CRIMINAL LAW

 General Principles
o Mala in se  (evil in itself) a crime or an act that is
inherently immoral, such as murder, arson, or rape
o Mala prohibita (prohibited evil)  an act that is a
crime merely because it is prohibited by statue,
although the act itself is not necessarily immoral

 APPLICABILITY OF RPC
o Art 2 sets forth the instances where the provisions
of the RPC are applicable although the felony is
committed outside the Ph territory:
 Extraterritoriality
 Exterritoriality
 Intraterritoriality

 EFFECTIVITY OF RPC
o The revised penal code was approved on December
8, 1930. It took effect on January 1, 1932.

 Characteristics of Criminal Law:

o 1. General – penal laws and those of public security
and safety shall be obligatory upon all who live and
sojourn in the PH territory, subject to the principles
of public international law and to treaty stipulations
 EXCEPTIONS TO THE GENERAL APPLICATION
 A. Treaties or Treaty Stipulations
 B. Law of Preferential Application
o RA No. 75 penalizes acts which
would impair the proper observance
by the Republic and its inhabitants
of the immunitites, rights and
 privileges of duly-accredited foreign
diplomatic representatives in the
PH.
 C. Principles of Public International Law
o Sovereigns and other heads of state;
o Charges d’affaires;
o Ambassadors;
o Ministers plenipotentiary; and
o Ministers resident
 NOTE: Consuls, Vice-consuls
and consular officials do not
enjoy the immunity from
criminal prosecution under the
PH Laws because they merely
represent their state’s
commercial, mercantile or
business interest.
 EXC: where the public official is
being sued in his private and
personal capacity as an
ordinary citizen.
o 2. TERRITORIAL
 GR: Penal laws of the PH have force and effect
only within its territory.
o 3. PROSPECTIVITY
 GR: Criminal law cannot penalize an act that
was not punishable at the time of its
commission.
 E: whenever a new statute dealing with
crime establishes conditions more lenient
favorable to the accused, it can be given
retroactive effect.
 o E to E: where the new law is
expressly made inapplicable to
pending actions or existing causes
 Where the offender is a
habitual criminal
 PRO REO PRINCIPLE .whenever a penal law is to be
construed or applied and the law admits of two
interpretations – one lenient to the offender and one
strict to the offender – that interpretation which is lenient
or favorable to the offender will be adopted

FELONIES  acts and omissions punishable by the RPC.

REQS:
1. there must be an act or omission
2. the act or omission must be punishable by the RPC; and
3. the act is performed or the omission is incurred by
means of dolo (malice) or culpa (fault)
 Criminal Liabilities and Felonies
o Criminal Liability (Art 4) – shall be incurred by any
person committing a felony (delito) although the
wrongful act done be different from that which he
intended.
o Grave vs. less grave vs. light felonies
 Grave Felonies – those to which the law
attaches the capital punishment or penalties
which in any of their periods are afflictive
 Less Grave Felonies – those to which the law
punishes with penalties which in their
maximum period is correctional
 Light Felonies – those infractions or law for the
commission of which the penalty is arresto
menor, or a fine not exceeding P200, or both.
o Three Causes whuch Produce a Different Result
  1. Error In Personae – mistake in the identity of
the victim. The penalty is that provided for in
Art. 49 of the RPC, the penalty for the lesser
crime in its maximum period.
 2. Aberratio Ictus – mistake in the blow, that is,
when the offender intending to do an injury to
a person actually inflicts it on another. The
penalty for graver offense in its maximum
period pursuant to Art 48 of the RPC.
 3. Praeter Intentionem – injurious result is
greater than that intended. (Art 13 – mitigating
circumstance)
o IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES
 Par 2.  Criminal Liability shall be incurred by
any person performing an act which would be
an offense against persons or property, were it
not for the inherent impossibility of its
accomplishment or on account of the
employment of inadequate or ineffectual
means.
 An Impossibe Crime is one where the acts
performed would have been a crime against
persons or property but which is not
accomplished because of its inherent
impossibility or because of the employment
inadequate or ineffectual means.
 REQUISITES:
 1. That the act performed would be an
offense against Persons or Property
 that the act was done with Evil intent
 that its accomplishment is Inherently
impossible, or that the means employed is
either inadequate or ineffectual; and
  that the act performed should Not
constitute a violation of another provision
of the RPC.
 REASON AND PURPOSE
 There is a need to suppress criminal
propensity or criminal tendencies.
 KINDS OF IMPOSSIBILITY:
 1. Legal Impossibility – where the
intended acts, even if completed would
not amount to a crime (killing a person
already dead).
 Physical or Factual Impossibility – when
extraneous circumstances unknown to
the actor or beyond his control prevent
the consummation of the intended crime (
when a man with the intention to steal
another’s wallet and finds the pocket
empty; when a person steals a check
which was later dishonored).
 NOTE: there is NO ATTEMPTED or
FRUSTRATED impossible crime. It is always
consummated and applies only to grave or less
grave felonies.
 NOTE: the penalty for impossible crime is
arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200-500
pesos.
o STAGES OF EXECUTION
 CONSUMMATED FELONY
 A felony is consummated when all the
elements necessary for its execution and
accomplishment are present.
 FRUSTRATED FELONY
 A felony is 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.
 The offender is already in the objective
phase.
 ATTEMPTED FELONY
 There is an attempt when the offender
commences the commission of a felony
directly by overt acts, and does not
perform all the acts of execution which
should produce the felony by reason of
some cause or accident other than his
own spontaneous desistance.
o Marks the commencement of the
subjective phase.
o NOTE: Desistance is an absolutory
cause which negates criminal
liability because the law allows a
person to desist from committing a
crime. The desistance should be
made before all acts of execution are
performed.
 CONTINUING CRIMES
 COMPLEX CRIMES AND COMPOSITE CRIMES

 CIRUMSTANCES AFFECTING CRIMINAL LIABILITY

o JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES
o KINDS
 Self-defense
 Defense of Relatives
 Defense of Stranger
 Avoidance of greater evil or injury
  Fulfillment of Duty of lawful exercise of right or
office
 Obedience to an order issued for some lawful
purpose
 Battered Woman Syndrome
o Justifying Circumstances
 Those where the act of a person is said to be in
accordance with law, so that such person is
deemed not to have transgressed the law and is
free from both criminal and civil liability
 Imposition of Civil Liability
 GR: there is no civil liability when the act
or omission is considered justified
 E: Par 4 (Avoidance of greater evil or
injury) of Art 11 where the civil liability is
borne by the persons benefited by the act.
 Basis: Lack of criminal intent
 In raising justifying circumstance as a
defense, the accused must first admit the
act that he is being charged with because
he cannot deny the act and then claim in
his defense that he committed the act but
only did so inder justifying circumstance.
 SELF-DEFENSE
 REQS (URL):
o 1. Unlawful aggression (condition
seine qua non);
o 2. Reasonable necessity of the means
employed to prevent or repel it (if
by peace officer, reasonable
necessity of the means employed to
overcome opponent);
 o 3. Lack of sufficient provocation on
the part of the person defending
himself.
 RIGHTS INCLUDED IN SELF-DEFENSE:
o Right to Honor
o Defense of Porperty Rights
 SUBJECTS OF SELF-DEFENSE:
o Defense of Person;
o Defense of Rights;
o Defense of property, and
o Defense of honor
 “Stand ground when in the right”
 FIRST REQUISITE: UNLAWFUL AGGRESSION
 Equivalent to assault or at least
threatened assault of an immediate and
imminent kind. There is unlawful
aggression when the peril to one’s life,
limb, or right is either actual or imminent.
 TWO KINDS:
o 1. Actual unlawful aggression –
means and attack with physical
force or with a weapon which shows
the positive determination of the
aggressor to cause injury; and
o 2. Immediate or imminent
unlawful aggression – an attack
that is not required that the attack
already begins for it may be too late.
o NOTE: in case of threat, the same
must be offensive and prositively
strong, whoeing the wrongful intent
to cause an injury.
 Peril to one’s life:
 o 1. Actual – the danger must be
present, that is actually in existence.
o 2. Imminent – the danger is on the
point of happening. It is not required
that the attack already begins, for it
may be too late.
 Peril to one’s limb:
o It may be actual or only imminent. It
includes peril to the safety of one’s
person from physical injuries.
o NOTE: mere belief of an impeding
attack is NOT sufficient.
o RETALIATION – X self-defense. The
aggression that was begun by the
injured party already ceased to exist
when the attack happened, hence it
is different from an act of self-
defense.
 GUIDELINES ON UNLAWFUL AGGRESSION:
 The unlawful aggression must come from
the person attacked by the accused
 A public officer exceeding his authority
may become an unlawful aggressor
 Nature, character, location and extent of
wound of the accused allegedly inflicted
by the injured partly may belie claim of
self-defense.
 Physical fact may determine whether the
accused acted in self-defense
 When the aggressor flees, unlawful
aggression no longer exists. When
unlawful aggression which begun no
longer exists, because the aggressor runs
 away, the one making a defense has no
more right to kill or even to wound the
former aggressor.
 SECOND REQUISITE: REASONABLE NECESSITY
OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED
 This requisite presupposes the existence
of unlawful aggression, which is either
imminent or actual.
 FACTORS TO CONSUDER THE
REASONABLENESS OF THE MEANS USED:
(PINES):
 Presence of imminent danger
 Impelled by the instinct of self-
preservation;
 Nature and quality of the weapon used by
the accused compared to the weapon of
the aggression;
 Emergency to which the person defending
himself has been exposed to;
 Seize and or physical character of the
aggressor compared to the accused and
other circumstances that can be
considered showing disparity between
aggressor and accused.
o NOTE: whether the means employed
is reasonable, will depend upon the
nature and quality of the weapon
used by the aggressor, his physical
condition, character, size, and
circumstances, and those of the
person defending himself and also
the place and occasion of the assault.
 THIRD REQUISITE: LACK OF SUFFICIENT
PROVOCATION
  PROVOCATION – is any unjust or
improper conduct or act of the offended
party, capable of exciting, inciting or
irritating anyone. It is sufficient when it is
adequate to steer one to its commission.
o Must be sufficient, which means that
it should be proportionate to the act
of aggression and adequate to stir
the aggressor to its commission.
 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 do not incur any
criminal or civil liability notwithstanding
the absence of any of the elements for
justifying circumstances of self-defense
under the RPC
 BATTERY
o It is an act of inflicting physical harm
upon the woman or her child
resulting to physical and
psychological or emotional distress.
 BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME
o It is a scientifically defined pattern
of psychological and behavioral
symptoms found in women living in
battering relationships as a result of
cumulative abuse.
 CYCLE OF VIOLENCE has 3 phases:
o 1. The tension building phase
o the acute battering incident
o tranquil, loving (non-violent) phase
 DEFENSE OF RELATIVES
 REQS:
o Unlawful aggression;
o Reasonable necessity of the means
employed to prevent or repel it; and
o In case the provocation was given by
the person attacked, the one making
the defense had no part therein.
 The third requisite does not
mean that the relative
defended should give
provocation to the aggressor.
The clause merely states an
even which may or or may not
take place. The fact that the
relative defended gave
provocation is immaterial
 RELATIVES THAT CAN BE DEFENDED:
o Spouse
o Ascendants
o Descendants
o Legitimate, natural or adopted
brothers and sisters, or relatives by
affinity in the same degrees; and
o Relatives by consanguinity within
the fourth civil degree
 DEFENSE OF STRANGER
 REQS:
o Unlawful aggression
o Reasonable necessity of the mans
employed to prevent or repel it; and
 o The person defending was not
induced by revenge, resentment or
other evil motive.
 The law requires that the
defense of a stranger be
actuated by a disinterested or
generous motive.
 PAR. 4 AVOIDANCE OF A GREATER EVIL OR
INJURY
 REQS:
o That the evil sought to be avoided
actually exists
o That the injury feared be greater
than that done to avoid it; and
o There is no other practical and less
harmful means of preventing it
 NOTE: greater evil must not be brought
about by the negligence or imprudence or
violation of law by the actor
 “Damage to another” covers: injury to
persons and damage to property
o State of necessity  offender
deliberately caused damage
o (vs) Accident (Art 12, par 4) 
offender accidentally caused
damage.
 PAR 5. FULFILLMENT OF DUTY OR LAWFUL
EXERCISE OF RIGHT OR OFFICE
 REQS:
o That the accused acted in the
performance of a duty or in the
lawful exercise of a right or office
and
 o That the injury caused or the offense
committed be the necessary
consequence of the due performance
of duty or the lawful exercise of such
right or office.
 DOCTRINE OF SELF-HELP
 The owner or lawful possessor of a thing
has the right to exclude any person from
the enjoyment and disposal thereof.
 For this purpose, he may use such force as
may be reasonably necessary to repel or
prevent an actual or threatened unlawful
physical invation or usurpation of his
property.
 PAR 6. OBEDIENCE TO AN ORDER ISSUED
FOR SOME LAWFUL PURPOSE
 REQS:
 That an order has been issued by a
superior
 That such order must be for some lawful
purpose; and
 That the means used by the subordinate
to carry out said order is lawful
 EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES - those grounds which
free the offender fro criminal liability does not relieve
him of civil liabilities except par. 4 (accident) where he is
relieved of both criminal and civil responsibility.
 Basis: complete absence of intelligence, freedom, action,
or intent, or on the absence of negligence on the part of
the accused.
o Imbecility/Insanity
o Minority
o Accident
 o Compulsion of irresistible force
o Impulse of uncontrollable fear
o Insuperable or lawful cause

 PAR 1. IMBECILITY OR INSANITY

o Basis: Complete absence of intelligence
o Imbecility  it exists when a person, while of
advanced age, has a mental development
comparable to that of children between 2 – 7 years
of age.
o Insanity  it exists when there is a complete
deprivation of intelligence or freedom of the will.
Mere abnormality of mental faculities is not enough
especially if the offender has not lost consciousness
of his acts.
 Insanity and imbecility to exempt the actor
under par 1 must be complete, and they cannot
be graduated in degrees of gravity.
 An insane person is not so exempt if it can be
shown that he acted during a lucid interval. But
an imbecile is exempt in all cases from criminal
liability.
 NOTE: feeblemindedness is not
exempting but can be considered
mitigating.
 JJWA – JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE ACT OF 2006
o BASIS – complete absence of lack of intelligence.
o Child in conflict of the law – it refers to a child who
is alleged as, accused of, or adjudged as, having
committed an offense under the PH laws.
 Person who at the time of the commission of
the offense is below 18 years old but not less
than 15 years old and one day.
o Minimum age of responsibility:
 1. Child 15 years of age or under at the time of
the commission of the offense. The child shall,
however, be subject to an intervention
program.
 Neglected child – above 12 to 15 years of
age and who commits parricide, murder,
infanticide, kidnapping and serious illegal
detention where the victim killed or
raped, robbery, with homicide or rape,
destructive arson…
 2. Child above 15 but below 18 who acted
without discernment sec 20.
 If the child in above 15 – 18 and who acted
with discernment, proceed with diversion
program.
 Where the imposable penalty is not more
than 6 years of imprisonment, the Punong
Barangay or law enforcement officer shall
conduct mediation, family conferencing
and conciliation
 Where the imposable penalty is > 6 years
of imprisonment, diversion measures may
be resorted to only be the court.
o Exemption from criminal liability does not include
exemption from civil liability.
 Status Offense  refers to any conduct not
considered an offense or not penalized of
committed by an adult shall not be punished if
committed by a child.
 Offenses not applicable to children  persons
below 18 shal be exempt from prosecution
from crime of:
  Vagrancy (decriminalized) and
prostitution
 Mendicancy
 Sniffing of rugby
 PAR 4. ACCIDENT WITHOUT FAULT OR INTENTION OF
CAUSING IT
 BASIS: lack of intelligence and intent
 ELEMENTS:
o 1. A person is performing a lawful act
o 2. With due care
o 3. He causes injury to another by mere accident; and
o 4. Without fault or intention of causing it.
 PAR 5. A PERSON WHO ACTS UNDER THE COMPULSION
OR AN IRRESISTIBLE FORCE
 BASIS: complete absence of freedom
 ELEMENTS:
o 1. That the compulsion is by means of Physical force;
o 2. That the physical force must be irresistible; and
o 3. That the physical force must come from a third
person.
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES
o incomplete justification and exemption
o under 18 or over 70 years of age
o no intention to commit so grave a wrong
o sufficient provocation or threat
o immediate vindication of a grave offense
o passion or obfuscation
o Voluntary surrender
o Voluntary plea of guilt
o Plea to a lower offense
o Physical defect
o Illness
o Analogous circumstances