ACT NO.

3815
- The Revised Penal Code
- took effect on January 1, 1932

CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH EXEMPT FROM CRIMINAL LIABILITY

ARTICLE 11
JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES
- where the act of a person is in accordance with law such that said person is deemed not to have
violated the law
- no criminal and civil liability incurred
Exception: Paragraph 4 (civil liability is assumed by persons benefited by the act)
 Self-Defense
Requisites:
1. Unlawful aggression.
- actual physical assault or aggression or an immediate and imminent threat, which must be
offensive and positively strong
2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it.
Test of reasonableness depends on:
1. weapon used by aggressor
2. physical condition, character, size and other circumstances of aggressor
3. physical condition, character, size and circumstances of person defending himself
4. place and occasion of assault
3. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself.

Illustration:
 A and B are long standing enemies. Because of their continuous quarrel over the boundaries of
their adjoining properties, when A saw B one afternoon, he approached the latter in a menacing
manner with a bolo in his hand. When he was about five feet away from B, B pulled out a
revolver and shot A on the chest, killing him. Is B criminally liable?
- not justified, B is liable
- holding a bolo in the hand is not considered an unlawful aggression unless he raises his
arm with the bolo

 Defense of Relative
- a person who acts in defense of the person or rights of his:
a. spouse
b. ascendants
c. descendants
d. legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or sisters
e. relatives by affinity in the same degrees
f. relatives by consanguinity within the fourth civil degree (until first cousin)
Requisites:
1. Unlawful Aggression.
2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it.
3. In case the provocation was given by the person attacked, the one making the defense had no part
in such provocation.

 Defense of Stranger
- a person acts in defense of the person or rights of a stranger
Requisites:
1. Unlawful Aggression.
2. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it.
3. The person defending be not induced by revenge, resentment or other evil motive.

 State of Necessity
- a person who, in order to avoid an evil or injury, does not act which causes damage to another
 - with civil liability (based on the benefit derived)
Requisites:
1. That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists.
2. That the injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it.
3. That there be no other practical and less harmful means of preventing it.
- necessity must not be due to the negligence or violation of any law by the actor

 Fulfillment of Duty or Lawful Exercise of a Right or Office

Requisites:
1. That the accused acted in the performance of a duty, or in the lawful exercise of a right or office.
2. That the injury caused or offense committed be the necessary consequence of the due performance
of the duty, or the lawful exercise of such right or office.
Note: accused must prove that he was duly appointed to the position he claimed he was discharging
at the time of the commission of the offense

Illustration:
 A police officer is justified in shooting and killing a criminal who refuses to stop when ordered to
do so, and after such officer fired warning shots in the air.

 Obedience to a Superior Order

- a person acts in obedience to an order issued by a superior for some lawful purpose
Requisites:
1. There is an order.
2. The order is for a legal purpose.
3. The means used to carry out said order is lawful.
Note: if the order is patently illegal this circumstance cannot be validly invoked.

ARTICLE 12
EXEMPTING CIRCUMSTANCES
- those ground for exemption from punishment because there is wanting in the agent of the crime of
any of the conditions which make the act voluntary, or negligent.

 An imbecile or insane person

- not exempted if the person acted during a lucid interval
 Insanity – exists when there is a complete deprivation of intelligence in committing the
act
- acts with complete deprivation of intelligence/reason or without the least
discernment or with total deprivation of freedom of the will
 Lucid Interval – temporary period of rationality or neurological normality
 Imbecile – one who, while advanced in age, has a mental development comparable to
that of children between 2 and 7 years of age

 Minority
- offender is under 9 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime (absolute criminal
irresponsibility)

 Those acting with discernment

Discernment – the mental capacity of a minor to fully appreciate the consequences of his unlawful
act
Under R.A. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act
- minor 15 years and below is exempt from criminal liability
- above 15 years but below 18, acted without discernment – exempted
- above 15 years but below 18, acted with discernment – not exempted

 Damnum absque injuria

- a person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes an injury by mere accident
without fault or intention of causing it
- no criminal and civil liability
 Illustration:
 A person who is driving his car within the speed limit, while considering the condition of the
traffic and the pedestrians at that time, tripped on a stone with one of his car tires. The stone flew
hitting a pedestrian on the head. The pedestrian suffered profuse bleeding.
- no liability

 Compulsion of irresistible force

Requisites:
1. That the compulsion is by means of physical force.
2. That the physical force must be irresistible.
3. That the physical force must come from a third person.
Note: the offender must act without voluntariness. If the offender has still freedom of choice,
whether to act or not, even if force was employed on him or even if he is suffering from
uncontrollable fear, he is not exempt from criminal liability.

 Irresistible force – offender uses violence or physical force to compel another person to
commit a crime

Note:
a. Duress - should be based on real, imminent or reasonable fear for one’s life or limb not be
inspired by speculative, fanciful or remote fear.
b. Threat of future injury is not enough. The compulsion must leave no opportunity to the accused
for escape or self-defense in equal combat.

 Under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury

Requisites:
1. That the threat which causes the fear is of an evil greater than, or at least equal to that which he is
required to commit.
2. That it promises an evil of such gravity and imminence that the ordinary man would have
succumbed to it.

 Uncontrollable fear – offender employs intimidation or threat in compelling another to

commit a crime

Illustration:
 One is compelled under fear of death to join the rebels.
- not liable for rebellion because he acted under the impulse of uncontrollable fear of an
equal or greater injury

 Insuperable cause
- person fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by some lawful insuperable cause

 Insuperable cause – a cause which has lawfully, morally or physically prevented a person to
do what the law commands.

Requisites:
1. That an act is required by law to be done.
2. That a person fails to perform such act.
3. That his failure to perform such act was due to some lawful or insuperable cause.

Illustration:
 Mother who was overcome by severe dizziness and extreme debility, leaving child to die
- not liable for infanticide

ARTICLE 13
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES
 - are those which, if present in the commission of the crime, do not entirely free the actor from
criminal liability, but served only to reduce the penalty

 Incomplete justifying and exempting circumstances

- applies when all the requisites necessary to justify or to exempt from criminal liability in the
respective cases are not attendant
Illustration:
 Juan makes fun of Pedro. Pedro gets pissed off, gets a knife and tries to stab Juan. Juan grabs
his own knife and kills Pedro.
- incomplete justifying circumstance of self-defense
- mitigating because even if there was unlawful aggression and reasonable means to
repel was taken, there was also sufficient provocation on the part of Juan
-

 Under 18 or Over 70 Years Old

- that the offender is under eighteen years of age or over seventy years

 No Intention to Commit so Grave a Wrong (Praeter intentionem)

- the offender had no intention to commit so grave a wrong as that committed
Considerations:
a. the weapon used
b. the injury inflicted
c. the attitude of mind when the accuser attacked the other

Illustration:
 Pedro stabbed Tomas on the arm. Tomas did not have the wound treated, so he died from loss of
blood.
- mitigating

 Sufficient threat or provocation

- sufficient provocation or threat on the part of the offended party immediately preceded the act
- sufficient provocation must come from the offended party
- commission of the felony must be immediate to the threat or provocation (there must be no
sufficient break of time) the person must still be under the influence of the outrage caused by the
provocation or threat

 Provocation – any unjust or improper conduct or act of the offended party, capable of
exciting, inciting or irritating anyone.

Illustration:
 A was walking in front of the house of B. B at that time was with his brother C. C told B that
sometime in the past, A boxed him, and because he was small, he did not fight back. B
approached A and boxed him, but A cannot hit back at B because B is bigger, so A boxed C.
- not mitigating since the sufficient provocation did come from the offended party (C), it was
B who provoked him

 Vindication of a grave offense

- committed in the immediate vindication of a grave offense to the person himself and his:
a. his spouse
b. ascendants or descendants
c. brother or sister, whether natural, adopted or legitimate
Note: Lapse of time is allowed between the grave offense the vindication.

Illustration:
 Juan caught his wife and his friend in a compromising situation. Juan kills his friend the next day.

 Passion or obfuscation
- a person acted upon an impulse so powerful as naturally to have produced passion or obfuscation
 - when there are causes naturally producing in a person powerful excitement, he loses his reason
and self-control thereby dismissing the exercise of his will power
Requisites for Passion & Obfuscation
a. The offender acted on impulse powerful enough to produce passion or obfuscation
b. That the act was committed not in the spirit of lawlessness or revenge
c. The act must come from lawful sentiments

Illustration:
 Juan saw Tomas hitting his son. Juan stabbed Tomas.
- mitigating as his actuation arose from a natural instinct that impels a father to rush to the
rescue of his son

 Voluntary surrender
- offender voluntarily surrendered himself to a person in authority or his agents
- or voluntarily confessed his guilt before the court prior to the presentation of the evidence for the
prosecution (plea of guilty)
 Surrender - emphasizes the idea of inner impulse, acting without external stimulus
- must be spontaneous, demonstrating an intent to submit himself unconditionally to the
person in authority or his agent in authority.

Illustration:
 Where the offender went to the municipal building not to own responsibility for the killing but
claimed to have done it on self-defense.
- not mitigating since he tried to avoid responsibility

 Physical defect
- offender is deaf and dumb, blind or otherwise suffering some physical defect which thus restricts
his means of action, defense, or communications with his fellow beings
- physical defect must have a relation to the commission of the crime

Illustration:
 Offender is deaf and dumb and he has been slandered, he cannot talk so what he did was, he got a
piece of wood and struck the fellow on the head.
- crime committed was physical injuries but mitigated because the only way is to use his
force because he cannot strike back

 Illness which diminishes will-power

- offender has illness which diminish his exercise of will-power without however depriving him of
the consciousness of his acts

 Analogous cases
- other circumstances of a similar nature
a. defendant who is 60 years old with failing eyesight is similar to a case of one over 70 years
old
b. outraged feeling of owner of animal taken for ransom is analogous to vindication of grave
offense
c. impulse of jealous feeling, similar to passion and obfuscation
d. voluntary restitution of property, similar to voluntary surrender
Example:
- the act of a thief in leading the authorities to the place where he disposed of the loot
e. extreme poverty, similar to incomplete justification based on state of necessity

ARTICLE 14
AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES
- those which, if attendant in the commission of the crime, serve to increase the penalty without,
however, exceeding the maximum of the penalty provided by law for the offense
Four Types of Aggravating Circumstance:
1. Generic
 - those that can generally apply to all crime
- increases penalty to a maximum but not increase 1 degree higher than the penalty provided
by law for the offense
- can be offset by ordinary mitigating circumstance
2. Specific
- those that apply only to a particular crime
- which arise under special conditions to increase the penalty of the offense
- cannot be offset by any ordinary mitigating circumstances
3. Qualifying
- those that change the nature of the crime to a graver or more serious crime
- must be alleged during the information and prove during trial
- gives the crime its proper and exclusive name and places the author of the crime in such a
situation as to deserve no other penalty than that specially prescribed by law for said crimes
a.
4. Inherent
- those that must of necessity accompany the commission of the crime
- not considered in increasing the penalty to be imposed

 Taking advantage of public position

- advantage be taken by the offender of his public position
- public officer must use the influence, prestige or ascendancy which his office gives him as the
means by which he realizes his purpose

 Contempt or with insult to the public authorities

- crime be committed in contempt or with insult to the public authorities
 Public Authority - public officer who is directly vested with jurisdiction, has the power to
govern and execute the laws
Note: teachers, professors and lawyers not included
- does not apply to agents
Requisites:
1. That the public authority is engaged in the exercise of his functions.
2. That he who is thus engaged in the exercise of said functions is not the person against whom the
crime is committed.
3. The offender knows him to be a public authority.
4. His presence has not prevented the offender from committing the criminal act.
Note: the crime should not be committed against the public authority otherwise it will constitute direct
assault

 Disrespect due to rank, age, sex: Dwelling

- act be committed with insult or in disregard of the respect due the offended party on account of
his rank, age, or sex
- must be shown that in the commission of the crime the offender deliberately intended to offend
or insult the sex, age and rank of the offended party
- may be taken into account only in crimes against persons or honor (not in crimes against
property)

 RANK – designation or title of distinction used to fix the relative position of the offended party
in reference to others (there must be a difference in the social condition of the offender and the
offended party)
 AGE – may refer to old age or the tender age of the victim
 SEX– refers to the female sex, not to the male sex

 Dwelling –
- a building or structure, exclusively used for rest and comfort
- includes all the dependencies and appurtenances
Dependencies:
a. stairs which are used to reach the second floor is considered a dwelling because the
second floor cannot be enjoyed without the stairs
Appurtenances:
 a. roof
b. comfort rooms even if separated from the house
c. garage when it is connected with an interior passage to the house proper
d. balcony

Illustration:
 A young man brought a woman in a motel for a short time and there she was killed
- dwelling is not aggravating
 A man was killed in the house of his common law wife.
- dwelling is aggravating because the house was provided by the man

Dwelling is aggravating in the following cases:

1. The victim was raped in the boarding house where she was a bedspacer.
2. The victims were raped in their paternal home where they were guests at the time and did not
reside there.
3. The victim was killed in the house of her aunt where she was living with her niece.
4. The victims, while sleeping as guests in the house of another person, were shot to death in that
house.
5. The husband killed his estranged wife in the house solely occupied by her.

 Abuse of confidence or obvious ungratefulness

- act be committed with abuse of confidence or obvious ungratefulness

Requisites of Abuse of Confidence:

- exists only when the offended party has trusted the offender who later abuses such trust by
committing the crime
1. That the offended party had trusted the offender.
2. That the offender abused such trust by committing a crime against the offended party.
3. That the abuse of confidence facilitated the commission of the crime.
Note: Abuse of confidence is inherent in malversation, qualified theft, estafa by conversion or
misappropriation, and qualified seduction.

Requisites of obvious ungratefulness:

- ungratefulness must be clear and manifest ingratitude on the part of the accused
1. That the offended party had trusted the offender;
2. That the offender abused such trust by committing a crime against the offended party.
3. That the act be committed with obvious ungratefulness.

Illustration:
 A mother left her young daughter with the accused because she had nobody to leave the child with
while she had to go on an errand. The accused abused the child.
- abuse of confidence is not aggravating since there was betrayal of trust

 Palace of Chief Executive, in his presence or churches

- crime be committed in the palace of the Chief Executive or in his presence, or where public
authorities are engaged in the discharge of their duties, or in a place dedicated to religious
worship
- the public authorities who are in the performance of their duties must be in their office
- it is aggravating regardless of whether State or official or religious functions are being held at
Malacañang palace or a church

 Nighttime, Uninhabited place or Band

Aggravating:
1. When it facilitated the commission of the crime.
2. When especially sought for by the offender to insure the commission of the crime or for the
purpose of impunity.
3. When the offender took advantage thereof for the purpose of impunity.

 Nighttime (obscuridad)
 - that period of darkness beginning at the end of dusk and ending at dawn
- darkness is what makes this circumstance aggravating
- commission of the crime must begin and be accomplished in the nighttime
- lighting of a matchstick or use of flashlights does not negate the aggravating circumstance
of nighttime
- must be shown that the offender deliberately sought the cover of darkness and the offender
purposely took advantage of nighttime to facilitate the commission of the offense

 Uninhabited place (despoblado)

- one where there are no houses at all, a place at a considerable distance from town, or
where the houses are scattered at a great distance from each other
- must appear that the accused sought the solitude of the place where the crime was
committed, in order to better attain his purpose

 Band (en cuadrilla)

- more than three (four) armed malefactors shall have acted together in the commission of
an offense
- aggravating in crimes against property or against persons or in the crime of illegal
detention or treason

 By means of conflagration, shipwreck, earthquake, epidemic

Requisites:
1. Committed when there is a calamity or misfortune
a. Conflagration
b. Shipwreck
c. Epidemic
2. Offender took advantage of the state of confusion or chaotic condition from such misfortune

 With the aid of armed men or persons who insure or afford impunity
- crime be committed with the aid of armed men or persons who insure or afford impunity
Requisites:
1. That the armed men or persons took part in the commission of the crime, directly or indirectly.
2. That the accused availed himself of their aid or relied upon them when the crime was
committed.
 Aid of armed men is present even if one of the offenders merely relied on their aid, for
actual aid is not necessary.

 Recidivism
Recidivist – one who at the time of his trial for one crime, shall have been previously convicted by final
judgment of another crime embraced in the same title of the RPC.
Requisites:
1. That the offender is on trial for an offense;
2. That he was previously convicted by final judgment of another crime;
3. That both the first and the second offenses are embraced in the same title of the Code;
4. That the offender is convicted of the new offense.

Illustration:
 In 1980, A committed robbery. While the case was being tried, he committed theft in 1983. He
was found guilty and was convicted of theft also in 1983. The conviction became final because he
did not appeal anymore and the trial for his earlier crime which was robbery ended in 1984 where
he was also convicted. He also did not appeal this decision.
- accused is not a recidivist
- because the conviction for his first felony (robbery) ended in 1984 while his second felony
(theft) ended in 1983
- the time the first crime was committed, there was no other crime of which he was
convicted so he cannot be regarded as a repeater

 Reiteracion (habituality)
 - offender has been previously punished by an offense to which the law attaches an equal or
greater penalty or for two or more crimes to which it attaches a lighter penalty
- it is necessary that the offender shall have served out his sentence for the first offense
- the previous and subsequent offenses must not be embraced in the same title of the Code
- speaks of penalty attached to the offense, not the penalty actually imposed

Other types of repetition:

 Habitual Delinquency – when a person within a period of 10 years from the date of his release
or last conviction of the crimes of serious or less serious physical injuries, robbery, theft, estafa
or falsification is found guilty of any of said crimes a third time or oftener

 Quasi-Recidivism – any person who shall commit a felony after having been convicted by final
judgment, before beginning to serve such sentence, or while serving the same
- in so far as the earlier crime is concerned, it is necessary that it be a felony

 The offender was convicted of homicide. While serving sentence in Muntinlupa, he was
found smoking marijuana. He was prosecuted for illegal use of prohibited drugs and was
convicted.
- not a quasi-recidivist because the crime committed while serving sentence is not a
felony (use of prohibited drugs is an offense)

 In consideration of a price, reward or promise

- crime be committed in consideration of a price, reward, or promise
2 persons liable:
1. Principal by inducement – one who offers
2. Principal by direct participation – accepts the offer

 By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, stranding of a vessel

- crime be committed by means of:
a. inundation
b. fire
c. poison
d. explosion
e. stranding of a vessel or international damage thereto
f. derailment of a locomotive
g. use of any other artifice involving great waste and ruin
Note:
a. whenever a killing is done with the use of fire (you burn down his house while the latter is inside)
- murder
b. victim is already dead and the house is burned - arson
c. intent is to destroy property and someone dies as a consequence - arson
d. intent is to kill even if the house is burned in the process - murder

 Evident premeditation
- the execution of the criminal act must be preceded by cool thought and reflection upon the
resolution to carry out the criminal intent during the space of time sufficient to arrive at a calm
judgment
- when victim is different from that intended, premeditation is not aggravating
- inherent in robbery, adultery, theft, estafa and falsification
Note: the date and, if possible, the time when the offender determined to commit the crime is essential

 Craft, fraud or disguise

- offender must have actually used craft, fraud, or disguise to facilitate the commission of the
crime

 Craft (astucia) – involves the use of intellectual trickery or cunning on the part of the accused
- chicanery resorted to by the accused to aid in the execution of his criminal design
 Fraud (fraude) – insidious words or machinations used to induce the victim to act in a manner
which would enable the offender to carry out his design
  DISGUISE (disfraz) – resorting to any device to conceal identity.

 Abuse of superior strength

- advantage be taken of superior strength
- superiority may arise from aggressor’s sex, weapon or number as compared to that of the victim
Note:
a. advantage be taken means to deliberately use excessive force that is out of proportion to the
means for self-defense available to the person attacked
b. there must be evidence of notorious inequality of forces between the offender and the
offended party in their age, size and strength, and that the offender took advantage of such
superior strength in committing the crime

 Treachery (alevosia)
- the employment of means, method and form in the commission of the crime which tend directly
and specially to ensure its execution without risk to himself arising from the defense which the
offended party might make
- applies in the killing of a child even if the manner of attack is not shown

Illustration:
 A and B have been quarreling for some time. One day, A approached B and befriended him. B
accepted. A proposed that to celebrate their renewed friendship, they were going to drink. B was
having too much to drink. A was just waiting for him to get intoxicated and after which, he
stabbed B.
- there is treachery by deliberately employing means to weaken the defense

 Ignominy
- means be employed which add ignominy to the natural effects of the act
- adding insult to injury
- the offense is committed in a manner that tends to make its effect more humiliating, thus adding
to the victim's moral suffering


Ignominy – a circumstance pertaining to the moral order, which adds disgrace and obloquy
to the material injury caused by the crime
- applicable to crimes against chastity, rape, less serious physical injuries, light or
grave coercion and murder
Note: ignominy not appreciated if the victim was already dead

 Unlawful entry
- when an entrance of a crime a wall, roof, floor, door, or window be broken

Illustration:
 Accused gained access to the dwelling by climbing through the window and once inside,
murdered certain persons in the dwelling
- two aggravating circumstances -- dwelling and unlawful entry

 By means of motorized watercraft, airships, or other similar means

- crime be committed:
a. with the aid of persons under fifteen years of age
b. by means of motor vehicles, motorized watercraft, airships, or other similar means
- aggravating only when used in the commission of the offense
- other similar means – refers to motorized vehicle or other efficient means of
transportation similar to automobile or airplane (does not include bicycle)

 Cruelty
- the wrong done in the commission of the crime be deliberately augmented by causing other
wrong not necessary for its commissions

 Cruelty – culprit enjoys and delights in making his victim suffer slowly and gradually, causing
unnecessary physical pain in the consummation of the criminal act
 - no cruelty when the other wrong was done after the victim was dead
- physical suffering of the victim who is alive

 Organized or syndicated crime group

- a group of two or more persons collaborating, confederating or mutually helping one another for
purposes of gain in the commission of a crime

ARTICLE 15
ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES
- those which must be taken into consideration as aggravating or mitigating according to the nature and
effects of the crime and the other conditions attending its commission
 Relationship
- when the offended party is the:
a. spouse
b. ascendant
c. descendant
d. legitimate, natural, or adopted brother or sister
e. relative by affinity in the same degrees

Relationship is exempting:
1. In the case of an accessory who is related to the principal within the relationship
Article 20 of the RPC:
Accessories who are exempt from criminal liability:
- spouses
- ascendants
- descendants
- legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters
- relatives by affinity within the same degrees
Exception: if they profit by the effects of the crime
2. A spouse does not incur criminal liability for a crime of less serious physical injuries or serious
physical injuries if this was inflicted after having surprised the offended spouse or paramour or
mistress committing actual sexual intercourse. (Article 247)
3. Those commonly given in the crime of theft, malicious mischief and swindling or estafa to the:
- spouse
- ascendant, or descendant
- brother or sister or brother-in-law or sister-in-law who are living together (Article 332)

 Intoxication
Mitigating
a. If intoxication is not habitual
b. If intoxication is not subsequent to the plan to commit a felony
Aggravating
a. If intoxication is habitual
b. If it is intentional (subsequent to the plan to commit a felony)

 Degree of instruction and education of the offender

 Low degree of instruction and education or lack of it – mitigating
 High degree of instruction and education and the offender took advantage of his learning in
committing the crime – aggravating

General rule: Lack of sufficient education is mitigating

Exceptions:
1. Crimes against property (arson, estafa, theft, robbery)
2. Crimes against chastity
3. Treason – because love of country should be a natural feeling of every citizen, however
unlettered or uncultured he may be