CRIMINOLOGY BOARD REVIEW

( Criminal Law Book 1 )

Criminal Law is that branch of public law, which defines crimes, treat of its
nature and provides for its punishment.
Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of criminal law forbidding or
commanding it.
Accused is a person formally charged in court for having violated a penal law,
either the RPC or a special law.

Felony - if punishable by the Revised penal code

Offense - if punishable by the special laws (Ex. Rep. Act, Pres. Decree)
Infraction - if punishable by ordinance

Sources of Philippine Criminal Laws

1. The Revised Penal Code
2. Republic Acts
3. Presidential Decrees
4. Executive Orders

Cardinal feature/ characteristics/ components of Criminal Law

1. Generality, meaning that Philippines criminal laws are building on all

persons who live or sojourn in the Philippines. Except:
a a. Principles of Public International laws
b 1. Chief of states
2. Ambassadors
3. Ministers plenipotentiary
4. Ministers residents
5. Charges d’ affaires

b. Treaties or treaty stipulations

c. Laws of preferential application

2. Territoriality undertaken to punish crimes committed only within the

Philippines territory.

a. Should commit an offense while on Philippines ship or airship

b. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the Phil.
c. Should be liable for acts connected with the introductions into
the Phil. of the on obligations and securities on no.2.
d. While being a public officers or employees, should commit an
offense in the exercise of their functions.
e. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and
the law of nations.

3. Prospective, a penal law cannot make an act punishable when it was

punishable when committed.
Except: If favorable to the accused.
Except: If the accused is a habitual Delinquent.

JURISDICTION OVER CRIMES COMMTTED ON BOARD FOREIGN VESSELS

WHILE IN PHILIPPINES

1. If foreign vessels is a warship – Philippine courts have no

jurisdiction, as such vessels is an extension of the country to which
it belong.
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2. If foreign vessels is a merchant vessel

a. FRENCE RULE – crimes committed aboard a foreign
merchant vessel while on waters of another country are
not tribal in the country unless those affect the peace and
security of the country or the safety of the state is
endangered.
b. ENGLISH RULE - such crimes are tribal in that country
unless such crimes affect merely the internal
management of the vessel.

NOTE: The English Rule or the Anglo- American rule is followed in our
jurisdiction.

January 1, 1932, effectively date of the Revised Penal Code.

Felonies, acts and omissions punishable by law (RPC)

A felony is committed in two ways:
1. by dolo– (intentional)
- freedom
- intelligence
- intent
2. by culpa – (not intentional)
- freedom
- intelligence
- negligence or imprudence

*Freedom – without it, not human but tool, negated by:

1. Irresistible force
2. Uncontrollable fear
*Intelligence – is the moral capacity to determine right from wrong and to
realize the consequences of one’s act; negated by:
1. minority
2. insanity
3. imbecility
*Intent – presumed from the commission of the unlawful acts; negated by:
1. mistake of facts
 It is an act or omission, which is the result of misapprehension
of facts that is voluntary but not intentional.
 To be exempting it must be committed in good faith or under
honest belief.
MOTIVE is the reason, which impels one to commit an act for a definite result;
 Is not an element of a crime
 Is important only when the identity of the culprit is in doubt, and
not when he is positively identified by a credible witness.
 Existence of motive is essential to determine which of the two
conflicting theories are true.
INTENT is the purpose to use a particular means to affect such result.

Mala in se, are crimes, which are wrong from their nature, such as murder, theft,
rape etc.
 Acts punished by the RPC.
 Are those so serious in their effects on society as to call for the
utmost condemnation of its members.

Mala prohibita, are wrong, merely because they are prohibited by statue like
illegal possession of firearms.
 Acts punished by the special law
 Are violations of mere rules of convenience designed to secure
a more orderly regulation of the affairs of the society.
 Malice and intent are not essential.
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PROXIMATE CAUSE, that cause, which in natural and continuos

sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause produces the injury, and if
without which the result would not have occurred.

Aberratio Ictus – mistake in the blow

Error in Personae – mistake in identify
Praeter intentionem – injurious result exceeded than that intended

IMPOSSIBLE CRIME, an act performed with malice which would have

been an offense against person or property, were it not for the inherent
impossibility of its accomplishment or on account of the employment of
inadequate or ineffectual means.
Requisites of impossible crime:

1. That the act performed would be an offense against person or property.

2. That the act done was with evil intent.
3. That its accomplishment is inherently impossible, or that the means
employed is either inadequate or ineffectual
4. That the act performed should not constitute violation of another
provision of the RPC.

CLASSIFICATION OF FELONIES

1) According to manner or mode of execution:

a. Intentional felonies – committed by means of deceit or malice.
b. Culpable felonies – where the wrongful acts result from
imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight or lack of skill.

2) According to stages of execution:

a. Consummated – when all the elements necessary for its
execution and accomplishment are present.
b. Frustrated – when the offender performs all the acts of
execution which would produce the felony as a consequence
but which nevertheless do not produce it by reason of causes
independent of the will of the perpetrator.
c. Attempted – when the offender commences the execution of the
felony directly by overt acts, and does not perform all acts of
execution which would produce the felony by reason of some
cause or accidents other than his own spontaneous resistance.

3) According to gravity
a. Grave felonies – those which the laws attach capital punishment
or penalties which in any of their periods are afflictive.
b. Less Grave felonies – those which the laws punish with
penalties which in their maximum period are correctional.
c. Light felonies – those infractions of law for the commission of
which the penalty of arresto menor or a fine exceeding 200
pesos, or both.

LIGHT FELONIES are punishable only when they have been consummated,
with the exception of those committed against person of property.

MATERIAL CRIME, consummated in one instance, no attempt, such as slander

or false testimony, which is consummated in one instance.

MATERIALS CRIMES, there are stages of execution such as in the crimes of

homicide, which are not consummated in one instance or by single act.

SUBJECTIVE PHASE, is the portion of the acts constituting the crime included
between the act which begins the commission of the crime and the last act
performed by the offender which with the prior acts, should result in the
consummated crime.
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OBJECTIVE PHASE, is that period occupied by the acts of the offender over
which ha has control.

COOPERATE to desire or wish in common a thing.

CONSPIRACY, when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning

the commission of a felony and decide to commit it.

PROPOSAL, when a person who had decide to commit a felony proposes its
execution to some other persons.

The act of one is the act of all’

Rules on conspiracy:
 Conspiracy is not a crime only preparatory acts.
Except: when the law specifically provides a penalty there of – as in:
Treason (115) : ii
Rebellion (136) : should not actually be committed
Sedition (141) : ii

2 ways when conspiracy exist

1. there is an agreement
2. Participants acted in concert or simultaneously which is
indicative of the meeting of the minds towards a common criminal gal
or objective.

BY AGREEMENT:
All who conspired shall incur crime. Liability as co-conspirators.
Except: a. did not show up at the place where the crime was committed.
b. tried to prevent the commission of the crime.

2 kinds of conspiracy:
1. Conspiracy as a crime
. NO overt acts is necessary to bring about the crime. Liability
. Mere conspiracy is the crime itself
2. Conspiracy as a manner of incurring criminal liability.
. Overt at is needed before the co-conspirators become criminally
liable.

NOTE: If there has been a conspiracy to commit a crime in a particular place,

anyone who did not appear shall be presumed to have desisted. Except, If such
person who did not appear was the master mind.

FIVE CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING CRIMINAL LIABILITY

1. Justifying Circumstances, those where in the acts are in accordance with

law, and hence incurs NO criminal and civil liability.
a. Self- defense; Requisites are;
 Unlawful aggression
 Reasonable necessity of the means employed to repeal it.
 Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending.
Unlawful aggression material or physical attack manifesting danger to
the person attached. An assault or threatened assault of an immediate
or imminent kind on the person defending himself.
b. Defense of relatives
c. Defense of strangers
d. State of necessity/ Accidence of greater evil or injury, Requisites are:
 Evil to be avoided actually exists.
 Injury feared greater than injury done to avoid it.
 No other practical and less harmful means of preventing injury feared
e. Fulfillment of Duty or Exercises of right or office
f. Obedience to an order of a superior
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2. Exempting Circumstance those wherein there is an absence in the gent of

the crime any or all of the conditions that would make an act voluntary, hence
although there is no criminal liability, there is civil liability.
a. Imbecility or insanity
b. Minority under 9 years.
c. Minority over 9but under 15 unless discernment
Discernment, is the mental capacity to distinguish what is right or
wrong and to realize the consequences of one’s unlawful act.
d. Accident – any person who, while performing a lawful act with due
care cause an injury by mere accident without fault or intention of
causing it.
e. Compulsion of irresistible force
f. Impulse of uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury.
g. Insuperable or unlawful cause
h. Instigation
* Instigation , when the police officer induces a person to commit a crime
, for without the inducement no crime would have been committed.
* Entrapment, signifies the ways and means devised by a peace officer
to entrap or apprehend a persons who has committed a crime.

Art. 280, exception on trespassing

 Art. 132, Theft, estafa,, malicious mischief committed by relatives…
 Art. 247, Death under exceptional circumstances
 Art. 280, exception on trespassing
 Art. 20, relatives exempted as accessories
 Art. 6, par 3, spontaneous resistance in attempted stage of a felony.
 Art 7, Light felonies punishable only if consummated unless…
 Art 16, accessories are not liable in light felonies.

3. Mitigating Circumstance, those, which do not entirely free the actor from
criminal responsibility but serve only to lessen or reduce the penalty impose.
* That have the effect of reducing the penalty because there is a
diminution of any of the element of dolo or culpa, which makes the act
voluntary or because of the lesser perversity of the offender.
a. Incomplete Justifying and incomplete exempting circumstances.
b. Under 18 or over 70 years old.
c. Lack of intent to commit so grave a wrong
d. Sufficient provocation or threat
e. Immediate vindication of a grave offense
f. Passion or obfuscation
g. Voluntary surrender and plea of guilty.
h. Spontaneous plea of guilty
i. Illness that restricts means of action.

Kinds of mitigating circumstances:

 Privilege Mitigating which cannot be offset by any aggravating
circumstance, and which if present, tends to reduce the penalty by
degree
 Ordinary mitigating which can be offset by aggravating circumstance
and which if present tends to reduce the penalty by periods.

4. Aggravating circumstances, those which if present in the commission of

the crime serve to increase the penalty impossible, without exceeding the
maximum period.
 Specific – those that applies only to some particular crimes like
disregard of respect due to offended party.
 Generic – those which generally, can be applied to all offenses like
dwelling, recidivism, price, reward etc.
 Inherent – those which necessarily accompany or inherent in the
commission of the crime like evident premeditation in theft or robbery;
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 Qualifying – those which if attendant, alter or change the nature of the

crime necessarily increasing the penalty, such that killing by means of
poison in homicide qualifies the crime to murder;

a. That advantage be taken by the offender of his public position.

b. That the crime be committed in contempt of or with insult to public
authorities
Public authorities are public officers directly vested with
jurisdiction and who have the power to govern and execute
the laws
c. That the act be committed a.) With insult or in disregard of the
respect due to the offended party on account of his rank, sex or
age, or that b.) It be committed in the dwelling of the offended party
if the latter has not given any provocation.
Dwelling, is a building or structure exclusively used and
devoted for rest and comfort, and it includes dependencies
of the house.
d. That the act be committed with abuse of confidence or obvious
ungratefulness.
e. That the crime be committed in the palace of the Chief Executive,
or in his presence or where authorities are engaged in the
discharge of their duties or in a place dedicated for religious
worship.
f. That the crime be committed in the nighttime or in an inhabited
place, or by a band whenever such circumstances may facilitate the
crime.
Band, more than three armed malefactors who shall have
acted together in the commission of the offense
g. That the crime be committed on the occasion of conflagration,
shipwreck earthquake, epidemic or other calamity or misfortune.
h. That the crime be committed with the aid of armed men or persons
who inure or afford impunity.
i. That the accused is a recidivist.
j. Habitually, that the offender has been previously punished for an
offense to which the law attaches an equal o greater penalty or for
two or more crimes to which the attaches a lighter penalty.
k. That the crime be committed in consideration of a price, reward or
promise.
l. That the crime be committed by means of inundation, fire,
explosion, standing of vessel or intentional damage there to or by
used of any other artifice involving great waste and run.
m. That the act be committed with evident premeditation.
n. That the craft, fraud and disguised be employed.
Craft, is a circumstances characterized by trickery or
cunning resorted to by the accused.
Fraud, involves acts, or spoken or written words, by a party
to mislead another into believing a fact to be true when it is
nit so.
Disguise, is the use of any devise or artifice by the accused
to conceal his identity.
o. That the advantages be taken of superior strength or means to
weaken the defense.
p. That the act be committed with treachery Alevosia, when the
offender commits any of the crimes against person, employing
means, methods, or forms in the execution thereof which tend
directly to insure its execution, without risk to himself arising from
the defense which the other might make.
q. That means is employed or circumstances be brought which add
ignominy to the natural effects of the crime.
Ignominy is a circumstance pertaining to be moral order,
which adds disgrace and obloquy to the material injury
caused by the crime.
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r. That the crime be committed after an unlawful entry.

s. That as a means in the commission of the crime of the wall, roof,
floor, or window be broken.
t. That the crime be committed with the aid of persons under fifteen
years old, or by means of motor vehicles, airship or other similar
means.
u. Cruelty, that the wrong done in the commission of the crime
deliberately augmented by using another wrong not necessary for
its commission.

5. Alternative Circumstances are those, which must be taken into

consideration as aggravating or mitigating according to the effects and nature
and other conditions attending its commission.
a. Relationship
b. Intoxication
c. Degree of instruction and education of the offender

RECIDIVISM, is one who at the time of his trial for one crime, shall
been previously convicted by the final judgement of another crime
embraced in the same title of the RPC.

QUASI-RECIDIVISM, Any person who shall commit a felony after

having been convicted by the final judgement, before to serve such
sentence, or while serving the same.

REITERACION/ HABITUALITY, that the offender has been previously

punished for an offense to which the blows attaches an equal or greater
penalty or for two or more crimes to which it attaches a lighter penalty.

HABITUAL DELIQUENT, is one who within a period of 10 years from

the date of his last release or last conviction of the crimes of serious of
less serious Physical Injuries, robbery theft, estafa or falsification, he is
found guilty of any of the said crimes a third time or more.

The following are criminally liable for grave and less grave felonies:
1. Principals
2. Accomplice
3. Accessories

NOTE: Accessories are NOT liable in light felonies.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRINCIPALS

1. Principal by directs participation, those who take direct part in the

execution of the act.

2. Principal by inducement, those who directly force or induce others to

commit it.

3. Principal by indispensable cooperation, those who cooperate in the

commission of the offense by another act without which it would not
have been accomplished.

ACCOMPLICES, are those who, not being considered as principal, cooperate in

the execution of the offense by previous (before) or simultaneous (during) acts.

ACCESSORIES, are those who, having knowledge of the commission of the

crime, and without having participated therein, either as principals or
accomplices, take part subsequent (after) to its commission.
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Kinds of Accessories:
1. Those who profits themselves or assist the offender to profit by the
effects of the crime.

2. Those who conceal or destroy the body of the crime, or the effects or
instrument thereof, in order to prevent its discovery.

3. Those who harbor, conceal, or assist in the escape of the principal of

the crime provided:

a.) He is a public officer and abuses his public functions.

b.) He is a private person and the principal or author of the crime is
guilt of treason, parricide, murder or an attempt to the life of the CE,
or is known habitual delinquent.

NOTE: Spouses, ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural, and adopted

brothers and sisters or relatives by affinity within the same civil degree are
exempted as accessories except if they profit or assist to profit the principal of
the crime.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF PENALTIES

PRINCIPAL PENALTIES
Capital punishment
Death
Afflictive penalties
Reclusion Perpetua : 20 yrs + 1 day to 40 yrs
Reclusion Temporal : 12 yrs + 1 day to 20 yrs
Perpetual or temporary
Absolute disqualification
Perpetual or temporary
Special disqualification
Prison Mayor : 6 yrs + 1 day to 12 yrs
Correctional Penalties
Prison Correctional : 6 mos + 1 day to 6 yrs
Arresto Mayor : 30 days + 1 day to 6 mos
Suspension
Destierro
Light penalties
Arresto menor : 1 to 30 days
Public Censure
*Penalties common to the three preceding classes:
Fine
Bond to keep the peace

ACCESSORY PENALTIES
Perpetual or temporary absolute disqualification
Perpetual or special disqualification
Suspension from public office, the right to voted and for office
Civil interdiction
Indemnification
Forfeiture or confiscation of instruments and proceeds of the offense
Payment of costs

PREVENTIVE SUSPENSION, is the incarceration undergone by a person

accused of a crime which is not bilabial, or even if bailable can not afford to post
bond.
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SUBSIDIARY IMPRISONMENT, is the personal penalty prescribed by law in

substitution of the payment of fine embodied in the decision when the same
cannot be satisfied because of the culprit’s insolvency.

CIVIL INTERDICTION, deprivation of the offender during the time of his sentence
of the rights of a.) Parental authority, or b.) Guardianship, either as to the person
or property of the ward, of c.) Marital authority, d.) Of the right to manage of his
property and e.) The right to dispose by any of conveyance or deed.

Indivisible penalties are those, which have no fixed duration like death,
reclusion perpetual, perpetual absolute or special disqualification ad censure.

Divisible penalties, are those having fixed duration and can be divided into
three periods.

Pecuniary liabilities:
1. Reparation for the damage caused
2. Indemnification for consequential damages
3. Fine
4. Cost of the proceeding

1. COMPOUND CRIME, when a single act constitute 2 or more grave felonies.

2.. COMPLEX CRIME, when the offense is committed as a necessary means to
commit the other.

CONTINUOUS CRIME, refers to a series of criminal acts performed by the

offender motivated by a single criminal impulse or intent.

DISTIERRO, is a penalty, which prohibits the convict from entering a particular

place designated in the sentence.

Cases in which death penalty shall be suspended:

1. woman while pregnant
2. within one year after delivery
3. below 18 and above 70 years of old

Prescription of the crime, is the forfeiture of the right of the state to prosecute
the offender after the laps e of a certain time fixed by law.

Prescription of the penalty, it is the loss or the forfeiture of the right of the
government to execute the finale sentence after the lapse of certain time by law.

How criminal liability is distinguish

1. By the death of the convict 5. By prescription of crime
2. By service of sentence 6. By prescription of penalty
3. By amnesty 7. By marriage of the offended woman
4. By absolute pardon

PRESCRIPTION OF CRIMES
Prescription of Crimes: Prescription of
Penalty:
1. Death : 20 yrs : 20 yrs

2. Reclusion of Perpetua : 20 yrs : 20 yrs

3. Reclusion Temporal : 20 yrs : 15 yrs
4. Prison Mayor : 15 yrs : 15 yrs
5. Prision Correctional : 10 yrs : 10 yrs
6. Arresto Mayor : 5 yrs : 5 yrs
7. Arreato Menor : 2 mos. : 1 yr.
8. Oral defamation /Slander : 6 mos.

RESTITUTION applicable in crimes against property, restoration of the things

which is the object of the crime.
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QUESTIONS

Q. Distinguish frustrated felony from attempted felony.

A. (1) In both the offenders has not accomplished his criminal purpose.
(2) While in frustrated felony, the offender has performed all the acts of
execution, which would produce the felony as a consequence thereof, in
attempted felony the offender merely commences the commission of the felony
by overt acts and does not perform all the acts of execution.

Q. Define or explain corpus Delicti.

A. Corpus Delicti means the body of the crime or the pact of the actual
commission of the crime charged.

Q. May corpus Delicti still be established by proof beyond reasonable

doubt in the absence of the body of the victim, if say, after the killing the
victim, his corpse was burned and ashes strewn in the bank erohan River?
Explain.

A. Yes corpus Delicti can still be established beyond reasonable doubt in the
absence of the body of the victim It, is indispensable that the very body of the
victim be produced as in the instant case Suffice that the pact of death of the
victim which partakes the nature of corpus delicti, his identity, and in addition, the
actual commission of the crime be proved by independent Evidence. Direct or
circumstantial, say through the confession of the accused or testimony of
eyewitnesses who saw it.

Q. One of the means employed by law enforcement officers in trapping

and capturing lawbreakers is entrapment. What is the dividing line between
entrapment and instigation as laid down by the Supreme Court?

A. In entrapment, ways and means are resorted for the purpose of trapping and
capturing the lawbreaker in the execution of his criminal plan. It s a ground for
prosecution and conviction of the lawbreaker and could not be availed of as a
defense.

In instigation, the instigation induces the would- be accused onto

commission of the crime, and the former become a co-principal. The law enforcer
induces an innocent person to commit a crime and arrest hint afterwards, he can
interpose the defense of instigation as ground for acquittal.

Q. What if the law enforcement officer, in an undercover operation solicited

the service of the would –be perpetrator to perform the criminal act in order
to apprehend him? Would this be entrapment or instigation?

A. It is case of entrapment. The undercover operatives merely resort to ways

and means in trapping the would-be perpetrator while committing an offense. The
would- be perpetrator whose services were solicited by the law enforcers has
beforehand conceive the idea of committing an offense and the solicitation of his
service did not serve as a cause or factor in committing the crime for which he
was arrested.
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Q. Distinguish the following circumstances and gives an illustrative

example: (a) Treachery (alevosia), (b) Craft (astusia), (c) use of means to
weaken the defense.

A. (a) In treachery (alevosia), means, method or forms of attack employed by

the offender to make it impossible or hard for the offended party to put up any
sort of opposition or resistance.

Illustration of treachery (alevosia): The shooting of the deceased from

behind the latter wholly unprepared form the attack.

In craft (astusia) the offender employ intellectual trickery and cunning in

order to facilitate the commission of the crime.

Illustrative example: Where a thief falsely represents himself as a friend of

the family where the servant works in order to gain entrance, and once inside
carted any some articles belonging to he owner of the house.

Use of means to weaken the defense. – In means employ to weaken the

defense, the offender in treachery, employs means the purpose of which is to
materially weaken the resisting power of the victim.

Illustration: In the case where in a fight, one of the opponents threw dust
into the eyes of his rival thereby affecting his vision and thereafter stabbed and
killed him.

Q. A conspiring with B furnished the latter with a key which he (B) used
to enter X’s house. A had no other intention in the commission of the
felony. Once inside the house, B carted away TV and VHS player. Two street
blocks away from X’s house, B was caught by Barangay Tanod and the
stolen articles were seized from him.

A. The felony committed was robbery with force upon things, because B
gained entrance into the house of X with the use of false key supplied by A, and
once inside carted away thew TV and VHS player belonging to X.

False keys are genuine keys stolen from the owner or any keys other than
those intended by the owner for use in the lock forcibly opened by the offender.

Q. Was it frustrated or consummated?

A. B. Consummated robbery, because B was able to carry out the articles

stolen from the house of X and has complete as exportation of the stolen
properties when apprehended by the Barangay Tanod.

Q. What was the degree of A and B’s criminal liability?

A. Only B committed the said robbery, A could not be considered as having

committed the crime with B because through he conspired with the latter when
he gave the key he has no intention of committing the offense as in pact he did
not take part in it execution. Here conspiracy without the execution of its purpose
is not punishable, except only in cases provided for by law such as in treason
and sedition.
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Q. What is meant by proof beyond reasonable doubt?

A. Proof beyond reasonable doubt doe not means such degree of proof, as
excluding possibility of error, produces absolute certainty. Moral certainty
is only required or that degrees of proof which produces conviction in an
unprejudiced mind.

Q. What is circumstantial evidence and state under what circumstance

may it be sufficient to secure conviction or an accuse prosecuted for
an offense?

A. Circumstantial evidence is the proof of fact or facts which taken singly or

collectively, the existence of a particular fact in dispute may be inferred as
a necessary and probable consequence.

Circumstantial evidence is deemed sufficient to sustain a conviction, if:

1. There is more than circumstance.
2. The facts from which the inferences derived are proven.
3. The combination of all the circumstances is such to produce conviction
beyond reasonable doubt.

Q. The Supreme Court restated that the rule that searches and seizures
must be supported by a valid warrant is not absolute. State its three (3)
exemptions.

A. The three (3) exemptions are:

1. When the searches or seizures is made incidental to lawful arrest.
2. When the public officer or employee making the search on the person
or premises of one without a warrant and a later voluntarily submits or consents
thereto.
3. Searches and seizures made by proper authorities or aircraft, vessels,
vehicles, warehouses, stores, buildings, not used as dwelling house, beasts or
persons suspected of holding or conveying any dutiable or prohibited articles in
violation of the Tariff and Custom Code.

Q. Is it mandatory for the judge to issue a warrant for the accused in

view of his finding, after conducting a preliminary investigation, that
there exists a prima facie evidence that the accused committed the
crime charged?

A. The investigating judge in the conduct of preliminary investigation had

some discretion in passing upon complaint brought before him changing
the person with the commission of the crime. It is for him to determine
whether or not where exists such evidence as may endanger well-
grounded belief that an offense has been committed and that the accused
is properly guilty thereof. If prima facie exists that the accused committed
the offense charged, the law imposes upon the investigating judge a legal
and mandatory duty to issue the corresponding warrant of arrest in order
to hold the accused for trial.