UNIVERSITY

OF MAKATI

SCHOOL OF LAW

SYLLABUS ON CRIMINAL LAW I

1st Semester, SY 2019-2020

Prepared By:

DEAN GEMY LITO L. FESTIN

Professor, Criminal Law I

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Basic Texts:

1. The Revised Penal Code Criminal Law Book One Articles 1-113

By Justice Luis B. Reyes

2. Supplement: Bar Review Guide to Criminal Law (Settled Doctrines and Jurisprudence)

2nd Edition; By Dean Gemy Lito L. Festin

PART ONE

I. CRIMINAL LAW IN GENERAL

A. Definition

B. Definition of Crime

C. Constitutional Limitations

D. Sources of Philippine Criminal Law

E. Characteristics of Criminal Law

F. Construction of Penal Laws

II. PRELIMINARY TITLE

DATE OF EFFECTIVENESS AND

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 APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS CODE

Article 1. Time when the Act takes effect

Article 2. Application of its provisions

III. FELONIES

A. Felonies

Article 3. Definition

Article 4. Criminal Liability

Article 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

Article 6. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies

Article 7. When light felonies are punishable

Article 8. Conspiracy and proposal to commit felony

Article 9. Grave felonies, less grave felonies, and light felonies

Article 10. Offenses not subject to the provisions of this Code

IV. PERSONS CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOR FELONIES

Article 16. Who are Criminally Liable

Article 17. Principals

Article 18. Accomplices

Article 19. Accessories

Article 20. Accessories who are Exempt from Criminal

Liability

V. CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH AFFECT CRIMINAL

LIABIITY

A. Justifying Circumstances (Article 11)

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1) Self-Defense

2) Defense of Relatives

3) Defense of Strangers

4) Avoidance of a Greater Evil or Injury

5) Fulfillment of Duty or Lawful Exercise of Right or Office

6) Obedience to an Order Issued for some Lawful Purpose

B. Circumstances which Exempt from Criminal Liability (Article 12)

1) Imbecility or Insanity

2) Minority

3) Accident

4) Compulsion of Irresistible Force

5) Impulse of Uncontrollable Fear

6) Insuperable Lawful Cause

C. Circumstances which Mitigate Criminal Liability (Article 13)

1) Incomplete Justification and Exemption

2) Under 18 or Over 70 Years of Age

3) No Intention to Commit so Grave a Wrong

4) Sufficient Provocation or Threat

5) Immediate Vindication of a Grave Offense

6) Passion or Obfuscation

7) Voluntary Surrender

8) Voluntary Plea of Guilt

9) Plea to a Lower Offense

10) Physical Defect

11) Illness

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12) Analogous Circumstances

D. Circumstances which Aggravate Criminal Liability (Article 14)

1) Taking Advantage of Public Office

2) In Contempt of or with Insult to Public Authorities

3) With Insult or Lack of Regard Due to Offended Party by Reason of Rank, Age or Sex

4) Abuse of Confidence and Obvious Ungratefulness

5) Crime in Palace or in Presence of the Chief Executive

6) Nighttime; Uninhabited Place; With a Band

7) On Occasion of a Calamity

8) Aid of Armed Men or Means to Ensure Impunity

9) Recidivism

10) Reiteracion or Habituality

11) Price, Reward or Promise

12) Inundation, Fire, Poison

13) Evident Premeditation

14) Craft, Fraud or Disguise

15) Superior Strength or Means to Weaken Defense

16) Treachery

17) Ignominy

18) Unlawful Entry

19) Breaking Wall, Floor, Roof

20) With Aid of Persons under 15 by Motor Vehicle

21) Cruelty

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E. Alternative Circumstances (Article 15)

1) Relationship

2) Intoxication

3) Degree of Instruction and Education

Part TWO

I. PENALTIES

A. Penalties in General

Article 21. Penalties that may be Imposed

Article 22. Retroactive Effect of Penal Laws

Article 23. Effect of Pardon by the Offended Party

Article 24. Measure of Prevention or Safety which are not Considered Penalties

B. Classification of Penalties

Article 25. Penalties which may be Imposed

Article 26. When Afflictive, Correctional, or Light Penalty

C. Duration and Effect of Penalties

1) Duration of Penalties

2) Effects of Penalties

3) Penalties in which other Accessory Penalties are Inherent

D. Application of Penalties

1) Rules for the Application of Penalties to Persons Criminally Liable and for the Graduation of the same

2) Rules for the Application of Penalties with regard to the Mitigating and Aggravating Circumstances,
and Habitual Delinquency

3) Provisions Common to the Last Two Preceding Sections

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 E. Execution and Service of Penalties

1) General Provisions

2) Execution of Principal Penalties

II. EXTINCTION OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY

A. Total Extinction of Criminal Liability

B. Partial Extinction of Criminal Liability

III. CIVIL LIABILITY

A. Persons Civilly Liable for Felonies

B. What Civil Liability Includes

C. Extinction and Survival of Civil Liability

IV. SPECIAL LAWS

A. Presidential Decree No. 1612 (Anti-Fencing Law of 1979)

B. Presidential Decree 1829: Decree Penalizing Obstruction of Apprehension and Prosecution of Criminal
Offenders

C. Republic Act 9346: An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines

D. Act No. 4103 as amended by Act No. 4225 (Indeterminate Sentence Law)

E. Presidential Decree No. 968, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1257, and as further amended by
Batas Pambansa Blg. 76 and Presidential Decree No. 1990 (Probation Law)

F. Presidential Decree No. 603, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1179 (The Child and Youth
Welfare Code)

G. Republic Act No. 9344 (Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006)

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