PNP HANDBOOK IN CRIMINAL LAW

INTRODUCTION

The undersigned joined the National Prosecution Service, Department of Justice

with station at the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor, City of Tagbilaran as the lowest
ranking (5th) Assistant Provincial Prosecutor (then, Fiscal) on December 17, l971. He
rose from the ranks until he assumed office as Provincial Prosecutor (Head of Office) on
February 7, 1987. Although a product of Divine Word (then Holy Name) College in
1961, from 1967 to 1995, he taught in the College of Law, University of Bohol (then,
Rafael Palma College); from 1986 to 2002, he taught in the College of Law, Divine
Word College (now, Holy Name University), and in 2002 he began teaching in the
College of Law, BIT – International College where he is presently teaching. In the said
schools, he handled review subjects in Civil Law, Mercantile Law, Political Law,
Criminal Law and Remedial Law.

From the time he joined the prosecution service until his compulsory retirement
on June 25, 2000, he brushed elbows with all kinds of policemen for the obvious reason
that most often criminal cases are initially handled by policemen and they are the
witnesses in said cases. Because of his association with the policemen, the undersigned
acquired first hand knowledge of their problems. Most, if not all of them, have not even
attended a regular law class and, in spite of such handicap, they do not have the needed
books to help them in the performance of their duties which essentially involve laws,
especially criminal laws.

To help the policemen acquire knowledge of law, the undersigned, together with
the Assistant Provincial Prosecutors, conducted yearly seminars from 1987 to the early
1990s with Chiefs of Police and Police Investigators as participants, covering such
topics as Gathering Evidence, Conducting Investigation, Criminal Law, Criminal
Procedure and Evidence & Trial Technique. Such seminars were, however, discontinued
when the PNP leadership in Bohol began holding seminars covering the same subject
matters. However, the undersigned and the Assistant Prosecutors of the Office of the
Provincial Prosecutor were utilized as lecturers in the said seminars.

No less than our Constitution enunciates equality before the law. However, as
government prosecutor for almost thirty (30) years, the undersigned knew that there
were many criminal cases wherein said Constitutional provision was good only on paper.
Where the private complainants could afford to pay for the expenses concomitant with
bringing witnesses to the courts, the prosecution had a fighting chance of winning in the
cases. But, where the private complainants were so poor that they could not even pay for
the transportation fares of their witnesses including themselves, almost always the said
cases could not even reach the first base. They were dismissed for failure on the part of
the trial prosecutors to produce their witnesses in court during the trial. Worse, there were
 2

cases wherein even the private complainants would not appear in court because they were
already paid by the accused.

However, where the prosecution witnesses were police officers the prosecution
could put up a good fight and a majority of those cases resulted in the conviction of the
accused. Unfortunately, some defense counsels managed to weaken those cases by filing
cases, criminal and administrative, against the police witnesses. Who were hit where
they were hurt. Under the law, a police officer who is facing a criminal case is
preventively suspended from office upon the filing of a complaint or information against
him where the penalty imposable for the crime with which he is charged is six (6) years
and one (1) day or more. (Sec. 47, RA 6975). Where the police witness happened to be
the only bread winner in the family with children in college, most often, he buckled
down. Many of them gave in to the amicable settlement of the cases. Upon knowing why
the police witnesses were weakened, the undersigned, as then Provincial Prosecutor of
Bohol, wrote letters to the Secretary of the DILG and to the Secretary of Justice
requesting for legal assistance to police officers facing criminal and administrative cases
in connection with the performance of their official duties. Sad to state, the said national
officials did not even see fit to answer the letters sent to them sometime in 1996 or 1997.
Because of the indifference of the aforementioned national officials, the undersigned
decided to bring the matter to the attention of the provincial leadership.

Happily, when our provincial officials, led by Hon. Rene L. Relampagos and
Hon. Edgar M. Chatto, then Provincial Governor (now, Congressman) and Provincial
Vice-Governor (now, Governor), respectively, became aware of the problems
encountered by policemen in the performance of their official duties, the LAELEP (Legal
Assistance for Effective Law Enforcement Project), which is probably the first in the
entire country, was born and the same was formalized in Resolution No. 2000-018, dated
January 21, 2000. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was drawn up and signed on
the 28th day of January 2000 by then Governor Rene L. Relapagos, then P/Supt. Alex M.
Castro and Atty. Liberato Casilan, Jr., representing the Province of Bohol, PNP Bohol
Provincial Command and the IBP, Bohol Chapter, respectively. Worth mentioning is a
very important provision in the Memorandum of Agreement which reads: “That the
PROVINCE shall ensure a stable and continuing financial support to the program. It
shall therefore include the funding for this project in its annual budget. A seed money
amounting to THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND (P300,000.00) shall be allocated by the
PROVINCE upon the signing of this Memorandum of Agreement. “ In a sense, then
Governor (now, Congressman) Rene L. Relampagos can be aptly referred to as the
“Father of the LAELEP” while then Vice-Governor (now, Governor) Edgar M. Chatto
can be referred to as the “Co-Father of the LAELEP”. Without them, the dream of the
undersigned to help the PNP officers and men in the form of legal assistance would
forever remain a dream. A charade promising nothing except false hope.

Then Hon. Erico B. Aumentado assumed office as Provincial Governor on June

30, 2001. Upon knowledge of the LAELEP, Gov. Aumentado conferred with the
undersigned who was then his Provincial Legal Officer (from July 9, 2001 up to June 30,
2004). The undersigned explained to the governor what the LAELEP is all about and,
 3

being convinced of its importance, he decided that LAELEP shall stay. To show his
support for the LAELEP, Gov. Aumentado increased its funding to P350,000 in 2003 and
to P450,000 in 2004.

That the LAELEP has discouraged the filing of leverage cases against police
witnesses is shown by recorded figures: in 2003, there were twenty (20) cases filed
against them, however, in 2009 to 2010, the figure dramatically reduced to only eleven
(11)!.

That the LAELEP is, among others, intended to help solve the lack of technical
know-how on the part of our policemen which they encounter in the performance of
their duties is reflected in a “Whereas Clause” of the MOA, which reads:

“WHEREAS, there are also law enforcers who fail to observe the
law or accord due process or follow the required standard in investigating
offenders and gathering information and materials/evidence used in the
commission of an illegal act due to lack of understanding of the legal
processes that must be observed in apprehension and investigation thereby
making the prosecution of a case difficult, if not a waste of time;”

It is indeed ironic because, although judges and prosecutors who are, of course,
lawyers, are furnished with the needed books by the government, yet, our policemen,
who are not lawyers, but who, by the nature of their duties, are required to know the laws,
are not furnished with the books even those containing only the codal provisions of the
laws which they are supposed to follow in the performance of their duties. And yet,
when they commit blunders in the performance of their official duties, the public does not
hesitate to condemn them.

Happily, Article X of the Implementing Rules and Guidelines of the LAELEP

provides for the production of Handbooks for distribution to the PNP officers and men.
And, because of his long association with policemen, for almost three decades, and of his
long experience in teaching law, the undersigned did not hesitate to help when requested
to do so by the LAELEP Committee.

Hence, this humble work which deals on Criminal Law, aptly called PNP
HANDBOOK IN CRIMINAL LAW, is born. Should this work gain acceptance by
the LAELEP Committee and its readers, although the undersigned is already in the
twilight of his life being already 75 years of age, he is willing, with God's Grace, to
prepare another work dealing in Criminal Procedure and Evidence & Trial Technique.
However, whether accepted or not, should even a minority of his readers benefit from this
humble work, the undersigned would already consider this work a success.

In this connection, the undersigned would like to emphasize the following:

First, there is no pretense that a policeman could find everything which he wants
to know about Criminal Law in this work. That is impossible to accomplish in a
 4

handbook. The undersigned, however, assures the interested policeman that he could
find in this work most of those he desires to know in Criminal Law and that a clear
understanding of what are found in this work would greatly help him in the performance
of his duties.

Second, this work is a product of a personal research for decades, a study of

Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions and the annotated books in Criminal Law
authored by Justice Luis B. Reyes, Justice Ramon C. Aquino and Dean Antonio L.
Gregorio. In fact, this work is greatly influenced by the books of the aforementioned
authors who have distinguished themselves in the field of law. Hence, it is admitted that
some examples and comments found in this work are actually the examples and
comments found in the books of the said authors which the undersigned believes useful
to the policemen, especially the examples and comments given by Justice Reyes. In
view hereof, the undersigned does not make a pretense that he is the author of this work.
He, however, claims that he is the first one in Bohol to arrange in one work matters on
Criminal Law which could help our policemen in the performance of their duties. It is in
this sense that the undersigned claims to be the ARRANGER of this work.

A C KN O W L E D G E M E N T

The original draft of this work was completed on November 4, 2000. Although
the undersigned submitted the original draft to the proper authorities of the IBP, Bohol
Chapter right after it was completed, and, although the undersigned was informed that,
actually the draft was already brought to Cebu City for printing, it was only after Atty.
Mitchell John L. Boiser, the incumbent President of the IBP, Bohol Chapter, assumed
office that serious efforts to have this work printed were pursued. Fortunately, at the
time the officials of the IBP and of the LAELEP made a courtesy call with Hon. Edgar
M. Chatto, Governor, Province of Bohol, on July 12, 2010 led by Atty. Boiser, the
Governor promised that the province would help in the printing of this humble work.

The undersigned likewise acknowledges the valuable help of Atty. Cristifil D.

Baluma, Vice-President, IBP, Bohol Chapter in updating and in editing the original draft
of this work. He likewise acknowledges the valuable help of (Mrs.) Edilberta Magallano-
Ucat, the ever-supportive wife of the undersigned, in editing the final draft of this work.

City of Tagbilaran, September 17, 2010.

ATTY. ANGEL S. UCAT, JR.

Arranger