SEC.

11: Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and

adequate legal assistance shall not be denied to any person by
reason of poverty.

Constitutional rights of the accused in criminal cases

1. The right to adequate legal assistance.

2. The right, when under investigation for the commission of an offense

to be informed of his right to remain silent and to have counsel.

3. The right against the use of torture, force, violence, threat,

intimidation or any other means which vitiates the free will.

4. The right against being held in secret, incommunicado, or similar

forms of solitary detention.

5. The right to bail and against excessive bail.

6. The right to due process of law.

7. The right to presumption of innocence.

8. The right to be heard by himself and counsel.

9. The right to be performed of the nature and cause of the accusation

against him.

10. The right to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial.

11. The rights to meet the witnesses face to face.

12. The right to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of

witnesses and the production of evidence in his behalf.

13. The right against self-incrimination.

14. The right against detention by reason of political beliefs and

aspirations.

1
15. The right against excessive fines.

16. The right against cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment.

17. The right against infliction of the death penalty except for heinous
crimes; and

18. The right against double jeopardy.

SEC. 12: (1) Any person under investigation for the commission of an
offense shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain silent
and to have competent and independent counsel preferably of his own
choice. If the person cannot afford the services of counsel, he must be
provided with one. These rights cannot be waived except in writing and
in the presence of counsel.

(2) No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means

which vitiate the free will shall be used against him. Secret detention
places, solitary, incommunicado, or other similar forms of detention are
prohibited.

(3) Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or Section

17 hereof shall be inadmissible in evidence against him.

(4) The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for violations of
this section as well as compensation to the rehabilitation of victims of
torture or similar practices, and their families.

Rights of person under investigation

1. To be informed of his right to remain silent.

2. To have competent and independent counsel preferably of our

choice or to be provided with one.

3. Against the use of torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation or

any other means washi vitiates the free will.

2
4. Against being held in secret, incommunicado, or similar forms of
solitary detention.

• Effect of violation of the rights.

• When rights can be invoked.

• Waiver of right of silence and to counsel.

SEC. 13: All persons, except those charged with offense when
evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be bail able
by sufficient sureties, or be released on recognizance as may be
provided by law. The right to bail shall not be impaired even
when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended.
Excessive bail shall not be required.

MEANING OF BAIL -is the security required by a court and given for
the provisional or temporary release of a person who is in the custody
of the law conditioned upon his appearance before any court as required
under the conditions specified.

Purpose and form of Bail

1. The purpose of requiring bail is to relieve the accused from

imprisonment until his conviction and yet secure his appearance at the
trials.

2. It may be in the form of cash deposit, property bond, bond secured

from a surety company, or recognizance.

MEANING OF CAPITAL OFFENSE - for purposes of the above

provision, is an offense which, under the law existing at the time of its
commissions, and at the time of the application to be admitted to bail,
may be punished with reclusion Perpetua, life imprisonment, or death.

SEC. 14: (1) No person shall be held to answer for a criminal

offense without due process of law.
3
(2) In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent
until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by
himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial, to
meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to
secure the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence in
his behalf. However, after arraignment, trial may proceed
notwithstanding the absence of the accused: Provided that he has been
duly notified and his failure to appear is unjustifiable.

SEC. 15: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be
suspended except in cases of invasion or rebellion, when the
public safety requires it.

Meaning of writ of habeas corpus

The writ of habeas corpus is an order issued by a court of

competent of jurisdiction, directed to the person detaining another,
commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner at a designated
time and place, and to show sufficient cause for holding custody the
individual so detained.

Purpose of the writ

It has for its purpose to inquire into all manner of involuntary

restraint or detention as distinguished from voluntary and to relieve a
person there from if such restraint is found illegal. The writ is the proper
remedy court to release y in each and every case of detention without
legal cause or authority. Its principal purpose then is to set the individual
liberty.

How writ operates

The writ is the order from the court requiring a person detaining
another to show cause for the detention, while the privilege of the writ

4
is the further order from the court to release an individual if it finds his
detention without legal cause or authority.

SEC. 16: All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition
of their cases before all Judicial, quasi-judicial, or
administrative bodies. Right to speedy disposition of cases.

(1) The above provision upholds the time-honored tradition of speedy

justice for as stated in the old dictum - "Justice delayed is justice
denied." Its express inclusion was in response to the common charge
against the perennial delay in the administration of justice which in the
past has plagued our judicial system.

(2) The right to a speedy disposition of cases can be invoked only after
the termination of the trial or hearing of case.

(3) Under the present Constitution, the Supreme Court, all lowers
delegate courts, and all other lower courts are required to decide or
resolve cases within a certain period of time.

(4) The provision contemplates the disposition of cases involving private

interests not only before judicial bodies, but also before quasi-judicial.

SEC 17: No person shall be compelled to 16 of witness against himself.

Right against self-incrimination

No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.

This is a protection against self-incrimination which may expose a person
to a criminal liability. It is founded on grounds of:
(1) Public Policy, because if the party is thus required to testify, he
would be placed under the strongest temptation to commit the crime of
perjury; and

(2) Humanity, because it prevents the extortion of confession

by duress.

5
 The constitutional guarantee protects as well the right of the
accused to silence, and his silence, meaning, his failure or refusal to
testify may not be used as presumption of guilt or taken as evidence
against him.

Scope of Guarantee

The right against self-incrimination applies in criminal cases as

well as in civil, administrative, and legislative proceeding where the fact
asked for is a criminal one. It protects one whether he is a party or a
witness.

SEC. 18: (1) No person shall be detained solely by reason of his

political beliefs and aspirations.

(2) No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a

punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted.

RIGHT AGAINST DETENTION SOLELY BY REASON OF

POLITICAL BELIEFS AND ASPIRATIONS

1. Incarceration without charges of "political prisoners".

2. Suspension of privilege of writ of habeas corpus even after lifting of

martial law.

3. Prohibition a guarantee against having "prisoners of conscience."

MEANING OF INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE

A condition of enforced, compulsory service of one to another.

It includes:

• Slavery
• Peonage

6
EXCEPTIONS OF PROHIBITIONS

1. When the involuntary servitude is imposed as a punishment for a

crime.

2. When personal military or civil service is required of citizens.

3. To injunctions requiring striking laborers to return to work.

4. To exceptional service.

5. To exercise by parents of their authority.

6. When there is a proper exercise of the police power of the State.

SEC. 19: (1) Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel,
grading or inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall death
penalty be imposed, unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous
crimes, the Congress hereafter provides for it. Any death penalty
already imposed shall be reduced to reclusion Perpetua.

(2) The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading

punishment against any prisoner or detainee or the use of
substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman
conditions shall be dealt with by law.

SEC. 20: No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non-

payment of a poll tax.

MEANING OF DEBT

As intended to be covered by the constitutional guarantee,

means any liability to pay money arising out of a contract, express
or implied.

MEANING OF POLL TAXES - is a tax of a fixed amount imposed

on individuals residing within a specified territory, whether citizens

7
 or not, without regard to their property or the occupation in which
they may be engaged.

SEC. 21: No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment

for the same offense. If an act is punished by a law and an
ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall constitute a
bar to another prosecution for the same act.

MEANING OF RIGHTS AGAINST DOUBLE JEOPARDY

Means that when a person is charged with an offense and the

case is terminated either by acquittal or conviction or in any other
manner without the express consent of the accused, the latter
cannot again be charged with the same or identical offense.

22: No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.

MEANING OF EX POST FACTO LAW

• Makes an act done before the passage of the law, innocent
when done, criminal, and punishes such act; or
• Aggravates a crime or makes it greater than when it was
committed; or
• Changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment
than what a law annexed to the crime when committed; or
• Alters the legal rules of evidence, and receives less testimony
than or different testimony from what the law required at the
time of the commission of the offense, in order to convict the
offender.
CHARACTERISTIC OF EX POST FACTO LAW
• Ex post facto laws relate to penal or criminal matters only. They
are retroactive in their operation; and
• They are depriving persons accused of crime of some protection
or defense previously available, to their disadvantage.
MEANING OF BILL OF ATTAINDER - is a legislative act which
inflicts punishment without judicial trial.
8