Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Preliminary
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND FELONIES
2. CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING LIABILITY
3. PERSONS CRIMINALLY LIABLE
4. PENALTIES
5. MODIFICATION AND EXTINCTION OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY
6. AGAINST NATIONAL SECURITY
7. AGAINST FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF THE STATE
8. AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER
9. AGAINST PUBLIC INTEREST
10. RELATIVE TO OPIUM AND OTHER DRUGS
11. AGAINST PUBLIC MORALS
12. COMMITTED BY PUBLIC OFFICERS
13. AGAINST PERSONS
14. AGAINST PERSONAL LIBERTY AND SECURITY
15. AGAINST PROPERTY
16. AGAINST CHASTITY
17. AGAINST CIVIL STATUS
18. AGAINST HONOR
19. CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE
EXCEPTION: service-connected
offenses (provided in RA 7055)
fall under courts-martial
Civilian court determines before
arraignment whether the crime is
service-connected
Is it
possible for a serviceconnected crime to be tried by
civilian courts?
YES.
The President, before
arraignment, in the interest of
justice, may refer the crime to a
civilian court as long as it is
covered by the RPC or any other
SPL.
What about Members of the PNP?
They are covered by RA 6975.
Civilian courts have jurisdiction
over them because the PNP is
civilian in character.
o 3. Immunity under law/transactional immunity
Transactional immunity is statutory
immunity from criminal prosecution as
granted by law
Omnibus Election Code one who
reports to the COMELEC any incident of
vote buying or vote selling, and he
testifies for prosecution: he is entitled to
Art. 3: felonies
Circumstance
Common
implication
Mistake of fact
Not culpable
Abberatio ictus
Complex crime
Error in personae
No change; or maximum
period of the lesser offense
Praeter intentionem
Mitigating
or
usual
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11
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yet.
At most, its attempted
trespass.
It can be the first of a series of acts that
would produce the intended crime, as
long as the intended crime is
established or known
Differs from preparatory acts, which are
just means or measures necessary to
produce the desired end.
Ex. surveillance
Ex. buying poison
Ex. conspiracy and proposal,
unless the law punishes the
conspiracy/proposal per se
o 2. But offender did not complete all acts of
execution to produce the felony
Still at the subjective phase of the
commission of crime still has full
control of acts, and has not completed
the needed acts yet
o 3. Due to cause or accident other than
spontaneous desistance
Is he is still in the subjective phase
and he desists from committing the
crime, is he liable?
NO. He is not liable.
The reason for desisting need not
be legal or moral. It could be
o
o
o
o
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16
17
18
19
20
Art. 10
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
Ordinary
Privileged
Specific
Lower
to Lower by one or To
specific
minimum period
more degree
felonies only
If 2 or more,
lower by one or
more degree
Can be offset by Cannot be offset
ACs
by ACs
Cannot
imposed
indivisible
penalties
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be Can be imposed
on on
indivisible
penalties
In
incomplete
justifying
and
exempting
circumstances, what are the requisites that must
always be present?
o 1. For self-defense, unlawful aggression
o 2. For accident, due care and lack of fault
When is incomplete justifying or exempting
circumstance
an
ordinary
mitigating
circumstance? When is it a privileged mitigating
circumstance?
o Ordinary if there is only one element or there is
no majority of required elements
o Privileged if there is majority, but not all, of
required elements
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o 1. Sufficient
Merely shouting at the accused and
asking the latter to leave is NOT
proportionate to the latter killing the
former.
Need not constitute unlawful aggression
under Art. 11; the threshold here is
lower.
Need not be put in words; can be in
action.
Ex. entering anothers property
and then starting to gather the
latters crops.
o 2. Immediately preceding the commission of
the crime
This actually means immediate, not
like grave vindication which just requires
proximity
o 3. Originate from the offended party
If provocation and passion/obfuscation are based
on the same facts, is the accused entitled to two
separate mitigating circumstances or only one?
o Only one. The accused is only entitled to only
one mitigating circumstance, because both are
based on the same facts.
o Same rule between vindication of grave
offense and sufficient provocation.
What is immediate in immediate vindication of
grave offense?
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36
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o 17. Ignominy
o 18. Committed after unlawful entry
o 19. Committed after breaking through a wall,
roof, floor, door, or window
o 20. With aid of persons under 15 years old, or
motor vehicles
o 21. Cruelty
Compare with mitigating circumstances:
o This list is exclusive, whereas in mitigating
circumstances,
there
are
analogous
circumstances allowed
o Aggravating circumstances must be alleged in
the information, mitigating circumstances need
not (since theyre matters of defense)
What are the types of aggravating circumstances?
o 1. Generic aggravating
Apply generally to all crimes
Can be offset by ordinary mitigating
circumstances
Increases penalty to maximum period
Are additional rapes or killing in the
case of robbery with rape or robbery
with
homicide,
for
instances,
aggravating?
No, its not enumerated under law
as such.
Its an anomalous
situation, but doubt is resolved in
favor of the accused.
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40
41
What
is
required
for
this
aggravating
circumstance to apply?
o There must be deliberate intent to insult or
show manifest disregard for the age, rank, sex.
Not merely because the victim is a female or
has a rank, this A.C. applies.
Can this coincide with passion and obfuscation?
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43
Art 14(4)
ungratefulness
abuse
of
confidence
or
obvious
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45
46
Band
Armed men
Accomplices
Organized
crime syndicate
not Crimes
specified
At
least
persons
two
o 3. Habitual delinquency
o 4. Quasi-recidivism
Who is a recidivist?
o Elements:
1. During trial for one crime
2. Has been previously convicted
3. By final judgment
4. Of another crime under the same title
in the RPC
o Important things to note:
At least two convictions one preceding
the other, and the preceding one must
have final judgment already
Both offenses must fall under the same
title in the RPC
No specific period between convictions
required
o What if the first offense is pardoned?
Still a recidivist because only the effects
of the crime were extinguished by
pardon, not the existence of the crime
What is the nature of recidivism?
o Generic aggravating circumstance
What is reiteracion?
o Elements:
1. The offender has previously been
punished (has served sentence)
2. First offense must have had a greater
or equal penalty;
Reiteracion
service
of
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49
50
Distinguish:
o 1. Craft cunning or intellectual trickery to
carry out the evil design
o 2. Fraud deceit, insidious words and
machinations
o 3. Disguise concealment of identity
What is the relationship of these with treachery?
o Treachery absorbs these.
Craft and fraud may be aggravating in robbery with
homicide, where the accused induced the victim to
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What is ignominy?
o Circumstance pertaining to a moral order which
adds disgrace or obloquy to the material injury
caused to the offended party and tends to
make the crime more humiliating
Examples of ignominy:
o 1. The accused lighted a cigarette on the pubic
area of the victim which caused blisters.
o 2. When the accused focused his flashlight on
the genitals of the offended party, and he
examined it before he raped her in front of her
father.
o 3. Raped victim before her betrothed
o 4. Asking her to present her full nakedness
before raping her
In the Bacule and Sailan cases, where
respectively, the rapist tied a banana fiber around
his penis before the rape, or when the rapist
raped the victim dog-style, there was ignominy.
Does this still apply?
o No, these must be modified. Art. 266-A of
RPC: Decisions in Bacule and Sailan are now
amended. These are now acts of sexual
assault.
The accused after killing the victim cut off the left
leg and took the flesh from the legs and shoulders
of the victim. Is this ignominy?
o No, because the victim was already dead.
When is it inherent?
o 1. Trespass
o 2. Robbery with force upon things
What is cruelty?
o Unnecessary physical pain in the commission
of the crime
What is the test?
o Whether the accused deliberately and
despicably augmented the wrong committed by
him by causing another wrong not necessary
for its commission, or inhumanly increasing the
suffering of the victim, slowly and gradually
R.A. 8294
R.A. 9165
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RA 8353
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56
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Mere presence
Exercising moral ascendancy
What is the general rule as to non-appearance?
o Deemed a desistance which is favored. Mere
participation in a conspiracy is not a crime,
because there is no act yet to carry it out.
When there is no criminal participation, there is
no liability.
o But see the exceptions for masterminds and
PDIs.
Can someone not be in the scene of the crime and
still be a principal?
o Yes. For example, there is conspiracy and one
is on look-out duty for policemen.
o For as long as the conspirators perform
specific acts that were coordinated pursuant to
the conspiracy.
X, Y, and Z conspired to kill V. All three stabbed
V. Is it a complex crime?
o No. There is only one crime of homicide, as
there is only one victim. The number of crimes
committed does not depend on the number of
co-conspirators.
If rape was committed by 2 or more persons, what
happens?
o Commission of rape by two or more persons is
a qualifying circumstance that requires
imposition of RP/death.
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60
Who is an accessory?
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62
o No.
PENALTIES
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Yes.
What is the retroactive application of RA 9344?
o Any pending cases involving children below 15
are automatically dismissed and referred to
appropriate diversion programs
o Those
already
serving
sentence
are
reassessed/reclassified
under
the
new
benevolent features of the law
o If the minor is no longer entitled to suspension
of sentence (Ex. reached 18 years old) and the
court resolves to impose the sentence, he can
still apply for probation
What if a penal law is repealed?
o Then the court has no more jurisdiction to hear
the case
o The offense never existed and the person who
committed it never did so.
o Exceptions?
1. Saving clause
2. The repealing act reenacts the former
statute
What is the effect of RA 8353 on Articles 23 and
344 which provide for pardon by the offended
party?
o Rape and sexual assault are now crimes
against persons.
o Thus, criminal action can only be commenced
by information filed by public prosecutor, and
not the private offended party.
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69
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Application of penalties
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Attempted
Principal
As provided
-1
-2
Accomplice
-1
-2
-3
Accessory
-2
-3
-4
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o 3. AC only:
Maximum period
o 4. Some of both:
Offset, then apply the above 3 rules
o 5. Two or more MC with no AC:
Lower the penalty one degree, but
always in the proper period
What if there are 2 or more MCs, but
there is at least one AC?
No lowering by degree.
What if there are 2 or more ACs?
No increasing by degree. There
can only be reduction by degree,
not increase by degree.
Ex. if there are four mitigating
circumstances, once you use two to
lower the penalty by one degree, the
other two are not taken into account.
What if the accused is sentenced to
reclusion perpetua, has two generic
MC, and no AC. Can it be lowered by
one degree?
No. No matter how many MCs
there are, RP cannot be reduced
by degrees (except privileged
MCs)
o To which crime do these rules not apply to,
and what applies instead?
Penalty of fine
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Civil liabilities
and
damages
caused
by
the
acts/omissions of minors living in their
company and under their parental
authority
Subject to proper defenses under law
Does a complex crime under Art. 48 automatically
mean there is only one civil liability?
o No. There are still as many civil liabilities as
crimes, because Art.48 is strictly a pro reo
provision in criminal law and does not extend
to civil liabilities.
Is the adopter civilly liable for the damage caused
by the adopted minor?
o Yes.
What are the requirements for the employer to be
civilly liable for damage caused by their
employees?
o The employee has to be insolvent.
Is a teacher liable for students acts?
o Only when engaged in industry.
Mere consulting doctors in a hospital negligently
left gauze in the stomach of a person they
operated on. Is the hospital liable?
o Respondeat superior because there was
control exerted by the hospital
o Are these consultants deemed employees?
Yes.
Because employer-employee
relationship is not determined by the
nomenclature of the relationship.
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Prescription of penalties
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What is parole?
o When the person serves the minimum of the
ISL, he may apply for parole. He will be
allowed to leave the penal institution under
certain conditions. (Ex. do not commit crime,
etc.)
o Offenders who commit crimes while on parole
are disqualified from ISL.
o This lasts for a certain period of time.
o If he complies with the conditions of the parole,
the Board of Pardons and Parole will give out
final release and discharge.
What if the offense is punished under an SPL with
a definite range provided for the penalty?
o The court still imposes an indeterminate
sentence, using the minimum and maximum
periods provided by the law as limits.
Probation Law
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