may be
punished as an accessory. As long as the corpus
delicti is proved and the accessory’s participation
as such is shown, he can be held criminally
responsible and meted out the corresponding
penalty (Inovero vs. Coronel, CA, 65 O.G.
3160).
� The prescribed acts of the accessory under par.
2 must have been intended to prevent the
discovery of the crime, hence, mere silence does
not make one an accessory. If, however, the
crime involved is a conspiracy to commit treason,
his silence may hold him liable for misprision of
treason (Art. 116) but as a principal thereof.
� Where the accused misleads the authorities by
giving them false information, such act is
equivalent to concealment and he should be held
as an accessory.
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PRINCIPAL ACCESSORY
Takes direct part or cooperates
in, or induces the commission
of the crime
Does NOT take direct
part or cooperates in, or
induces the commission
of the crime
cooperates in the commission
of the offense by acts either
prior thereto or simultaneous
therewith
does not take part in the
commission of the
offense
Participates during commission
of the crime
Participation of the
accessory in all cases
always SUBSEQUENT
to the commission of the
crime
ANTI-FENCING LAW OF 1979
PRES. DECREE 1612
FENCING– is an act, with intent to gain, of buying,
selling, receiving, possessing, keeping, or in any
other manner dealing in anything of value which a
person knows or should have known to be derived
from the proceeds of the crime of robbery or theft.
FENCE– is a person who commits the act of fencing.
A fence who receives stolen property as aboveprovided
is not an accessory but a principal in the
crime defined in and punished by the Anti-Fencing
Law.
Mere possession of anything of value which has been
the subject of robbery or theft shall be prima facie
evidence of fencing.
ART.20.ACCESSORIES WHO ARE EXEMPT FROM
CRIMINAL LIABILITY
BASIS:
The exemption provided for in this article is based on
the ties of blood and the preservation of the
cleanliness of one’s name, which compels one to
conceal crimes committed by relatives so near as
those mentioned in this article.
AN ACCESSORY IS EXEMPT FROM CRIMINAL LIABLITY
WHEN THE PRINCIPAL IS HIS :
1. spouse, or
2. ascendant, or
3. descendant, or
4. legitimate, natural or adopted brother, sister
or relative by affinity within the same degree.
Accessory Is Not Exempt From Criminal Liability
Even If The Principal Is Related To Him, If Such
Accessory –
1. profited by the effects of the crime, or
2. assisted the offender to profit by the effects
of the crime.
REASON: Because such acts are prompted not by
affection but by a detestable greed.
NOTES:
� Nephew and Niece not included
� Public officer contemplated in par. 3 of Art. 19 is
exempt by reason of relationship to the principal,
even if such public officer acted with abuse of his
official functions.
REASON: Ties of blood or relationship
constitutes a more powerful incentive than the
call of duty.
P.D. 1829 penalizes the act of any person who
knowingly or willfully obstructs, impedes, frustrates or
delays the apprehension of suspects and the
investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.
� The benefits of the exception in Art. 20 do
not apply to PD 1829.
TITLE THREE
PENALTIES
Chapter One : PENALTIES IN GENERAL
PENALTY – suffering inflicted by the State for the
transgression of a law.
Different Juridical Conditions Of Penalty:
1. Must be productive of suffering, without
however affecting the integrity of the human
personality.
2. Must be commensurate with the offense –
different crimes must be punished with
different penalties.
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3. Must be personal – no one should be
punished for the crime of another.
4. Must be legal – it is the consequence of a
judgment according to law.
5. Must be certain – no one may escape its
effects.
6. Must be equal for all.
7. Must be correctional.
Purpose Of The State In Punishing Crimes
The State has an existence of its own to maintain, a
conscience to assert, and moral principles to be
vindicated. Penal justice must therefore be exercised
by the State in the service and satisfaction of a duty,
and rests primarily on the moral rightfulness of the
punishment inflicted (to secure justice). The basis of
the right to punish violations of penal law is the police
power of the State.
Theories Justifying Penalty:
1. Prevention – to prevent or suppress the
danger to the State arising from the criminal
act of the offender.
2. Self-defense – so as to protect society from
the threat and wrong inflicted by the criminal.
3. Reformation – the object of punishment in
criminal cases is to correct and reform the
offender.
4. Exemplarity – the criminal is punished to
serve as an example to deter others from
committing crimes.
5. Justice – that crime must be punished by the
State as an act of retributive justice, a
vindication of absolute right and moral law
violated by the criminal.
Three-Fold Purpose Of Penalty Under The Code:
1. Retribution or expiation – the penalty is
commensurate with the gravity of the offense.
2. Correction or reformation – shown by the rules
which regulate the execution of the penalties
consisting in deprivation of liberty.
3. Social defense – shown by its inflexible severity
to recidivists and habitual delinquents.
ART.21.PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED
RULE: A felony shall be punishable only by the
penalty prescribed by law at the time of its
commission. (Art. 21 simply announces the policy of
the state as regards punishment of crimes)
REASON: Because a law cannot be rationally
obeyed unless it is first shown, and a man cannot be
expected to obey an order that has not been given.
� It is a guaranty to the citizens of this country
that no act will be considered criminal until
the Government has made it so by law and
has provided a penalty.
� Subsidiary penalty for a crime cannot be
imposed, if it was “not prescribed by law prior
to its commission” (US vs. Macasaet
11Phil.447)
ART.22.RETROACTIVE EFFECT OF PENAL LAWS
NOTE: According to Reyes, Art. 22 is NOT applicable
to the provisions of the RPC. Its application to the
RPC can only be invoked where some former or
subsequent law is under consideration.
GENERAL RULE: Penal laws are applied
prospectively.
EXCEPTION: When retrospective application will
be favorable to the person guilty of a felony;
Provided that:
1. The offender is NOT a habitual criminal
(delinquent) under Art. 62(5);
2. The new or amendatory law does NOT
provide against its retrospective application.
The favorable retroactive effect of a new law may
find the defendant in one of the 3 situations:
1. The crime has been committed and the
prosecution begins
2. The sentence has been passed but service
has not begun
3. The sentence is being carried out
HABITUAL DELINQUENT - A person who, within a
period of ten 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.
EX POST FACTO LAW - An act which when
committed was not a crime, cannot be made so by
statute without violating the constitutional inhibition as
to ex post facto laws. An ex post facto law is one
which:
1. Makes criminal an act done before the
passage of the law and which was innocent
when done;
2. Aggravates a crime, or makes it greater
than it was, when committed;
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3. Changes the punishment and inflicts a
greater punishment than the law annexed
to the crime when committed;
4. Alters the legal rules of evidence, and
authorizes conviction upon a less or different
testimony than the law required at the time of
the commission of the offense;
5. Assumes to regulate civil rights and
remedies only, in effect imposing a penalty
or deprivation of a right for something which
when done was lawful; and
6. Deprives a person accused of a crime of
some lawful protection to which he has
become entitled, such as the protection of a
former conviction or acquittal, or a
proclamation of amnesty.
� If retroactive effect of a new law is justified, it
shall apply to the defendant even if he is:
1. presently on trial for the offense;
2. has already been sentenced but service
of which has not begun; or
3. already serving sentence
� The retroactive effect of criminal statutes does
NOT apply to the culprit’s civil liability.
� REASON: The rights of offended persons or
innocent third parties are not within the gift of
arbitrary disposal of the State.
� The provisions of Art. 22 are applicable even to
special laws which provide more favorable
conditions to the accused.
� New law may provide that its provisions not to be
applied to cases already filed in court at the time
of the approval of such law.
Criminal liability under the repealed law
SUBSISTS:
1. When the provisions of the former law are
reenacted; or
(Note: The right to punish offenses committed
under an old penal law is not extinguished if the
offenses are still punishable in the repealing
penal law.)
2. When the repeal is by implication; or
(Note: When a penal law, which impliedly
repealed an old law, is itself repealed, the repeal
of the repealing law revives the prior penal law,
unless the language of the repealing statute
provides otherwise. If the repeal is absolute,
criminal liability is obliterated.)
3. When there is a saving clause.
BILL OF ATTAINDER – A legislative act which
inflicts punishment without trial.
ART.23.EFFECT OF PARDON BY THE OFFENDED
PARTY–
GENERAL RULE: Pardon by the offended party
does not extinguish the criminal liability of the
offender. REASON: A crime committed is an offense
against the State. Only the Chief Executive can
pardon the offenders.
EXCEPTION: Pardon by the offended party will
bar criminal prosecution in the following crimes:
� Adultery and Concubinage (Art. 344,
RPC)
– EXPRESS or IMPLIED pardon must
be given by offended party to BOTH
offenders.
– Pardon must be given PRIOR to
institution of criminal action.
� Seduction, Abduction, Acts of
Lasciviousness (Art. 344, RPC)
- EXPRESS pardon given by offended
party or her parents or grandparents
or guardian
- Pardon must be given PRIOR to the
institution of the criminal action.
However, marriage between the
offender and the offended party
EVEN AFTER the institution of the
criminal action or conviction of the
offender will extinguish the criminal
action or remit the penalty already
imposed against the offender, his coprincipals,
accomplices and
accessories after the fact.
� Rape (as amended by R.A. 8353)
- The subsequent valid marriage
between the offender and the
offended party shall extinguish
criminal liability or the penalty
imposed. In case the legal husband
is the offender, subsequent
forgiveness by the wife as offended
party shall also produce the same
effect.
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NOTE:
� Pardon by the offended party under Art. 344 is
ONLY A BAR to criminal prosecution; it is NOT
a ground for extinguishment of criminal liability.
It DOES NOT extinguish criminal liability. It is
not one of the causes that totally extinguish
criminal liability in Art 89
� Nevertheless, civil liability may be extinguished
by the EXRESS WAIVER of the offended
party.Civil liability w/ regard to the interest of
the injured party is extinguished by the latter’s
express waiver because personal injury may
be repaired through indemnity. Waiver must be
express. State has no reason to insist on its
payment.
AN OFFENSE CAUSES TWO CLASSES OF
INJURIES:
SOCIAL INJURY PERSONAL INJURY
Produced by the
disturbance and
alarm which are the
outcome of the
offense.
Caused to the victim of the
crime who suffered
damage either to his
person, to his property, to
his honor or to her
chastity.
Is sought to be
repaired through the
imposition of the
corresponding
penalty.
Is repaired through
indemnity.
The offended party
cannot pardon the
offender so as to
relieve him of the
penalty.
The offended party may
waive the indemnity and
the State has no reason to
insist in its payment.
ART.24.MEASURES OF PREVENTION
OR SAFETY, WHICH ARE NOT CONSIDERED
PENALTIES
The Following Shall Not Be Considered As
Penalties:
1. The arrest and temporary detention of
accused persons, as well as their detention
by reason of insanity or imbecility, or illness
requiring their confinement in a hospital.
2. The commitment of a minor to any of the
institutions mentioned in Art. 80 (now Art.
192, PD No. 603) and for the purposes
specified therein.
3. Suspension from the employment or public
office during the trial or in order to institute
proceedings.
4. Fines and other corrective measures which,
in the exercise of their administrative or
disciplinary powers, superior officials may
impose upon their subordinates.
5. Deprivation of rights and the reparations
which the civil law may establish in penal
form.
Reasons why they are not penalties:
1. Because they are not imposed as a result of
judicial proceedings. Those mentioned in
paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 are merely preventive
measures before conviction of offenders.
2. The offender is not subjected to or made to suffer
these measures in expiation of or as punishment
for a crime.
Note: Those in par 1, 3 and 4 are merely preventive
measures before the conviction of offenders.
� Par. 1 refers to “accused persons” who are
detained “by reason of insanity or imbecility.”
It does not refer to the confinement of an
insane or imbecile who has not been
arrested for a crime. It
� Paragraphs 3 and 4 refer to administrative
suspension and administrative fines and not
to suspension or fine as penalties for
violations of the RPC. Fines in par. 4 do not
constitute as penalties because they are not
imposed by the court.
� The deprivations of rights established in
penal form by the civil laws is illustrated in
the case of parents who are deprived of their
parental authority if found guilty of the crime
of corruption of their minor children, in
accordance with Art. 332 of the Civil Code.
� Where a minor offender was committed to a
reformatory pursuant to Art. 80 (now, PD
603), and while thus detained he commits a
crime therein, he cannot be considered a
quasi-recidivist since his detention was only
a preventive measure, whereas a quasirecidivism
presupposes the commission of a
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crime during the service of the penalty for a
previous crime.
� Commitment of a minor is not a penalty
because it is not imposed by the court in a
judgment. The imposition of the sentence in
such a case is suspended.
Fines:
1. Afflictive – over 6000
2. Correctional – 201 to 6000
3. Light – 200 and less
NOTES:
� The classification applies if the fine is imposed
as a single or alternative penalty. Hence, it
does not apply if the fine is imposed together
with another penalty.
� Fines are imposed either as alternative (Ex: Art
144 punishing disturbance of proceedings with
arresto mayor or fine from 200 pesos to 1000
pesos) or single (Ex. fine of 200 to 6000 pesos)
� Penalty cannot be imposed in the alternative
since it is the duty of the court to indicate the
penalty imposed definitely and positively. Thus,
the court cannot sentence the guilty person in a
manner as such as “to pay fine of 1000 pesos,
or to suffer an imprisonment of 2 years, and to
pay the costs.”
� If the fine imposed by the law for the felony is
exactly 200 pesos, it is a light felony.
* People vs. Yu Hai (99 Phil. 725):
Under Art. 9, where the fine in question is
exactly P200, it is a light penalty, thus the
offense is a light felony; whereas under Art. 26,
it is a correctional penalty, hence the offense
involved is a less grave felony. It that this
discrepancy should be resolved liberally in
favor of the accused, hence Art. 9 prevails over
Art. 26.
Bond to keep the peace is by analogy:
Affli
ctive
–
over
600
0;
Corr
ecti
onal – 201 to 6000; Light – 200 and less
Section One. — Duration of Penalties
1. Reclusión perpetua – 20 years and 1 day to
40 years
2. Reclusión temporal – 12 years and 1 day to
20 years
3. Prisión mayor and temporary
disqualification – 6 years and 1 day to 12
years, except when disqualification is an
accessory penalty, in which case its duration
is that of the principal penalty
4. Prisión correccional, suspensión, and
destierro – 6 months and 1 day to 6 years,
except when suspensión is an accessory
penalty, in which case its duration is that of
the principal penalty
5. Arresto mayor – 1 month and 1 day to 6
months
Distinction between classification of Penalties in
Art. 9 and Art. 26
Article 9 Article 26
Applicable in
determining the
prescriptive period of
felonies
Applicable in determining
the prescriptive period of
penalties
Chapter Three
DURATION AND EFFECTS OF PENALTIES
ART. 26: WHEN AFFLICTIVE, CORRECTIONAL,
OR LIGHT PENALTY
Art. 27: RECLUSION PERPETUA
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6. Arresto menor – 1 day to 30 days
7. Bond to keep the peace – The period is
discretionary on the court.
NOTES:
1. Destierro is a principal, divisible and
correctional penalty.
2. Cases when destierro imposed:
a. Serious physical injuries or death
under exceptional circumstances
(Art. 247)
b. In case of failure to give bond for
good behavior (Art. 284)
c. As a penalty for the concubine in
concubinage (Art. 334)
d. In cases where after reducing the
penalty by one or more degrees,
destierro is the proper penalty.
Rules on Computation of Penalties:
1. When the offender is in prison – the
duration of the temporary penalties
(Permanent Absolute Disqualification,
Temporary Absolute Disqualification,
detention, suspension) is from the day on
which the judgment of conviction becomes
final.
2. When the offender is not in prison – the
duration of the penalty of deprivation of
liberty is from the day that the offender is
placed at the disposal of judicial authorities
for the enforcement of the penalty
3. The duration of the other penalties – the
duration is from the day on w/c the offender
commences to serve his sentence
NOTES:
� Reason for rule (a) – Under Art 24, the arrest
and temporary detention of the accused is
not considered a penalty.
� if in custody, the accused appealed, the
service of the sentence should commence
from the date of the promulgation of the
decision of the appellate court, not the trial
court’s.
� Service in prison begins only on the day the
judgment of conviction becomes final.
� In cases of temporary penalties, and if the
offender is under detention (as when
undergoing preventive imprisonment), rule
(a) applies.
� If he is not under detention (released on bail),
rule (c) applies.
� If offender is under preventive imprisonment,
rule (c) applies, not rule (a).
� The offender is entitled to a deduction of the
full time or 4/5 of the time of his detention.
Instances when accused undergoes preventive
suspension:
1. offense is non-bailable
2. bailable but can’t furnish bail
Notes:
� The full time or 4/5 of the time during which
the offenders have undergone preventive
suspension shall be deducted from the
penalty imposed:
� full time: if the detention prisoner
agrees voluntarily in writing to abide
by the same disciplinary rules
imposed upon convicted prisoners
� four-fifths of the time: if the
detention prisoner does not agree to
abide by the same disciplinary rules
imposed upon convicted prisoners
� In the case of a youthful offender who has
been proceeded against under the Child and
Youth Welfare Code, he shall be credited in
the service of his sentence with the full time
of his actual detention, regardless if he
agreed to abide by the same disciplinary
rules of the institution or not.
� Offenders not entitled to be credited with the
full time or four-fifths of the time of their
preventive imprisonment:
� Recidivists or those convicted
previously twice or more times of any
crime.
� Those who, upon being summoned
for the execution of their sentence,
failed to surrender voluntarily
(convicts who failed to voluntarily
surrender to serve their penalties
under a final judgment, not those
who failed or refused to voluntarily
surrender after the commission of the
crime)
� Habitual Delinquents are not entitled to credit
of time under preventive imprisonment since
he is necessarily a recidivist or has been
convicted previously twice or more times of
ART. 28: COMPUTATION OF PENALTIES
ART. 29: PERIOD OF PREVENTIVE
IMPRISONMENT DEDUCTED FROM TERM OF
IMPRISONMENT
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any crime.
� Duration of RP is to be computed at 30
years, thus, even if the accused is sentenced
to life imprisonment, he is entitled to the full
time or 4/5 of the time of preventive
suspension
� Credit is given in the service of sentences
consisting of deprivation of liberty
(imprisonment and destierro), whether
perpetual or temporal. Thus, persons who
had undergone preventive imprisonment but
the offense is punishable by a fine only would
not be given credit.
� Destierro is considered a “deprivation of
liberty.”
� If the penalty imposed is arresto menor to
destierro, the accused who has been in
prison for 30 days (arresto menor to 30 days)
should be released because although the
maximum penalty is destierro (6 months and
1 day to 6 years), the accused sentenced to
such penalty does not serve it in prison.
Section Two. — Effects of the
penaltiesaccording to their respective nature
NOTES:
� The exclusion is a mere disqualification from
protection, and not for punishment – the
withholding of a privilege, not a denial of a
right.
� Perpetual absolute disqualification is
effective during the lifetime of the convict and
even after the service of the sentence.
� Temporary absolute disqualification is
effective during the term of sentence and is
removed after the service of the same.
Exceptions: (1) deprivation of the public office
or employment; (2) loss of all rights to
retirement pay or other pension for any office
formerly held.
� A plebiscite is not mentioned or contemplated
in Art.30, par. 2 (deprivation of the right to
vote), hence, the offender may vote in that
exercise, subject to the provisions of
pertinent election laws at the time.
Effects of Perpetual and temporary absolute
disqualification:
1. Deprivation of any public office or
employment of offender
2. Deprivation of the right to vote in any election
or to be voted upon
3. Loss of rights to retirement pay or pension
All these effects last during the lifetime of the
convict and even after the service of the
sentence except as regards paragraphs 2 and 3
of the above in connection with Temporary
Absolute Disqualification.
NOTE: Temporary disqualification if imposed is an
accessory penalty. Its duration is that of the principal
penalty.
Effects of Perpetual and Temporary Special
Disqualification:
1. For public office, profession, or calling
a. Deprivation of the office,
employment, profession or calling
affected
b. Disqualification for holding similar
offices or employment during the
period of disqualification
2. For the exercise of the right of suffrage
a. Deprivation of the right to vote or to
be elected in an office
b. Cannot hold any public office during
the period of disqualification
Effects:
1. Disqualification from holding such office or
the exercise of such profession or right of
suffrage during the term of the sentence
2. Cannot hold another office having similar
functions during the period of suspension
ART 34: CIVIL INTERDCTION
ART. 30: EFFECTS OF THE PENALTIES OF
PERPETUAL OR TEMPORARY ABSOLUTE
DISQUALIFICATION
ART. 31: EFFECT OF THE PENALTIES OF
PERPETUAL OR TEMPORARY SPECIAL
DISQUALIFICATION
ART. 32: EFFECT OF THE PENALTIES OF
PERPETUAL OR TEMPORARY SPECIAL
DISQUALIFICATION FOR THE EXERCISE OF
THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE
ART. 33: EFFECTS OF THE PENALTIES OF
SUSPENSION FROM ANY PUBLIC OFFICE,
PROFESSION OR CALLING, OR THE RIGHT
OF SUFFRAGE
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Effects;Deprivation of the following rights:
1. Parental rights
2. Guardianship over the ward
3. Marital authority
4. Right to manage property and to dispose of
the same by acts inter vivos
Civil Interdiction is an accessory penalty to the
following principal penalties:
1. If death penalty is commuted to life
imprisonment
2. Reclusion perpetua
3. Reclusion temporal
*He can dispose of such property by will or donation
mortis causa
Bond to keep the peace is different from bail bond
which is posted for the provisional release of a
person arrested for or accused of a crime. Bond to
keep the peace or for good behavior is imposed as a
penalty in threats.
NOTES:
� Pardon by the President does not restore the
right to public office or suffrage except when
both are expressly restored in the pardon.
Nor does it exempt one from civil liability or
from payment of civil indemnity.
� Limitations to President’s power to pardon:
o can be exercised only after final
judgment
o does not extend to cases of
impeachment
o does not extinguish civil liability –
only criminal liability
GENERAL RULE: Pardon granted in general terms
does not include accessory penalties.
Exceptions:
1. if the absolute pardon is granted after the
term of imprisonment has expired, it removes
all that is left of the consequences of
conviction. However, if the penalty is life
imprisonment and after the service of 30
years, a pardon is granted, the pardon does
not remove the accessory penalty of absolute
perpetual disqualification
2. if the facts and circumstances of the case
show that the purpose of the President is to
precisely restore the rights i.e., granting
absolute pardon after election to a post
(mayor) but before the date fixed by law for
assuming office to enable him to assume the
position in deference to the popular will
Pardon by the offended party – does not extinguish
criminal liability; may include offended party waiving
civil indemnity and it should be done before the
institution of the criminal prosecution and extended to
both offenders.
PARDON BY
THE CHIEF
EXECUTIVE
(ART. 36)
PARDON BY
OFFENDED
PARTY (ART.
23)
Crime
covered
Any crime,
unless
otherwise
provided by or
subject to
conditions in
the Constitution
or the laws
Crimes against
chastity under
the RPC only
Extinguishment
of
criminal
liability
Extinguishes
criminal liability
Does not
extinguish
criminal liability
although it may
constitute a bar
to the
prosecution of
the offender
Effect on
civil liability
Cannot affect
the civil liability
ex delicto of the
offender
Offended party
can waive the
civil liability
When
granted
Only after
conviction by
final judgment
Only before the
institution of the
criminal action
To whom
granted
Any or all of the
accused
In adultery and
concubinage,
must include
both offenders
Whether it
can be
conditional
May be
absolute or
conditional
Cannot validly
be made
subject to a
condition
Costs include:
1. fees
ART. 35: EFFECTS OF BOND TO KEEP THE
PEACE
ART. 36: PARDON; ITS EFFECT
ART. 37: COST; WHAT ARE INCLUDED
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2. indemnities, in the course of judicial
proceedings
NOTE:
� Costs (expenses of the litigation) are
chargeable to the accused in case of
conviction. In case of acquittal, the costs are
de oficio, each party bearing his own
expense.
� No costs are allowed against the Republic of
the Philippines, until law provides the
contrary.
� The payment of costs is fully discretionary on
the Court.
Pecuniary liabilities of persons criminally liable,
in the following order:
1. The reparation of the damage caused
2. Indemnification of the consequential
damages
3. Fine
4. Costs of proceedings
NOTES:
� It is applicable in case the properties of the
offender are not sufficient for the payment of
all his pecuniary liabilities. Hence, if the
offender has insufficient or no property, there
is no use for Art 38.
� Order of payment is mandatory.
Ex. Juan inflicted serious physical injuries against
Pedro and took the latter’s watch and ring. He
incurred P500 worth of hospital bills and failed to
earn P300 worth of salary. Given that Juan only
has P1000 worth of property not exempt from
execution, it shall first be applied to the payment
of the watch and ring which cannot be returned,
as such is covered by “reparation of the damage
caused,” thus, no. 1 in the order of payment. The
500 and 300 are covered by “indemnification of
the consequential damage,” thus, no. 2 in the
order of payment.
NOTES:
� When the penalty prescribed is
imprisonment, it is the penalty actually
imposed by the Court, not the penalty
provided for by the Code, which should be
considered in determining whether or not
subsidiary penalty should be imposed.
� There is no subsidiary penalty for nonpayment
of reparation, indemnification and
costs in par 1, 2 and 4 of Art 38. It is only for
fines.
� Art 39 applies only when the convict has no
property with which to meet the fine in par 3
of art 38. Thus, a convict who has nonexempt
property enough to meet the fine
cannot choose to serve the subsidiary
penalty instead of payment of the fine.
� Subsidiary imprisonment is not an accessory
penalty. It is covered by Arts. 40-45 of this
Code. Accessory penalties are deemed
imposed even when not mentioned, while
subsidiary imprisonment must be expressly
imposed.
RULES AS TO SUBSIDIARY PENALTY
1. If the penalty imposed is prisión correccional
or arresto and fine – subsidiary imprisonment
is not to exceed 1/3 of the term of the
sentence, and in no case to continue for
more than one year. Fraction or part of a day,
not counted.
2. When the penalty imposed is fine only –
subsidiary imprisonment is:
� not to exceed 6 months – if the
culprit is prosecuted for grave
or less grave felony, and
� not to exceed 15 days – if
prosecuted for light felony.
3. When the penalty imposed is higher than
prisión correccional – no subsidiary
imprisonment.
4. If the penalty imposed is not to be executed
by confinement, but of fixed duration –
subsidiary penalty shall consist in the same
deprivations as those of the principal penalty,
under the same rules as nos. 1, 2 and 3
above.
5. In case the financial circumstances of the
convict should improve, he shall pay the fine,
notwithstanding the fact that the convict
suffered subsidiary personal liability therefor.
WHERE NO SUBSIDIARY PENALTY SHALL BE
IMPOSED:
1. The penalty imposed is higher than prisión
correccional or 6 years,
2. For non-payment of reparation or
indemnification,
3. For non-payment of costs, and
4. Where the penalty imposed is a fine and
another penalty without fixed duration, like
ART. 39: SUBSIDIARY PENALTY
ART. 38: PECUNIARY LIABILITIES; ORDER OF
PAYMENT
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censure.
Section Three. — Penalties in which other
accessory penalties are inherent
ART. 40: DEATH; ITS ACCESSORY PENALTIES
ART. 41: RECLUSION PERPETUA AND
RECLUSION TEMPORAL; THEIR ACCESSORY
PENALTIES
ART. 42: PRISION MAYOR; ITS ACCESSORY
PENALTIES
ART. 43: PRISION CORRECCIONAL; ITS
ACCESSORY PENALTIES
ART. 44: ARRESTO; ITS ACCESSORY PENALTIES
Outline Of Accessory Penalties Inherent In
Principal Penalties
1. Death, if not executed because of
commutation or pardon
a. perpetual absolute disqualification
b. civil interdiction during 30 years (if
not expressly remitted in the pardon)
2. Reclusion Perpetua and Reclusion Temporal
a. civil interdiction for life or during the
sentence
b. perpetual absolute disqualification
(unless expressly remitted in the
pardon)
3. Prision Mayor
a. temporary absolute disqualification
b. perpetual special disqualification
from suffage (unless expressly
remitted in the pardon)
4. Prision Correccional
a. suspension from public office,
profession or calling
b. perpetual special disqualification
from suffrage if the duration of the
imprisonment exceeds 18 months
(unless expressly remitted in the
pardon)
NOTES:
� The accessory penalties in Art 40-44 must be
suffered by the offender, although pardoned
as to the principal penalties. To be relieved of
these penalties, they must be expressly
remitted in the pardon.
� No accessory penalty for destierro
� Persons who served out the penalty may not
have the right to exercise the right of
suffrage. For a prisoner who has been
sentenced to one year of imprisonment or
more for any crime, absolute pardon restores
to him his political rights. If the penalty is less
than one year, disqualification does not
attach except if the crime done was against
property.
� The nature of the crime is immaterial when
the penalty imposed is one year
imprisonment or more.
� The accessory penalties are understood to
be always imposed upon the offender by the
mere fact that the law fixes a certain penalty
for the crime.
� The accessory penalties do not affect the
jurisdiction of the court in which the
information is filed because they do not
modify or alter the nature of the penalty
provided by law. What determines jurisdiction
in criminal cases is the principal penalty.
1. Every penalty imposed carries with it the
forfeiture of the proceeds of the crime and
the instruments or tools used in the
commission of the crime.
2. The proceeds and instruments/tools of the
crime are confiscated in favor of the
government.
3. The property of 3rd persons (not liable for the
offense) is not subject to confiscation and
RECLUSION
PERPETUA
LIFE IMPRISONMENT
Specific duration of
20 years and 1 day
to 40 years and
accessory penalties
no definite term or
accessory penalties
Imposable on
felonies punished by
the RPC
Imposable on crimes
punishable by special
laws
ART. 45: CONFISCATION AND FORFEITURE
OF THE PROCEEDS OR INSTRUMENTS OF
THE CRIME
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forfeiture.
4. Property not subject of lawful commerce
(whether it belongs to the accused or a 3rd
person) shall be destroyed.
NOTES:
� There cannot be confiscation or forfeiture
unless there’s a criminal case filed, tried and
accused is convicted.
� Third person must be indicted to effect
confiscation of his property.
� Instruments of the crime belonging to an
innocent 3rd person may be recovered.
� Confiscation can be ordered only if the
property is submitted in evidence or placed at
the disposal of the court.
� When the order of forfeiture has already
become final, the articles which were forfeited
can not be returned, even in case of an
acquittal.
� There must be conviction by final judgment.
However, even if the accused is acquitted on
reasonable doubt, but the instruments or
proceeds are contraband, the judgment of
acquittal shall order their forfeiture for
appropriate disposition.
� Confiscation & forfeiture are additional
penalties. When the penalty imposed did not
include the confiscation of the goods involved,
the subsequent confiscation & forfeiture of
said goods would be an additional penalty,
amounting to an increase of the penalty
already imposed, thereby placing the accused
in double jeopardy. In case the accused
appeals, confiscation and forfeiture not
ordered by the trial court may be imposed by
the appellate court
� The government can not appeal the
modification of a sentence if the defendant did
not appeal. But if the defendant appeals, it
removes all bars to the review and correction
of the penalty imposed by the court below,
even if an increase thereof should be the
result
When Art. 45 cannot apply:
1. The instruments belong to innocent third
parties
2. Such properties have not been placed under
the jurisdiction of the court
3. When it is legally or physically impossible.
Chapter Four
APPLICATION OF PENALTIES
Section One. — Rules for the application of
penalties to the persons criminally liable and for
the graduation of the same.
GENERAL RULE: The penalty prescribed by law in
general terms shall be imposed:
1. upon the principals
2. for consummated felony
EXCEPTION: when the law fixes a penalty for
the frustrated or attempted felony. Whenever it is
believed that the penalty lower by one or two
degrees corresponding to said acts of execution
is not proportionate to the wrong done, the law
fixes a distinct penalty for the principal in the
frustrated or attempted felony.
The Graduation Of Penalties Refers To:
1. By degree
a. stages of execution (consummated,
frustrated, attempted)
b. degree of the criminal participation of
the offender (principal, accomplice,
accessory)
2. By period
a. (minimum, medium, maximum) -
refers to the proper period of the
penalty w/c should be imposed when
aggravating or mitigating
circumstances attend the
commission of the crime
Death Penalty Not Imposed In The Following
Cases:
1. under age - when the offender is under 18
yrs of age at the time of commission.
� Why? - Because minority is always
a mitigating circumstance
2. over age - when the person is more than 70
years old at time RTC sentenced him
3. no court majority - when upon appeal or
ART. 46: PENALTY TO BE IMPOSED UPON
PRINCIPALS IN GENERAL
ART. 47: IN WHAT CASES THE DEATH
PENALTY SHALL NOT BE IMPOSED
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automatic review of the case by the SC,
the vote of eight members is not obtained for
the imposition of death
JUSTIFICATION FOR THE DEATH PENALTY:
social defense and exemplarity. Not considered cruel
and unusual because it does not involve torture or
lingering death.
CRIMES PUNISHABLE BY DEATH UNDER THE
DEATH PENALTY LAW (RA 7659)
1. Treason
2. Qualified Piracy
3. Qualified Bribery
4. Parricide
5. Murder
6. Infanticide
7. Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention
8. Robbery – with Homicide, Rape, Intentional
Mutilation, or Arson
9. Rape – with the use of a deadly weapon, or
by two or more persons
- where the victim became insane
- with Homicide
10. Qualified Rape
11. Destructive Arson
12. Plunder
13. Violation of certain provisions of the
Dangerous Drugs Act
14. Carnapping
ART.48: PENALTY FOR COMPLEX CRIMES
COMPLEX CRIME – although there actually are two
or more crimes, the law treats them as constituting
only one- as there is only one criminal intent. Only
one information need be filed.
2 Kinds Of Complex Crimes:
1. compound crime – single act constitutes 2
or more grave or less grave felonies
Requisites:
a. that only one single act is performed
by the offender
b. that the single act produces
i. 2 or more grave felonies
ii. one or more grave and one
or more less grave felonies
iii. 2 or more less grave felonies
2. complex crime proper – when an offense is
a necessary means for committing another
Requisites:
1. that at least 2 offenses are
committed
2. that one or some of the offenses
must be necessary to commit the
other
3. that both or all the offenses must be
punished under the same statute
No Single Act In The Following Cases:
1. when 2 persons are killed one after the other,
by different acts, although these 2 killings
were the result of a single criminal impulse.
The different acts must be considered as
distinct crimes.
2. when the acts are wholly different, not only in
themselves, but also because they are
directed against 2 different persons, as when
one fires his gun twice in succession, killing
one and injuring the other.
Light felonies produced by the same act should be
treated and punished as separate offenses, or may
be absorbed by the grave felony.
NOTES:
� When in obedience to an order, several
accused simultaneously shot many persons,
w/o evidence how many each killed, there is
only a single offense, there being a single
criminal impulse.
� For the attainment of a single purpose w/c
constitutes an offense, various acts are
executed, such acts must be considered only
as one offense. (Gregorio does not agree
with this.)
� When a complex crime is charged and one
offense is not proven, the accused can be
convicted of the other.
� There is no complex crime of arson w/
homicide.
� Art 48 is applicable to crimes through
negligence.
� Kidnapping the victim to murder him in a
secluded place – ransom wasn’t paid so
victim was killed. Kidnapping was a
necessary means to commit murder. But
where the victim was taken from his home
but it was solely for the purpose of killing him
and not for detaining him illegally or for the
purpose of ransom, the crime is simple
murder.
� “Necessary means” does not mean
“indispensable means”. Indispensable
would mean it is an element of the crime. The
crime can be committed by another mean.
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The means actually employed (another
crime) was merely to facilitate and insure the
consummation of the crime.
� It is not a complex crime when trespass to
dwelling is a direct means to commit a grave
offense. Like rape, there is no complex crime
of trespass to dwelling with rape. Trespass
will be considered as aggravating (unlawful
entry or breaking part of a dwelling)
� When the offender had in his possession the
funds w/c he misappropriated, the
falsification of a public or official document
involving said funds is a separate offense.
But when the offender had to falsify a public
or official document to obtain possession of
the funds w/c he misappropriated, the
falsification is a necessary means to commit
the malversation.
� There is no complex crime of rebellion w/
murder, arson, robbery or other common
crimes. They are mere ingredients of the
crime of rebellion – absorbed already.
(according to Ortega, complex)
� When 2 crimes produced by a single act are
respectively within the exclusive jurisdiction
of 2 courts of different jurisdiction, the court
of higher jurisdiction shall try the complex
crime.
� Art. 48 is intended to favor the culprit.
� The penalty for complex crime is the penalty
for the most serious crime, the same to be
applied in its maximum period. If the different
crimes resulting from one single act are
punished w/ the same penalty, the penalty for
any one of them shall be imposed, the same
to be applied in the maximum period. The
same rule shall be observed when an offense
is a necessary means to commit the other.
� A complex crime of the second form may be
committed by two persons.
� But when one of the offenses, as a means to
commit the other, was committed by one of
the accused by reckless imprudence, the
accused who committed the crime by
reckless imprudence is liable for his acts
only.
� When two felonies constituting a complex
crime are punishable by imprisonment and
fine, respectively, only the penalty of
imprisonment shall be imposed. Reason:
Fine is not included in the list of penalties in
the order of severity and it is the last in the
graduated scales in Art. 71.
� When a single act constitutes two grave or
less grave or one grave and another less
grave, and the penalty for one is
imprisonment while that for the other is fine,
the severity of the penalty for the more
serious crime should not be judged by the
classification of each of the penalties
involved, but by the nature of the penalties.
� In the order of severity of the penalties,
arresto mayor and arresto menor are
considered more severe than destierro and
arresto menor is higher in degree than
destierro.
There is NO COMPLEX CRIME in the following:
1. In case of continuing crimes
2. When one offense is committed to conceal
the other
3. When the other crime is an indispensable
part or an element of the other offenses as
defined
4. Where one of the offenses is penalized by a
special law
5. When the law provides one single penalty for
special complex crime:
a. Robbery with Homicide
b. Robbery with Rape
c. Rape with Homicide
d. Kidnapping with Serious Physical
Injuries
e. Kidnapping with Homicide
PLURALITY OF CRIMES – consists in the
successive execution by the same individual of
different criminal acts upon any of which no
conviction has yet been declared.
Kinds Of Plurality Of Crimes:
1. Formal or Ideal – only one criminal liability.
Formal or ideal crimes are further divided into
three groups, where a person committing
multiple crimes is punished with only one
penalty:
a. when the offender commits any of
the complex crimes defined in Art.
48
b. when the law specifically fixes a
single penalty for 2 or more
offenses committed: robbery w/
homicide, kidnapping w/
serious physical injuires
c. when the offender commits
continued crimes
2. Real Or Material – there are different crimes
in law as well as in the conscience of the
offender. In such cases, the offender shall be
punished for each and every offense that he
committed.
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CONTINUED CRIME – refers to a single crime
consisting of a series of acts but all arising from one
criminal resolution. Although there is a series of acts,
there is only one crime committed, so only one
penalty shall be imposed.
Ex of continued crimes:
a. A collector of a commercial firm
misappropriates for his personal use several
amounts collected by him from different
persons. There is only one crime because
the different and successive appropriations
are but the different moments during w/c one
criminal resolution arises.
b. Juan steals 2 books belonging to 2 different
persons. He commits only one crime
because there is unity of thought in the
criminal purpose of the offender.
NOTE: A continued crime is not a complex crime, as
the offender does not perform a single act but a
series of acts. Therefore:
a. penalty not to be imposed in the maximum
b. no actual provision punishing continued
crime – It is a principle applied in connection
with 2 or more crimes committed with a
single intention.
NOTE: A continued (continuous or continuing) crime
is different from a transitory crime. Transitory crime
is “moving crime”.
REAL/MATERIAL
PLURALITY
CONTINUED CRIME
There is a series of acts
performed by the offender
Same
Each act performed constitutes
a separate crime because
each act is generated by a
criminal impulse
Different acts constitute
only one crime because
all of the acts performed
arise from one criminal
resolution.
PLURALITY OF CRIMES RECIDIVISM
No conviction of the crimes
committed
There must be conviction
by final judgment of the first
prior offense
RULES:
1. If the penalty for the felony committed be
higher than the penalty for the offense which
the accused intended to commit, the lower
penalty shall be imposed in its maximum
period.
2. If the penalty for the felony committed be
lower than the penalty for the offense which
the accused intended to commit, the lower
penalty shall be imposed in its maximum
period.
3. If the act committed also constitutes an
attempt or frustration of another crime, and
the law prescribes a higher penalty for either
of the latter, the penalty for the attempted or
frustrated crime shall be imposed in its
maximum period.
NOTES:
� Art. 49 has reference to the provision in the
1st par of Art .4 which provides that criminal
liability shall be incurred “by any person
committing a felony although the wrongful act
done be different from that which he
intended.”
� Art. 49 is applicable only in cases when there
is a mistake in identity of the victim of the
crime (error in personae) and the penalty for
the crime committed is different from that for
the crime intended to be committed.
� Art. 49 also has no application where a more
serious consequence not intended by the
offender befalls the same person.
� In Art. 49, pars. 1 and 2, the lower penalty in
its maximum period is always imposed.
� In Par. 3 the penalty for the attempted or
frustrated crime shall be imposed in its
maximum period. This rule is not necessary
and may well be covered by Art. 48, in view
of the fact that the same act also constitutes
an attempt or a frustration of another crime.
ART 49 ART 48
Lesser penalty to be
imposed in its maximum
period
Penalty for the more
serious crime shall be
imposed in its maximum
period
ART. 49: PENALTY TO BE IMPOSED UPON
THE PRINCIPALS WHEN THE CRIME
COMMITTED IS DIFFERENT FROM THAT
INTENDED
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APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 50 TO 57
Participation Consummated Frustrated Attempted
Principal Penalty
imposed by law
1 less 2 less
Accomplice 1 less 2 less 3 less
Accessory 2 less 3 less 4 less
NOTES:
� Art. 50-57 are not applicable when the law
specifically prescribes the penalty for the
frustrated and attempted felony or that to be
imposed upon the accomplices and
accessories. (examples: qualified seduction,
flight to enemy country, kidnapping)
� Degree – one whole penalty, one entire
penalty or one unit of the penalties
enumerated in the graduated scales provided
for in Art. 71
� Period – one of 3 equal portions,
min/med/max of a divisible penalty. A period
of a divisible penalty when prescribed by the
Code as a penalty for a felony, is in itself a
degree.
Distinctions between Degree and Period
Degree Period
Refers to the penalty
imposable for a felony
committed considering
the stages of execution
and the degree of
participation of the
offender
Refers to the duration
of the penalty
consisting of the
maximum, medium,
and minimum, after
considering the
presence or absence
of aggravating
circumstances
May refer to both
divisible and indivisible
penalties
Refers only to
divisible penalties
NOTE: The rules provided in Arts. 53, 55 and 57 do
not apply if the felony is light because accessories
are not liable for the same.
NOTE: Art. 58 is limited only to grave and less grave
felonies since it is not possible to have accessories
liable for light felonies. It is further limited to those
whose participation in the crime is characterized by
the misuse of public office or authority.
Additional Penalties for Public Officers who are
accessories:
1. Absolute Perpetual Disqualification, if the
principal offender is guilty of a grave felony
2. Absolute temporary disqualification, if the
principal offender is guilty of less grave felony
NOTES:
� Basis for the imposition of proper penalty in
impossible crimes: social danger and degree
of criminality shown by the offender
� The penalty for impossible crime is arresto
mayor (imprisonment of 1 month and 1 day
to 6 months) or fine ranging from 200-500
pesos.
� Art. 59 is limited to grave and less grave
Art. 50: Penalty to be imposed upon principals
of a frustrated crime
Art. 51: Penalty to be imposed upon principals
of attempted crimes
Art. 52: Penalty to be imposed upon
accomplices in consummated crime
accessories to the commission of a
consummated felony
Art. 54: Penalty to imposed upon accomplices
in a frustrated crime
accessories of a frustrated crime
accomplices in an attempted crime
accessories of an attempted crime
ART. 58: ADDITIONAL PENALTY TO BE
IMPOSED UPON CERTAIN ACCESSORIES
ART. 59: PENALTY TO BE IMPOSED IN CASE
OF FAILURE TO COMMIT THE CRIME
BECAUSE THE MEANS EMPLOYED OR THE
AIMS SOUGHT ARE IMPOSSIBLE
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felonies.
� However, considering Article 4, this article is
actually limited to offenses against persons
or property.
Two cases where the accomplice is punished
with the same penalty imposed upon the
principal:
1. ascendants, guardians, curators, teachers
and any person who, by abuse of authority or
confidential relationship, shall cooperate as
accomplices in the crimes of rape, acts of
lasciviousness, seduction, corruption of
minors, white slave trade or abduction.
2. one who furnished the place for the
perpetration of the crime of slight illegal
detention
NOTE: Accessory punished as principal: Art 142 –
punishes an accessory for knowingly concealing
certain evil practices
Cases where penalty imposed on accessories are
one degree lower instead of two degrees:
1. knowingly using counterfeited seal or forged
signature or stamp of the President of the
Republic
2. illegal possession and use of false treasury
or bank note
3. use of a falsified document
4. use of a falsified dispatch
ART. 61: RULES FOR GRADUATING
PENALTIES
The rules provided in this Article should also apply in
determining the minimum of the Indeterminate
Sentence Law (ISL). It also applies in lowering the
penalty by one or two degrees by reason of the
presence of the privileged mitigating circumstance, or
when the penalty is divisible and there are two or
more mitigating circumstances and there are no
aggravating circumstances.
GRADUATED SCALE IN ART. 71
Indivisible Penalties:
1. Death
2. Reclusion Perpetua
Divisible Penalties: (maximum, medium,
minimum)
1. Reclusion Temporal
2. Prision Correcional
3. Arresto Mayor
4. Destierro
5. Arresto Menor
6. Public Censure
7. Fine
RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN LOWERING THE
PENALTY BY ONE OR TWO DEGREES
Rule No. 1: when the penalty is single and indivisible
(ex. RP), the penalty next lower shall be reclusion
temporal.
Rule No. 2:
1. when the penalty is composed of two
indivisible penalties; or
2. when the penalty is composed of one or
more divisible penalties to be imposed to
their full extent
the penalty next lower in degree shall be that
immediately following the lesser of the penalties
prescribed
Rule No. 3: when the penalty is composed of 1 or 2
indivisible penalties and the maximum period of a
divisible penalty
Ex. penalty for murder is reclusion temporal
to death. The point of reference will be on the
proper divisible penalty which is RT.
Under the 3rd rule, the penalty next lower to RT is
composed of the medium and minimum periods
of RT and the max of prision mayor.
Rules 4 and 5:
1. if the penalty prescribed in the Code consists
of three periods corresponding to different
divisible penalties, the penalty next lower is
that consisting in the three periods down the
scale
of two periods, the penalty next lower is that
consisting in two periods down the scale
in only one period, the penalty next lower is
the next period down in the scale
NOTE: Mitigating and Aggravating circumstances are
first disregarded in the application of the rules for
graduating penalties. It is only after the penalty next
lower in degree is already determined that the
mitigating and aggravating circumstances should be
ART. 60: EXCEPTION TO THE RULES
ESTABLISHED IN ARTICLES 50 TO 57
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considered.
Par. 1: Aggravating circumstances are not to be
taken into account when:
1. they themselves constitute a crime. Ex. by
“means of fire” – arson
2. they are included by law in the definition of a
crime
Par. 2: Same rules apply when the aggravating
circumstance is inherent in the crime
Par. 3: Aggravating or mitigating circumstances
arising from any of the following affect only those to
whom such circumstances are attendant:
1. from the moral attributes of the offender
2. from his private relations w/ the offended
party
3. from any other personal cause
Par. 4: the circumstances which consist of the
following shall serve to aggravate and mitigate the
liability only of those who had knowledge of them at
the time of the commission of the offense
1. material execution of the act
2. means employed to accomplish the crime
Par. 5: Habitual Delinquent is a person who within
the period of 10 years from the date of his (last)
release or last conviction of the crimes of:
1. Falsification
2. Robbery
3. Estafa
4. Theft
5. Serious or less serious physical injuries
is found guilty of any of the said crimes a third time or
oftener.
NOTES:
� Effects of the circumstances:
o Aggravating circumstances (generic
and specific) have the effect of
increasing the penalty, without
however exceeding the
maximum period provided by
law.
o Mitigating circumstances have the
effect of diminishing the
penalty.
o Habitual delinquency has the
effect, not only of increasing
the penalty because of recidivism
which is generally implied in
habitual delinquency, but also of
imposing an additional penalty.
� Ten year period to be computed from the
time of last release or conviction
� Subsequent crime must be committed after
conviction of the former crime. Cases still
pending are not to be taken into
consideration.
REQUISITES Of Habitual Delinquency:
1. that the offender had been convicted of any
of the crimes of serious or less serious
physical injuries, robbery, theft, estafa or
falsification
2. that after conviction or after serving his
sentence, he again committed, and, within 10
years from his last release of first conviction,
he was again convicted of any of the said
crimes for the second time
3. that after his conviction of, or after serving
sentence for the second offense, he again
committed, and, within 10 years from his last
release or last conviction, he was again
convicted of any of said offenses, the third
time or oftener
Rulings on Habitual Delinquency:
1. The law on habitual delinquency does not
contemplate the exclusion from the
computation of prior conviction those falling
outside the 10-year period immediately
preceding the crime for which the defendant
is being tried.
2. Ten-year period is counted not from the date
of commission of the subsequent offense but
from the date of conviction thereof in relation
HABITUAL
DELINQUENCY
RECIDIVISM
Crimes to be committed
are specified
Same title
W/ in 10 years No time fixed by law
Must be found guilty 3rd
time or oftener
Second conviction
Additional penalty is
imposed
Is not offset by MC,
increases penalty to
maximum
ART. 62: EFFECT OF THE ATTENDANCE OF
MITIGATING OR AGGRAVATING
CIRCUMSTANCES AND OF HABITUAL
DELINQUENCY
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to the date of his last release or last
conviction.
3. When an offender has committed several
crimes mentioned in the definition of habitual
delinquent, without being first convicted of
any of them before committing the others, he
is not a habitual delinquent.
4. Convictions on the same day or at about the
same time are considered as one only (days,
weeks..).
5. Crimes committed on the same date,
although convictions on different dates are
considered as one.
6. Previous convictions are considered every
time a new offense is committed.
7. Commissions of those crimes need not be
consummated.
8. Habitual delinquency applies to accomplice
and accessories.
9. A crime committed during the minority of the
offender is not counted because proceedings
as regards that crime are suspended.
10. Imposition of additional penalty is mandatory
and constitutional.
11. Modifying circumstances are applicable to
additional penalty.
12. Habitual delinquency is not a crime. It is
simply a fact or circumstance which if present
gives rise to the imposition of additional
penalty.
13. Penalty for habitual delinquency is a real
penalty that determines jurisdiction.
14. A habitual delinquent is necessarily a
recidivist.
15. In imposing the additional penalty, recidivism
is not aggravating. The additional penalty
must be imposed in its minimum.
16. An offender can be a habitual delinquent
without being a recidivist, when no two of the
crimes committed are embraced in the same
title of the Code. (Reyes)
NOTES:
� In no case shall the total penalties imposed
upon the offender exceed 30 years.
� The imposition of the additional penalties on
habitual delinquents are constitutional, it is
simply a punishment on future crimes on
account of the criminal propensities of the
accused.
� The imposition of such additional penalties
are mandatory.
� Habitual delinquency applies at any stage of
the execution because subjectively, the
offender reveals the same degree of
depravity or perversity as the one who
commits a consummated crime.
� Habitual delinquency applies to all
participants because it reveals persistence in
them of the inclination to wrongdoing and of
the perversity of character that led them to
commit the previous crime.
Rules for the application of indivisible penalties:
1. Penalty is single and indivisible – applied
regardless of the presence of aggravating
and mitigating circumstances
2. Penalty composed of two indivisible penalties
a. One aggravating circumstance
present – higher penalty
b. One mitigating circumstance present
– lower penalty
c. Some mitigating circumstances
present and no aggravating – lower
penalty
d. Mitigating and Aggravating
Circumstances are present – basis in
number and importance
NOTES:
� Art 63 applies only when the penalty
prescribed by the Code is either one
indivisible penalty or 2 indivisible penalties.
� Par.4: the moral value rather than the
numerical weight shall be taken into account.
GENERAL RULE: When the penalty is
composed of 2 indivisible penalties, the penalty
cannot be lowered by one degree, no matter how
many mitigating circumstances are present
EXCEPTION: In cases of privileged
mitigating circumstances
Rules For The Application Of Divisible Penalties:
1. No aggravating and no mitigating
circumstances – medium period
2. One mitigating circumstance – minimum
period
3. One aggravating circumstance – maximum
period
4. Mitigating and aggravating circumstance
offset each other and according to relative
ART. 63: RULES FOR THE APPLICATION OF
INDIVISIBLE PENALTIES
ART. 64: RULES FOR THE APPLICATION OF
PENALTIES WHICH CONTAIN THREE
PERIODS
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weight
5. 2 or more mitigating without any aggravating
circumstance – one degree lower
NOTES:
� Art. 64 applies when the penalty has 3
periods because they are divisible. If the
penalty is composed of 3 different penalties,
each forms a period according to Art. 77
� Par. 4: the mitigating circumstances must be
ordinary, not privileged. The aggravating
circumstances must be generic or specific,
not qualifying or inherent.
� the court has discretion to impose the penalty
within the limits fixed by law
� Art. 64 not applicable when the penalty is
indivisible or prescribed by special law or a
fine
� Cases where the attending aggravating or
mitigating circumstances are not considered
in the imposition of penalties:
� Penalty that is single and indivisible
� Felonies through negligence
� Where the penalty is only a fine
imposed by an ordinance (subject to
discretion of court – see Article 66)
� Penalty is prescribed by a special
law
Computations:
Example: Prision Mayor (6 years, 1 day to 12
years)
1. subtract the minimum (disregard 1 day) from
the maximum
12 years – 6 years = 6 years
2. Divide the difference by 3.
6 years / 3 = 2 years
3. Use the minimum (6 years and 1 day) as the
minimum of the minimum period. Then add
the 2 years (disregarding the 1 day) to the
minimum to get the maximum of the
minimum period.
6 years (minimum of the minimum)
+ 2 years (difference)
-------------------------------------------
8 years (maximum of the minimum).
Therefore, minimum period of prision mayor
= 6 years 1 day to 8 years
4. Use the maximum of the minimum period as
the minimum of the medium period and add 1
day to distinguish from the minimum period.
Then add 2 years to the minimum of the
medium (disregarding the 1 day) to get the
maximum of the medium period.
8 years (minimum of the medium)
-------------------------------------------
10 years (maximum of the medium)
Therefore, medium period of prision mayor =
8 years 1 day to 10 years
5. use the maximum of the medium period as
the minimum of the maximum pd, and add 1
day to distinguish it from the maximum of the
medium period. Then add 2 years to the
minimum of the maximum pd (disregarding
the 1 day) to get the maximum of the
maximum period)
10 years (maximum of the medium)
----------------------------------------------
12 years (maximum of the maximum)
Therefore, maximum period of prision mayor
= 10 years 1 day to 12 years
*Computation above is applicable to all others except
to arresto mayor.
Example: Prision Mayor minimum (6 years 1 day
to 8 years) only
1. Subtract minimum from the maximum.
8 years – 6 years = 2 years
2. Divide the difference by 3.
2 years / 3 = 8 months
3. Use the minimum of the given example as
the minimum period. Then to get to get the
maximum of the minimum, add the 8 months.
6 years + 8 months = 6 years and 8
months
Therefore, minimum of prision mayor
minimum = 6 years 1 day to 6 years 8
months
4. Use the maximum of the minimum as the
minimum of the medium period. Add 1 day to
distinguish it from the maximum of the
minimum. Add the 8 months and this
ART. 65: RULE IN CASES IN WHICH THE
PENALTY IS NOT COMPOSED OF THREE
PERIODS
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becomes the maximum of the medium
6 years 8 months + 8 months = 7
years 4 months
Therefore, the medium period of prision
mayor minimum = 6 years, 8 months 1 day to
7 years, 4 months
5. Use the maximum of the medium as the
minimum period of the maximum period and
add 1 day to distinguish. Add the 8 months to
get the maximum of this maximum
7 years 4, months + 8 months = 8
years
Therefore, maximum of prision mayor = 7
years, 4 months, 1 day to 8 years
1. The
court can fix any amount of the fine within the
limits established by law.
2. Court must consider the following in imposing
the fines:
a. mitigating and aggravating
circumstances
b. more particularly, the wealth and
means of the culprit
3. The following may also be considered by the
court:
a. the gravity of the crime committed
b. the heinousness of its perpetration
c. the magnitude of its effects on the
offender’s victims.
NOTE: When the minimum of the fine is not fixed, the
court shall have the discretion, provided it does not
exceed the amount authorized by law.
Requisites of Art. 12, par. 4:
1. act causing the injury must be lawful
2. act performed w/ due care
3. injury was caused by mere accident
4. no fault or intention to cause injury
NOTE: If these conditions are not all present, then
the following penalties shall be imposed:
1. grave felony – arresto mayor max to prision
correcional minimum
2. less grave felony – arresto mayor min to
arresto mayor medium
NOTE: Art. 68 applies to such minor if his application
for suspension of sentence is disapproved or if while
in the reformatory institution he becomes incorrigible,
in which case he shall be returned to the court for the
imposition of the proper penalty.
Art. 68 provides for 2 privileged mitigating
circumstances:
1. If the act is attended by two or more
mitigating circumstances and no aggravating
circumstance, the penalty being divisible, a
minor over 15 but under 18 may still get a
penalty two degrees lower.
2. under 15 but over 9 and has acted w/
discretion: 2 degrees lower
3. under 18 but over 15: 1 degree lower
NOTE: Penalty to be imposed when the crime
committed is not wholly excusable:1 or 2 degrees
lower if the majority of the conditions for justification
or exemption in the cases provided in Arts. 11 and 12
are present.
NOTES:
The Three-Fold Rule
1. Maximum duration of the convict’s sentence:
3 times the most severe penalty imposed
2. Maximum duration: shall not exceed 40 yrs
3. Subsidiary imprisonment: This shall be
excluded in computing for the maximum
duration.
* The three-fold rule shall apply only when the convict
is to serve 4 or more sentences successively.
Different Systems Of Penalty (Relative To The
Execution Of Two Or More Penalties Imposed The
Same Accused)
1. Material accumulation system - No
ART. 66: IMPOSITION OF FINES
ART. 67: PENALTY TO BE IMPOSED WHEN
NOT ALL THE REQUISITES OF EXEMPTION
OF THE FOURTH CIRCUMSTANCE OF
ARTICLE 12 ARE PRESENT
ART. 68: PENALTY TO BE IMPOSED UPON A
PERSON UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE
ART. 69: PENALTY TO BE IMPOSED WHEN
THE CRIME COMMITTED IS NOT WHOLLY
EXCUSABLE
ART. 70: SUCCESSIVE SERVICE OF
SENTENCE
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limitation whatsoever, and accordingly, all the
penalties for all the violations were imposed
even if they reached beyond the natural span
of human life.
2. Juridical accumulation system - Limited to
not more than three-fold the length of time
corresponding to the most severe and in no
case to exceed 40 years. This is followed in
our jurisdiction.
3. Absorption system - The lesser penalties
are absorbed by the graver penalties.
ART. 72: PREFERENCE IN THE PAYMENT OF THE
CIVIL LIABILITIES
NOTE: The penalties shall be satisfied according to
the chronological order of the dates of the final
judgment. (Art. 70)
Section Three. — Provisions common in the last
two preceding sections
NOTE: Accessory penalties are deemed imposed
with the principal penalty. However, the subsidiary
imprisonment must be expressly stated in the
decision, as it is not considered an accessory
penalty.
NOTE: If the decision or law says higher than
reclusion perpetua or 2 degrees higher than reclusion
temporal, then the penalty imposed is reclusion
perpetua or reclusion temporal as the case may be,
and not death. Death must be designated by name.
However, for the other penalties, this does not apply.
Ex: the penalty for crime X is 2 degrees lower than
RP. The penalty imposed is prision mayor.
To get the lower degree:
1. Max: reduce by one-fourth
2. Min: the same
NOTE: If there are 3 distinct penalties; there shall be
a minimum, a medium and a maximum.
Ex: Reclusion temporal max to death
Chapter Five
EXECUTION AND SERVICE OF PENALTIES
Section One. — General Provisions
NOTES:
� Only a penalty by final judgment can be
executed. Judgment is final if the accused
has not appealed within 15 days or he has
expressly waived in writing that he will not
appeal.
� There could be no subsidiary liability if it was
not expressly ordered in the judgment.
Cases of insanity:
1. After final sentence, suspend the sentence
regarding the personal penalties.
2. If he recovers, the sentence is executed
unless it has prescribed.
3. The payment of civil of pecuniary liabilities
shall not be suspended.
ART. 71: GRADUATED SCALES
ART. 73: PRESUMPTION IN REGARD TO THE
IMPOSITION OF ACCESSORY PENALTIES
ART. 74: PENALTY HIGHER THAN RECLUSION
PERPETUA IN CERTAIN CASES
ART. 75: INCREASING OR REDUCING THE
PENALTY OF FINE BY ONE OR MORE
DEGREES
ART. 76: LEGAL PERIOD OF DURATION OF
DIVISIBLE PENALTIES
ART. 77: WHEN THE PENALTY IS A COMPLEX
ONE COMPOSED OF THREE DISTINCT
PENALTIES
ART. 78: WHEN AND HOW A PENALTY IS TO
BE EXECUTED
ART. 79: SUSPENSION OF THE EXECUTION
AND SERVICE OF THE PENALTIES IN CASE
OF INSANITY
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INDETERMINATE SENTENCE LAW
Act No. 4103 as amended by Act No. 4225
- It applies to both violations of Revised Penal Code
and special laws, and is based on the penalty
actually imposed.
Indeterminate sentence is mandatory where
imprisonment would exceed one year.
IF THE PENALTY IS IMPOSED BY THE RPC:
1. The Maximum Term – is that which could be
properly imposed under the RPC, considering the
aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
2. The MinimumTerm – is within the range of the
penalty one degree lower than that prescribed by
the RPC, without considering the circumstances.
� BUT when there is a privileged mitigating
circumstance, so that the penalty has to be
lowered by one degree, the STARTING POINT
for determining the minimum term of the
indeterminate penalty is the penalty next lower
than that prescribed by the Code for the offense.
IF THE PENALTY IS IMPOSED BY SPECIAL
PENAL LAW
1. The Maximum Term – must not exceed the
maximum term fixed by said law.
2. The Minimum Term – must not be less than
the minimum term prescribed by the same.
� For SPECIAL LAWS, it is anything within the
inclusive range of the prescribed penalty. Courts
are given discretion in the imposition of the
indeterminate penalty. The aggravating and
mitigating circumstances are not considered
unless the special law adopts the same
terminology for penalties as those used in the
RPC (such as reclusión perpetua and the like).
WHEN BENEFIT OF THE ISL IS NOT
APPLICABLE:
The Indeterminate Sentence Law shall not apply
to the following persons:
1. sentenced to death penalty or life
imprisonment
2. treason, or conspiracy or proposal to commit
treason
3. misprision of treason, rebellion, sedition or
espionage
4. piracy
5. habitual delinquents
6. escaped from confinement, or evaded
sentence
7. granted with conditional pardon by the
President, but violated the terms thereof
8. maximum term of imprisonment does not
exceed 1 year
9. sentenced to the penalty of destierro or
suspension only
RELEASE OF THE PRISONER ON PAROLE
The Board of Pardons and Parole may authorize the
release of a prisoner on parole, after he shall have
served the minimum penalty imposed on him,
provided that:
1. Such prisoner is fitted by his training for
release,
2. There is reasonable probability that he will live
and remain at liberty without violating the law,
3. Such release will not be incompatible with the
welfare of society.
ENTITLEMENT TO FINAL RELEASE AND
DISCHARGE
If during the period of surveillance such paroled
prisoner shall: (a) show himself to be a law abiding
citizen and, (b) shall not violate any law, the Board
may issue a final certification in his favor, for his final
release and discharge.
SANCTION FOR VIOLATION OF CONDITIONS OF
THE PAROLE
When the paroled prisoner shall violate any of the
conditions of his parole: (a) the Board may issue an
order for his arrest, and thereafter, (b) the prisoner
shall serve the remaining unexpired portion of the
maximum sentence for which he was originally
committed to prison.
REASONS FOR FIXING THE MAXIMUM AND
MINIMUM TERMS IN THE INDETERMINATE
SENTENCE
The minimum and maximum terms in the IS must be
fixed, because they are the basis for the following:
1. Whenever a prisoner has: (a) served the
MINIMUM penalty imposed on him, and (b) is
fit for release of the prisoner on parole, upon
terms and conditions prescribed by the
Board.
2. But when the paroled prisoner violates any of
the conditions of his parole during the period
of surveillance, he may be rearrested to
serve the remaining unexpired portion of the
MAXIMUM sentence.
3. Even if a prisoner has already served the
MINIMUM, but he is not fitted for release on
the parole, he shall continue to serve until the
end of the MAXIMUM term.
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1. Youthful offender – over 9 but under 18 at
time of the commission of the offense
2. A child nine years of age or under at the time
of the commission of the offense shall be
exempt from criminal liability and shall be
committed to the care of his or her father or
mother, or nearest relative or family friend in
the discretion of the court and subject to its
supervision.
3. The same shall be done for a child over nine
years and under fifteen years of age at the
time of the commission of the offense, unless
he acted with discernment, in which case he
shall be proceeded against in accordance
with Article 192.
4. A youthful offender held for examination or
trial who cannot furnish bail will be committed
to the DSWD/local rehabilitation center or
detention home.
5. If the court finds that the youthful offender
committed the crime charged against him, it
shall determine the imposable penalty and
the civil liability chargeable against him, but it
may not pronounce judgment of conviction.
Instead, the court shall suspend all further
proceedings if, upon application of the
youthful offender, it finds that the best
interest of the public and that of the offender
will be served thereby.
EXCEPTIONS to suspension of sentence
a. those who previously enjoyed a
suspension of sentence
b. those convicted of death or life
imprisonment
c. those convicted for an offense by the
military tribunals
6. The youthful offender shall be returned to the
court for pronouncement of judgment, when
the youthful offender, (1) has been found
incorrigible, or (2) has willfully failed to
comply with the conditions of his
rehabilitation programs; or (3) when his
continued stay in the training institution would
be inadvisable.
7. When the youthful offender has reached the
age of twenty one while in commitment, the
court shall determine whethera.
To dismiss the case, if the youthful
offender has behaved properly and
has shown his capability to be a
useful member of the community; or
b. To pronounce the judgment of
conviction, if the conditions
mentioned are not met.
In the latter case, the convicted offender may
apply for probation. In any case, the youthful
offender shall be credited in the service of his
sentence with the full time spent in actual
commitment and detention.
8. The final release of a youthful offender,
based on good conduct as provided in Art.
196 shall not obliterate his civil liability for
damages.
9. A minor who is ALREADY AN ADULT at the
time of his conviction is not entitled to a
suspension of sentence.
10. The records of the proceeding shall be
privileged and shall not be disclosed.
11. The civil liability of the youthful offender may
be voluntarily assumed by a relative or a
friend.
12. The parent or guardian of the child is liable
when he aids, abets or connives for the
commission of the crime or does an act
producing, promoting or contributing to the
child’s being a juvenile delinquent.
13. penalties for the parent or guardian: Fine not
exceeding P500 and/or imprisonment not
exceeding 2 years
PROBATION LAW OF 1976
(PD 968, AS AMENDED)
PROBATION - a disposition under which a defendant
after conviction and sentence is released subject to
conditions imposed by the court and to the
supervision of a probation officer
RULES ON GRANT OF PROBATION
1. After having convicted and sentenced a
defendant, the trial court may suspend the
execution of the sentence, and place the
defendant on probation, upon application by
the defendant within the period for perfecting
an appeal.
2. Probation may be granted whether the
sentence imposed a term of imprisonment or
fine only.
3. No application for probation shall be
entertained or granted if the defendant has
ART. 80: SUSPENSION OF SENTENCE OF
MINOR DELINQUENTS (AS REPEALED BY PD
603: CHILD AND YOUTH WELFARE CODE)
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perfected an appeal.
4. Filing of application for probation operates as
a waiver of the right to appeal.
5. The order granting or denying probation shall
not be appealable.
6. Accessory penalties are deemed suspended
once probation is granted.
7. The convict is not immediately placed on
probation. There shall be a prior investigation
by the probation officer and a determination
by the court.
8. CRITERIA FOR grant of probation:
a. All information relative to the
character, antecedents,
environment, mental, and physical
condition of the offender
b. Available institutional and community
resources.
9. Probation is to be denied upon finding of the
court that:
a. The offender is in need of
correctional treatment that can be
provided effectively by his
commitment to an institution.
b. There is undue risk of committing
another crime.
c. Probation will depreciate the
seriousness of the offense
committed.
10. At any time during probation, the court may
issue a warrant for the arrest of a probationer
for any serious violation of the conditions of
probation. If violation is established, the court
may:
a. revoke his probation, and thus make
him serve the sentence originally
imposed, or
b. continue his probation and modify its
conditions
The court order shall not be subject to
appeal.
11. Probation is not coterminous with its
period. There must be an order issued by
the court discharging the probationer. Upon
finding that he has fulfilled the terms and
conditions of his probation, the court may
order the final discharge of the probationer.
This shall have the following effects:
a. case is deemed terminated
b. all civil rights lost or suspended are
restored
c. offender’s liability for any fine
imposed is discharged
WHO ARE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE BENEFITS
OF PROBATION:
1. Sentenced to serve a maximum term of
imprisonment of more the 6 years
2. Convicted of subversion or any crime against
the national security or the public order
3. Previously convicted by final judgment of an
offense punished by imprisonment of
not less than 1 month and 1 day and/or a
fine not less than P200
4. Already placed on probation once
There are two kinds of conditions imposed upon
the offender under probation:
1. Mandatory or general – once violated, the
probation is cancelled
a. The offender under probation must
present himself to the probation
officer designated to undertake his
supervision, at such place as may
be specified in the order,
within 72 hours from receipt of order.
b. He should report to the probation
officer at least once a month.
2. Discretionary or special – additional
conditions which the court may
additionally impose for the probationer’s
correction and rehabilitation outside
prison. The enumeration is not
exclusive, as long as the probationer’s
Constitutional rights are not jeopardized.
Duration of Probation Period:
1. If the term of imprisonment is not more than
one year, probation shall not exceed 2
years.
2. if the term of imprisonment is more than one
year, period shall not exceed 6 years.
3. When the penalty is a fine only and the
offender is made to serve subsidiary
imprisonment, probation shall be twice the
total number of days of subsidiary
imprisonment.
Section Two. — Execution of principal penalties
NOTE: Designate a working day, which shall not be
communicated to the offender before the sunrise of
ART. 81: WHEN AND HOW THE DEATH
PENALTY IS TO BE EXECUTED
ART. 82: NOTIFICATION AND EXECUTION
OF THE SENTENCE AND ASSISTANCE TO
THE CULPRIT
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said day. The execution shall not take place until after
the expiration of at least 8 hours following such
notification.
Death sentence commuted to RP:
1. woman, while pregnant
2. woman, within 1 year, after delivery
3. person over 70 years of age
4. convict who becomes insane after final
sentence of death has been pronounced
Destierro Shall Be Imposed In The Following
Cases:
1. death or serious physical injuries is caused
or are inflicted under exceptional
circumstance
2. person fails to give bond for good behavior
3. concubine’s penalty for the crime of
concubinage
4. lowering the penalty by degrees
Execution of Destierro:
1. Convict shall not be permitted to enter the
place designated in the sentence nor within
the radius specified, which shall not be more
than 250 and not less than 25 km from the
place designated.
2. If the convict enters the prohibited area, he
commits evasion of sentence.
NOTE:
Served where:
1. In the municipal jail
2. In the house of the offender, but under the
surveillance of an officer of the law whenever
the court so provides in the decision due to
the health of the offender. But the reason is
not satisfactory just because the offender is a
respectable member of the community.
Title Four
EXTINCTION OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY
Chapter One
TOTAL EXTINCTION OF CRIMINAL
LIABILITY
PAR. 1. BY DEATH
NOTES:
� Extinguishment of criminal liability is a
ground for motion to quash.
� Criminal liability whether before or after final
judgment is extinguished upon death
because it is a personal penalty.
� Pecuniary penalty is extinguished only when
death occurs before final judgment.
� The death of the offended party however
does not extinguish criminal liability of the
accused because it is a crime against the
state.
PAR. 2. BY SERVICE OF SENTENCE
NOTES:
� Crime is a debt, hence extinguished upon
payment.
� Service does not extinguish civil liability.
PAR. 3. BY AMNESTY
Amnesty – is an act of the sovereign power granting
oblivion or general pardon. It wipes all traces and
vestiges of the crime but does not extinguish civil
liability.
ART. 88: ARRESTO MENOR
ART. 83: SUSPENSION OF THE EXECUTION
OF THE DEATH SENTENCE
ART. 84: PLACE OF EXECUTION AND PERSONS
WHO MAY WITNESS THE SAME
ART. 85: PROVISIONS RELATIVE TO THE
CORPSE OF THE PERSON EXECUTED AND ITS
BURIAL
ART. 86: RECLUSION PERPETUA, RECLUSION
TEMPORAL, PRISION MAYOR, PRISION
CORRECCIONAL AND ARRESTO MAYOR
ART. 87: DESTIERRO
ART. 89: HOW CRIMINAL LIABILITY IS TOTALLY
EXTINGUISHED
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PAR. 4. BY ABSOLUTE PARDON
Pardon – an act of grace proceeding from the power
entrusted with the execution of laws, which exempts
the individual from the punishment the law inflicts for
the crime.
AMNESTY PARDON
Extended to classes of
persons who may be guilty of
political offenses
Exercised individually
by the President
Exercised even before trial or
investigation
Exercised when one is
convicted
Looks backward and
abolishes the offense itself
Looks forward and
relieves the offender of
the consequences
Does not extinguish civil
liability
Same
A public act that needs the
declaration of the President
with the concurrence of
Congress
A private act of the
President
Courts should take judicial
notice
Must be pleaded and
proved
PAR. 5. BY PRESCRIPTION OF CRIME
Prescription of a crime – is the loss/forfeiture of the
right of the state to prosecute the offender after the
lapse of a certain time.
NOTE: When the crime prescribes, the state loses
the right to prosecute
PRESCRIPTIVE PERIODS OF CRIMES:
1. Crimes punishable by:
a. Death, reclusión perpetua or
reclusión temporal – 20 years
b. afflictive penalties – 15 years
c. correctional penalties – 10 years,
d. except those punishable by
arresto mayor which shall prescribe
in 5 years
2. Crime of libel – 1 year
3. Offenses of oral defamation and slander by
deed – 6 months
4. Light offenses – 2 months
When the penalty is a compound one, the highest
penalty shall be made the basis of the application of
above rules.
PAR. 6. BY PRESCRIPTION OF PENALTY
NOTE: means the loss/forfeiture of the right of
government to execute the final sentence after the
lapse of a certain time.
Conditions:
1. There must be final judgment.
2. The period must have elapsed.
PRESCRIPTIVE PERIODS OF PENALTIES:
1. Death and reclusión perpetua – 20 years
2. Other afflictive penalties – 15 years
3. Correctional penalties – 10 years, except for
the penalty of arresto mayor which
prescribes in 5 years
4. Light penalties – 1 year
PAR. 6. BY MARRIAGE OF THE OFFENDED
WOMAN (ART. 344)
NOTE:
Crimes covered:
1. rape
2. seduction
3. abduction
4. acts of lasciviousness
� The marriage must be contracted in good faith.
NOTES:
� In computing for the period, the first day is
excluded and the last day included. Period is
subject to leap years.
� When the last day of the prescriptive period
falls on a Sunday or a legal holiday, the
information can no longer be filed the
following day.
� Simple slander prescribes in 2 months and
grave slander in 6 months.
� Since destierro is a correctional penalty, it
prescribes in 10 years. For afflictive
penalties, period is 15 years.
� If it is a compound penalty, basis will be the
highest penalty.
ART. 90: PRESCRIPTION OF CRIME
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� If fine is an alternative penalty (imposed
together with a penalty lower than the fine),
fine shall be the basis.
� Prescription begins to run from the discovery
thereof. It is interrupted when proceedings
are instituted and shall begin to run again
when the proceedings are dismissed.
� If an accused fails to move to quash before
pleading, he is deemed to have waived all
objections, except if the grounds are:
1. facts charged do not constitute an
offense
2. court has no jurisdiction
3. criminal action or liability has been
extinguished
4. the averments, if true, would
constitute a legal excuse or
justification (See Rule 117, Sec 9,
RoC)
� Prescription does not take away the court’s
jurisdiction but only absolves the defendant
and acquits him.
NOTES:
� If there is nothing concealed (appears in a
public document), the crime commences to
run on the date of the commission.
� The period of prescription for crimes which
continue never runs.
� Crime needs to be discovered by:
1. offended party
2. authorities
3. their agents
� If a person witnesses the crime but only tells
the authorities 25 years later, prescription
commences on the day the authorities were
told.
What Interrupts Prescription?
1. preliminary examination or investigation
which is similar to judicial proceeding
2. filing the proper complaint with the
prosecutor’s office. Police not included.
3. Filing complaint with the court that has
proper jurisdiction
The Period Commences To Run Again When The
Proceeding Is Terminated:
1. Without the accused being convicted or
acquitted
2. The proceeding is unjustifiably stopped for a
reason not imputable to the offender
When such proceedings terminate – termination
that is final; an unappealed conviction or acquittal
Unjustifiably stopped for any reason – ex:
accused evades arrest, proceedings must be stopped
NOTE: Art. 91 applies to a special law when said law
does not provide for the application but only provides
for the period of prescription.
NOTES:
� Final sentence must be imposed.
� If a convict can avail of mitigating
circumstances and the penalty is lowered, it
is still the original penalty that is used as the
basis for prescription. However, if the convict
already serves a portion of his sentence and
escapes after, the penalty that was imposed
(not the original) shall be the basis for
prescription.
� Fines less than P200 fall under light penalty.
Those above are correccional.
The period of prescription commences to run from
the date when the culprit evaded the service of his
sentence.
Requisites:
1. Penalty is imposed by final sentence.
2. Convict evaded service of the sentence by
escaping during the term of his sentence.
3. Convict has not given himself up, or been
captured, or gone to a foreign country with
which we have no extradition treaty, or
committed another crime.
4. Penalty has prescribed, because of the
lapse of time from the date of the evasion of
the service of the sentence.
Interruption Of The Period:
If the convict
1. gives himself up
2. be captured
3. goes to a foreign country with which the
Philippines has no extradition treaty
4. commits another crime before the expiration
of the period of prescription
5. accepts a conditional pardon
ART. 93: COMPUTATION OF THE PRESCRIPTION
OF PENALTIES
ART. 91: COMPUTATION OF PRESCRIPTION OF
OFFENSES
ART. 92: WHEN AND HOW PENALTIES
PRESCRIBE
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NOTES:
� If a government has an extradition treaty with
the country to which a convict escaped, but
the crime is not included in the treaty, the
running of the prescription is still interrupted.
� Evasion of sentence starts the running of the
prescription. It does not interrupt it.
Acceptance of the conditional pardon
interrupts the prescription period.
� Rolito Go case: Since he was captured, he
is only supposed to serve the remainder of
his sentence. Reason: During the period he
escaped, his existence was one of fear and
discomfort.
Conditional pardon – contract between the
sovereign power of the executive and the convict
NOTE: Convict shall not violate any of the penal laws
of the Philippines.
In Case Of Violation Of Conditions:
1. Offender is re-arrested and re-incarcerated
2. Prosecution under Art. 159
COMMUTATION – change in the decision of the
court by the chief regarding the:
1. degree of the penalty
2. by decreasing the length of the
imprisonment or fine
Commutation Allowed When:
1. person is over 70 years old
2. 8 justices fail to reach a decision affirming
the death penalty
CONDITIONAL PARDON PAROLE
Given after final judgment Given after service of the
minimum penalty
Granted by Chief
Executive
Given by the Board of
Pardons and Parole
For violation, convict may
be prosecuted under 159
For violations, may be
rearrested, convict serves
remaining sentence
NOTES:
� Consent is not necessary in commutation.
� Prisoner is also allowed special time
allowance for loyalty which is 1/5 deduction
of the period of his sentence.
PAROLE – consists in the suspension of the
sentence of a convict after serving the minimum term
of the indeterminate penalty, without granting pardon,
prescribing the terms upon which the sentence shall
be suspended. In case his parole conditions are not
observed, a convict may be returned to the custody
and continue to serve his sentence without deducting
the time that elapsed.
Good conduct allowance during confinement –
Deduction for the term of sentence for good behavior
Allowances For Good Conduct Per Year
Years Allowance
First 2 years 5 days per month of good
behavior
3rd to 5th years 8 days per month of good
behavior
Following years up to
10th year
10 days per month of good
behavior
11th year and
successive years
15 days per month of good
behavior
NOTE: Condition of pardon is limited to unserved
portion of the sentence, unless an intention to extend
it beyond the time is manifest.
NOTES:
� allowance for good conduct not applicable
when prisoner released under conditional
pardon.
� good conduct time allowance is given in
consideration of good conduct of prisoner
while he is serving sentence.
ART. 95: OBLIGATION INCURRED BY PERSON
GRANTED CONDITIONAL PARDON
ART. 98: SPECIAL TIME ALLOWANCE
FOR LOYALTY
ART. 94: PARTIAL EXTINCTION OF
CRIMINAL LIABILITY
ART. 96: EFFECT OF COMMUTATION OF
SENTENCE
ART. 97: ALLOWANCE FOR GOOD CONDUCT
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NOTES:
� The article applies only to prisoners who
escaped.
� There is a deduction of 1/5 of the period of
sentence of prisoner who, having evaded the
service of his sentence during the calamity or
catastrophe mentioned in Art 158, gives
himself up to the authorities within 48 hours
following the issuance of the proclamation by
the President announcing the passing away
of the calamity or catastrophe.
� The deduction is based on the original
sentence and not on the unexpired portion.
� Art 158 provides for increased penalties:
� A convict who has evaded the service of his
sentence by leaving the penal institution on
the occasion of disorder resulting from
conflagration, earthquake or similar
catastrophe or during mutiny in which he did
not participate is liable to an increased
penalty (1/5 of the time still remaining to be
served – not to exceed 6 months), if he fails
to give himself up to the authorities within 48
hours following the issuance of a
proclamation by the President announcing
the passing away of the calamity.
NOTES:
� The authority to grant time allowance for
good conduct is exclusively vested in the
Director. (e.g. provincial warden cannot usurp
Director’s authority)
� It is not an automatic right, and once granted,
cannot be revoked by him.
Title Five
CIVIL LIABILITY
Chapter One
PERSON CIVILLY LIABLE FOR FELONIES
TWO CLASSES OF CIVIL LIABILITY
1. social injury – produced by disturbance and
alarm which are the outcome of the offense
2. personal injury – caused by the victim who
may have suffered damage, either to his
person, property, honor or chastity
Dual Character Of The Crime As Against:
1. the state, because of the disturbance of
peace and order
2. the private person injured, unless it involves
the crime of treason, rebellion, espionage,
contempt and others where no civil liability
arises on the part of the offender either
because there are no damages or there is
no private person injured by the crime
Damage that may be recovered in criminal cases:
1. Crimes against persons, like crime of
physical injuries – whatever he spent for
treatment of wounds, doctor’s fees,
medicines as well as salary or wages
unearned
2. Moral Damages: seduction, abduction, rape
or other lascivious acts, adultery or
concubinage, illegal or arbitrary detention or
arrest, illegal search, libel, slander or any
other form of defamation, malicious
prosecution
3. Exemplary Damages: imposed when crime
was committed with one or more
aggravating circumstances
NOTES:
� If there is no damage caused by the
commission of the crime, offender is not
civilly liable.
� 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 does not
carry with it the extinction of the civil one.
� When accused is acquitted on ground that
his guilt has not been proven beyond
reasonable doubt, a civil action for damages
for the same act or omission may be
instituted.
� Exemption from criminal liability in favor of an
imbecile or insane person, and a person
under 15 years, or over 15 but under 18 who
acted without discernment and those acting
ART. 100: CIVIL LIABILITY OF A
PERSON GUILTY OF FELONY
ART. 99: WHO GRANTS TIME
ALLOWANCES
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under the impulse of irresistible force or
under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of
an equal or greater injury does not include
exemption from civil liability.
� Acquittal in the criminal action for negligence
does not preclude the offended party from
filing a civil action to recover damages,
based on the theory that the act is a quasidelict.
� When the court found the accused guilty of
criminal negligence but failed to enter
judgment of civil liability, the private
prosecutor has a right to appeal for the
purposes of the civil liability of the accused.
The appellate court may remand the case to
the trial court for the latter to include in its
judgment the civil liability of the accused
� Before expiration of the 15-day period to
appeal, the trial court can amend the
judgment of conviction by adding a provision
for the civil liability of the accused, even if the
convict has started serving the sentence.
� If offender dies prior to the institution of the
action or prior to the finality of judgment, civil
liability ex delicto is extinguished.
� An independent civil action may be brought
by the injured party during the pendency of
the criminal case provided the right is
reserved. Reservation is necessary in the
following cases: (according to Herrera, no
reservation needed)
i. any of the cases referred to in Art 32
(perpetual or temporary
disqualification for exercise of the
right of suffrage)
ii. defamation, fraud and physical injury
(bodily injury and not the crime of
physical injury)
iii. civil action is against a member of a
city or municipal police force for
refusing or failing to render aid or
protection to any person in case of
danger to life or property
Prejudicial Question – one which arises in a case,
the resolution of which is a logical antecedent of the
issue involved in said case and the cognizance of
which pertains to another tribunal. (elements
provided in Rule 111, Section 7 of RoC)
For the principle to apply, it is essential that there be
2 cases involved, a civil and a criminal case.
Prejudicial questions must be decided before any
criminal prosecution may be instituted or may
proceed.
General Rule: Exemption from criminal liability does
not include exemption from civil liability.
Exception: No civil liability in Art. 12, par. 4 (injury
caused by mere accident) and par. 7 (failure to
perform an act required by law when prevented by
some lawful or insuperable cause).
Pars. 1,2,3,5 and 6 are NOT exempt from civil
liability although exempt from criminal liability.
Who Are Civilly Liable For: -
1. acts of insane or minor exempt from
criminal liability
a. primarily persons having legal
authority or control over him, if at
fault or negligent (except if proven
that they acted without fault or with
due diligence)
b. If there is no fault or negligence, or
even with fault but are insolvent and
there are no persons having legal
authority over them, the
property of the insane, minor or
imbecile not exempt from execution
shall be held liable.
2. over 15 but under 18, with discernment
a. The father and, in case of his death
or incapacity, the mother, are
responsible for the damages caused
by the minor children who live in
their company.
b. Guardians over minors who are
under their authority and live in their
company
c. If there are no parents or guardian,
the minor or insane person shall be
answerable with his own property in
an action against him where a
guardian ad litem shall be appointed.
NOTE: Final release of a child based on good
conduct does not remove his civil liability for
damages.
3. persons acting under an irresistible force
or uncontrollable fear – Persons using
violence or causing the fear are primarily
liable. If there are none, those doing the act
are responsible.
ART. 101: RULES REGARDING CIVIL
LIABILITY IN CERTAIN CASES
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General Rule: no civil liability in justifying
circumstances
Exception: par. 4 of Art. 11, where a person
does an act, causing damage to another, in
order to avoid evil or injury, the person
benefited by the prevention of the evil or
injury shall be civilly liable in proportion to the
benefit he received.
Civil liability in case of state of necessity
Those who benefited by the act are liable. The
court shall determine the proportionate amount
for which each shall be liable. If the government
or majority of the inhabitants are held
responsible, such will be determined by special
laws or regulations.
PAR. 1
Requisites:
1. The innkeeper, tavernkeeper or proprietor of
the establishment or his employee
committed a violation of municipal ordinance
or some general or special police regulation.
2. A crime is committed in such establishment.
3. The person criminally liable is insolvent.
NOTE: When all these are present, the innkeeper,
tavernkeeper or any other person or corporation is
subsidiarily liable for the crime committed in his
establishment.
PAR. 2:
Requisites:
1. The guests notified in advance the
innkeeper of the deposit of such goods
within the inn or house.
2. The guests followed the directions of the
innkeeper or his representative with respect
to the care of and vigilance over such goods.
3. Such goods of the guests lodging therein
were taken by robbery w/ force upon things
or theft committed within the inn or house.
Requisites:
1. The employer, teacher, person or
corporation is engaged in any kind of
industry.
2. Any of their servants, pupils, workmen,
apprentices or employees commits a felony
while in the discharge of his duties.
3. The said employee is insolvent and has not
satisfied his civil liability.
Industry – any department or branch of art,
occupation or business; especially one w/c employs
so much labor and capital is a distinct branch of trade
NOTES:
� Hospitals are not engaged in industry; hence,
they are not subsidiarily liable for acts of
nurses.
� Private persons without business or industry
are not subsidiarily liable.
� A separate trial is not necessary to enforce
the subsidiary liability of the employer. The
judgment obligee only needs to file a motion
for subsidiary execution. During the hearing
of the said motion, it is incumbent upon the
movant to prove that; (1) an employeremployee
relationship exists; (2) the
employer is engaged in an industry; (3) the
convict committed the crime while in the
discharge of his duties; and (4) the writ of
execution was returned unsatisfied.
� The employer’s subsidiary liability arises
when it is proved that the convict committed
the crime while at the service of the employer
and the writ of execution issued against the
accused is returned unsatisfied. On the other
hand, if the convict committed the crime but
NOT while in the service of an employer and
he cannot pay his civil liability, Art. 39 on
subsidiary penalty will apply.
CIVIL LIABILITIES PECUNIARY
LIABILITIES
Includes reparation and
indemnification
Same
Includes restitution (return
property taken), nothing to
pay in terms of money
No restitution as the
liabilities are to paid out of
the property of the
offender
No fines and costs of
proceedings
Includes fines and costs of
proceedings
ART. 103: SUBSIDIARY CIVIL LIABILITY OF
OTHER PERSONS
ART. 102: SUBSIDIARY CIVIL LIABILITY OF
INNKEEPERS, TAVERNKEEPERS AND
PROPRIETORS OF ESTABLISHMENTS
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Chapter Two
WHAT CIVIL LIABILITY INCLUDES
NOTE: The first remedy granted by law is restitution
of the thing taken away by the offender; if restitution
cannot be made by the offender or by his heirs, the
law allows the offended party reparation. In either
case, indemnity for consequential damages may be
required.
Restitution – In theft, the culprit is duty bound to
return the property stolen.
Reparation – In case of inability to return the
property stolen, the culprit must pay the value of the
property stolen.
In case of physical injuries, the reparation of the
damage caused would consist in the payment of
hospital bills and doctor’s fees to the offended party.
Indemnification – the loss of salary or earnings
NOTES:
� The convict cannot, by way of restitution,
give to the offended party a similar thing of
the same amount, kind or species and
quality. The very thing should be returned.
� If the property stolen while in the possession
of the third party suffers deterioration due to
his fault, the court will assess the amount of
the deterioration and, in addition to the return
of the property, the culprit will be ordered to
pay such amount.
� The owner of the property illegally taken by
the offender can recover it from whomsoever
is in possession thereof. Thus, even if the
property stolen was acquired by a 3rd person
by purchase without knowing that it has been
stolen, such property will be returned to the
owner.
� If the thing is acquired by a person knowing
that it was stolen, then he is an accessory
and therefore criminally liable.
� The third party who acquired the stolen
property may be reimbursed with the price
paid therefor if it be acquired at (a) a public
sale and (b) in good faith.
� Circumstances which bar an action for
recovery: (a) torrens title, (b) when sale is
authorized
� When the liability to return a thing arises from
a contract, and not from a criminal act, the
court cannot order its return in the criminal
case.
� Restitution may be ordered, even if
accused is acquitted, provided the offense
is proved and it is shown that the thing
belongs to someone else.
� When crime is not against property, no
restitution or reparation of the thing can be
done.
� Payment of salary of an employee during the
period of suspension cannot, as a general
rule, be properly decreed by the court in a
judgment of acquittal. It devolves upon the
head of the department concerned to do so.
� The court has authority to order the
reinstatement of the accused acquitted of a
crime punishable by the penalty of perpetual
or temporary disqualification.
NOTES:
� The court orders reparation if restitution is
not possible.
� Reparation shall be: the price of the thing,
plus its sentimental value.
� If there is no evidence as to the value of the
thing unrecovered, reparation cannot be
made.
� Payment by the insurance company does not
relieve the offender of his obligation to repair
the damage caused.
� Damages shall be limited to those caused by
the crime.
� The accused is liable for the damages
caused as a result of the destruction of the
property after the crime was committed,
either because it was lost or destroyed by the
accused himself or that by any other person
or as a result of any other cause or causes.
NOTES:
� Indemnity refers to crimes against persons
while reparation to crimes against property.
ART. 105: RESTITUTION; HOW MADE
ART. 106: REPARATION; HOW MADE
ART. 107: INDEMNIFICATION; WHAT IS
INCLUDED
ART. 104: WHAT IS INCLUDED IN CIVIL
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� Indemnity for medical services still unpaid
may be recovered.
� Contributory negligence on the part of the
offended party reduces the civil liability of the
offender.
� The civil liability may be increased only if it
will not require an aggravation of the decision
in the criminal case on which it is based.
� The amount of damages for death shall be at
least 50,000, even though there may have
been mitigating circumstances.
� In addition:
1. payment for the loss of the earning
capacity of the deceased
2. If the deceased was obliged to give
support, the recipient, who is not an
heir, may demand support from the
defendant.
3. The spouse, illegitimate descendants
and ascendants of the deceased
may demand for moral damages.
Moral damages may be recovered in the
following:
1. physical injuries
2. seduction, abduction, rape
3. adultery, concubinage
4. illegal or arbitrary detention
5. illegal search
6. libel, slander, defamation
7. malicious prosecution
NOTES:
� The heirs of the person liable has no
obligation if restoration is not possible and
the deceased left no property.
� Civil liability is possible only when the
offender dies after final judgment.
� If the death of the offender took place before
any final judgment of conviction was
rendered against him, the action for
restitution must necessarily be dismissed.
NOTE: In case of insolvency of the accomplices, the
principal shall be subsidiarily liable for their share of
the indemnity. In case of the insolvency of the
principal, the accomplices shall be subsidiarily liable,
jointly and severally liable, for the indemnity due from
said principal.
Each class of principals, accomplices and
accessories is liable solidary for their share and
subsidiarily liable for the share of the other classes.
Preference In Enforcement Of Subsidiary
Liability:
1. against the property of the principal
2. against that of the accomplice
3. against that of the accessories
NOTES:
� This refers to a person who has participated
gratuitously in the proceeds of a felony and
he is bound to make restitution in an amount
equivalent to the extent of such participation.
� The third person must be innocent of the
commission of the crime, otherwise he would
be liable as an accessory and this article will
not apply.
Ex. A stole a ring worth 1k which he gave to B who
accepted it without knowledge that it was stolen. B
sold the ring to C for 500. B is liable to make
restitution up to 500 only.
Chapter Three
EXTINCTION AND SURVIVAL OF CIVIL
LIABILITY
Civil Liability Is Extinguished By:
1. payment or performance
2. loss of the thing due
3. condonation or remission of the debt
4. confusion or merger of the rights of creditor
and debtor
5. compensation
6. novation
ART. 108: OBLIGATION TO MAKE
RESTORATION, REPARATION FOR DAMAGES,
OR INDEMNIFICATION FOR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES AND ACTIONS TO DEMAND THE
SAME; UPON WHOM IT DEVOLVES
ART. 109: SHARE OF EACH PERSON CIVILLY
LIABLE
ART. 110: SEVERAL AND SUBSIDIARY
LIABILITY OF PRINCIPALS, ACCOMPLICES
AND ACCESSORIES OF A FELONY;
PREFERENCE IN PAYMENT
ART. 111: OBLIGATION TO MAKE
RESTITUTION IN CERTAIN CASES
ART. 112: EXTINCTION OF CIVIL LIABILITY
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NOTES:
� Unless extinguished, civil liability subsists
even if the offender has served sentence
consisting of deprivation of liberty or other
rights or has not served the same, due to
amnesty, pardon, commutation of the
sentence or any other reason.
� Under the law as amended, even if the
subsidiary imprisonment is served for nonpayment
of fines, this pecuniary liability of the
defendant is not extinguished.
� While amnesty wipes out all traces and
vestiges of the crime, it does not extinguish
the civil liability of the offender. A pardon shall
in no case exempt the culprit from the
payment of the civil indemnity imposed upon
him by the sentence.
� Probation affects only the criminal aspect of
the crime.
BOOK II
TITLE ONE
CRIMES AGAINST NATIONAL SECURITY
AND THE LAW OF NATIONS

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