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Revised Penal Code Reviewer
Revised Penal Code Reviewer
Court decisions are not sources of criminal law, because they merely explain the
meaning of, and apply, the law as enacted by the legislative branch of the government.
Congress is also prohibited from passing an act which would inflict punishment without judicial
trial, for that would constitute a bill of attainder.
- A bill of attainder is a legislative act which inflicts punishment without trial.
The second limitation requires that criminal laws must be of general application and must
clearly define the acts and omissions punished as crimes.
a) General – law is binding on all persons who live or sojourn in the Philippines.
b) Territoriality – means that the law is applicable to all crimes committed within the
limits of the Philippine territory.
c) Prospectivity or Irretrospectivity – means that the law does not have any retroactive effect
except if it favours the offender unless he is a habitual delinquent, or if the law provides
otherwise.
I. General
As a general rule, the jurisdiction of the civil courts is not affected by the military
character of the accused.
Civil courts have concurrent jurisdiction with general courts-martial over soldiers of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Civil courts have jurisdiction over the offense of malversation, committed by an army
finance officer.
The Revised Penal Code or other penal law is not applicable when the military court
takes cognizance of the case.
o When the military court takes cognizance of the case involving a person subject
to military law, the Articles of War apply, not the Revised Penal Code or other
penal law.
The prosecution of an accused before a court-martial is a bar to another prosecution of
the accused for the same offense.
o A court-martial is a court, and the prosecution of an accused before it is a
criminal, not an administrative case, and therefore it would be, under certain
conditions, a bar to another prosecution of the accused for the same offense,
because the latter would place the accused in double jeopardy.
Offenders accused of war crimes are triable by military commission.
Exceptions to the general application of Criminal Law.
o “except as provided in the treaties and laws of preferential application."
Persons exempt from the operation of our criminal laws by virtue of the principles of public
international law.
1. Sovereigns and other chiefs of state.
2. Ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, ministers resident, and charges d'affaires.
II. TERRITORIAL, in that criminal laws undertake to punish crimes committed within Philippine
territory.
o The principle of territoriality means that as a rule, penal laws of the Philippines are
enforceable only within its territory.
II. PROSPECTIVE
A penal law cannot make an act punishable in a manner in which it was not
punishable when committed. As provided in Article 366 of the Revised Penal Code,
crimes are punished under the laws in force at the time of their commission.
Exceptions to the prospective application of criminal laws.
Whenever a new statute dealing with crime establishes conditions more lenient or
favourable to the accused, it can be given a retroactive effect.
But this exception has no application:
1. Where the new law is expressly made inapplicable to pending actions or
existing causes of action.
2. Where the offender is a habitual criminal under Rule 5, Article 62, Revised
Penal Code.
When the new law and the old law penalize the same offense, the offender can be tried
under the old law.
When the repealing law fails to penalize the offense under the old law, the accused
cannot be convicted under the new law.
A person erroneously accused and convicted under a repealed statute may be punished
under the repealing statute.
A new law which omits anything contained in the old law dealing on the same subject,
operates as a repeal of anything not so included in the amendatory act.
PRELIMINARY ARTICLE – This law shall be known as THE REVISED PENAL CODE.
Book 1
General Provisions Regarding the Date of Enforcement and the Application of the Provisions of
this Code, and Regarding the Offenses, the Persons Liable and the Penalties.
Date of Effectiveness.
Article 1. Time when Act takes effect. — This Code shall take effect on the first day of January,
nineteen hundred and thirty-two.
The Revised Penal Code is based mainly on principles of the classical school, although
some provisions of eminently positivistic tendencies were incorporated in the present
Code.
The crimes punishable in the Philippines under Art. 2 are cognizable by the Regional
Trial Court in which the charge is filed.
Rules as to jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard foreign merchant vessels.
There are two rules as to jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard merchant vessels while in
the territorial waters of another country.
a) French Rule. — Such crimes are not triable in the courts of that country, unless their
commission affects the peace and security of the territory or the safety of the state is
endangered.
b) English Rule. — Such crimes are triable in that country, unless they merely affect things
within the vessel or they refer to the internal management thereof.
Do the Philippine courts have jurisdiction over the crime of homicide committed on board a
foreign merchant vessel by a member of the crew against another?
Disorders which disturb only the peace of the ship or those on board are to be dealt
with exclusively by the sovereignty of the home of the ship, but those which disturb the
public peace may be suppressed, and, if need be, the offenders punished by the proper
authorities of the local jurisdiction.
Crimes not involving a breach of public order committed on board a foreign merchant
vessel in transit not triable by our courts.
Philippine courts have no jurisdiction over offenses committed on board foreign
warships in territorial waters.
In case vessels are in the ports or territorial waters of a foreign country, a
distinction must be made between merchant ships and warships; the former are
more or less subjected to the territorial laws.
Warships – are always reputed to be the territory of the country to which they
belong and cannot be subjected to the laws of another state. A United States
Army transport is considered a warship.
Art. 3. Definition. — Acts and omissions punishable by law are felonies (delitos).
Felonies are committed not only by means of deceit (dolo) but also by means of fault (culpa).
There is deceit when the act is performed with deliberate intent; and there is fault when the
wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skill.
Felonies – are acts and omissions punishable by the Revised Penal Code.
Elements of felonies.
1. That there must be an act or omission.
2. That the act or omission must be punishable by the Revised Penal Code.
3. That the act is performed or the omission incurred by means of dolo or culpa.
IMPORTANT WORDS AND PHRASES IN ART. 3
Act – any bodily movement tending to produce some effect in the external world, it being
unnecessary that the same be actually produced, as the possibility of its production is sufficient.
Overt Act - an external act which has direct connection with the felony intended to be
committed.
Only external act is punished - The act must be external, because internal acts are beyond the
sphere of penal law.
Omission - By omission is meant inaction, the failure to perform a positive duty which one is
bound to do.
Because there is no law that punishes a person who does not report to the authorities
the commission of a crime which he witnessed, the omission to do so is not a felony.
Classification of felonies:
1. Intentional felonies (dolo)
2. Culpable felonies (culpa)