Power to define and punish crimes.

The State has the authority, under its police power, to define and punish
crimes and to lay down the rules of criminal procedure. States, as a part
of their police power, have a large measure of discretion in creating and
defining criminal offenses. (People v. Santiago, 43 Phil.120, 124)

The right of prosecution and punishment for a crime is one of the

attributes that by a natural law belongs to the sovereign power
instinctively charged by the common will of the members of society to look
after, guard and defend the interests of the community, the individual and
social rights and the liberties of every citizen and the guaranty of the
exercise of his rights. (U.S. v. Pablo, 35 Phil. 94, 100)

1. Due Process and Equal Protection

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due

process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the
laws. (Art. III, Sec. 1)

2. Non-imposition of excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment.

Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or inhuman

punishment inflicted. Neither shall the death penalty be imposed, unless,
for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter
provides for it. Any death penalty already imposed shall no be reduced to
reclusion perpetua. (Art. III, Sec. 19.1)

3. Ex Post Facto Law or Bill of Attainder

No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted. (Art. III, Sec. 2)

Constitutional rights of the accused.

Article III, Bill of Rights, of the 1987 Constitution provides for the following
rights:

1. All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases
before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies. (Sec. 16)

2. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due

process of law. (Sec. 14[1])

3. All persons, except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion

perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be
bailable 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. (Sec. 13)

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4. 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 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. 14[2])

5. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself. (Sec. 17)

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. (Sec. 12[1])

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. (Sec. 12[2])

Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or Section 17

hereof shall be inadmissible in evidence against him. (Sec. 12[3])

Ex post facto law.

Congress is prohibited from passing retroactive penal laws that are

prejudicial to the accused. Penal laws are those acts of the legislature
which prohibit certain acts and establish penalties for their violations; or
those that define crimes, treat of their nature, and provide for their
punishment. (Lacson v. The Executive Secretary, 301 SCRA 298)

Bill of attainder.

A bill of attainder is a legislative act which inflicts punishment on

individuals without judicial trial. Its essence is the substitution of a
legislative act for a judicial determination of guilt. (People v. Ferrer, 48
SCRA 382, 395)

Examples: Congress passes a law which authorizes the arrest and

imprisonment of communists without the benefit of a judicial trial.

A law which makes it a crime for a member of the Communist Party to

serve as an officer or employee of a labor union is a bill of attainder.
(United States v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437)

Statutory rights of an accused.

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Section 1, Rule 115, of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure provides

that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be entitled:

1. To be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved beyond

reasonable doubt.

2. To be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him.

3. To be present and defend in person and by counsel at every stage of

the proceedings, from arraignment to promulgation of the judgment. XXX

4. To testify as a witness in his own behalf but subject to cross-

examination on matters covered by direct examination, His silence shall
not in any manner prejudice him.

5. To be exempt from being compelled to be a witness against himself.

6. To confront and cross-examine the witnesses against him at the trial,

xxx

7. To have compulsory process issued to secure the attendance of

witnesses and production of other evidence in his behalf.

8. To have a speedy, impartial, and public trial.

9. To appeal in all cases allowed and in the manner prescribed by law.

Exceptions to the general application of Criminal Law.

There are cases where our Criminal Law does not apply even if the crime
is committed by a person residing or sojourning in the Philippines. These
constitute the exceptions.

The opening sentence of Article 2 of the R.P.C. says that the provisions of
this Code shall be enforced within the Philippine Archipelago, "except as
provided in the treaties and laws of preferential application."

Article 14 of the new Civil Code provides that penal laws and those of
public security and safety shall be obligatory upon all who live or sojourn
in Philippine territory, subject to the principles of public international law
and to treaty stipulations.

Treaties or treaty stipulations.

An example of a treaty or treaty stipulation as an exception to the general

application of our criminal law is the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)
between the Philippines and the U.S.A., which was signed on February 10,
1998, which provides the following:

Law of preferential application.

Example of a law of preferential application:

Republic Act No. 75 may be considered a law of preferential application in

favor of diplomatic representatives and their domestic servants. It
exempts from arrest or imprisonment ambassadors or public ministers of
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any foreign State, authorized and received as such by the President, or

any domestic or domestic servant of any such ambassador or minister,
provided that the foreign State provides similar protection to Philippine
diplomatic representatives.

Exceptions:

(1) A citizen or inhabitant of the Republic of the Philippines, in the service

of an ambassador or a public minister, and the process is founded upon a
debt contracted before he entered upon such service;

(2) A domestic servant of an ambassador or a public minister, unless the

name of the servant has, before the issuing thereof, been registered in the
Department of Foreign Affairs, and transmitted by the Secretary of Foreign
Affairs to the Chief of Police of the City of Manila. (Sec. 5)

Persons exempt from the operation of our criminal laws by virtue

of the principles of public international law.

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations lists the heads of

diplomatic missions to include:

(1) Ambassadors and other heads of mission of equivalent rank who are
accredited to the host heads of state;

(2) Envoys extraordinary, ministers plenipotentiary, and other

representatives who are accredited to the host heads of state; and

(3) Chargés d'affaires, who are accredited to the minister of foreign

affairs.

Presidential immunity from suit.

It is settled in jurisprudence that the President enjoys immunity from suit

during his or her tenure of office or actual incumbency. Conversely, this
presidential privilege of immunity cannot be invoked by a non-sitting
president even for acts committed during his or her tenure. (Lozada u.
Arroyo, G.R. Nos. 184979-80, April 24, 2012, citing David u. Arroyo, 522
Phil. 705, 763-764 and Rodriguez v. Arroyo, G.R. Nos. 191805 and
193160, November 15, 2011)

II. TERRITORIAL. Criminal laws undertake to punish crimes committed

within Philippine territory.

The principle of territoriality means that as a rule, penal laws of the

Philippines are enforceable only within its territory.

Extent of Philippine territory for purposes of criminal law.

Article 2 of the R.P.C. provides that the provisions of said code shall be
enforced within the Philippine Archipelago, including its atmosphere, its
interior waters and maritime zone.

Article I of the 1987 Constitution provides that the national territory

comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters
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embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has
sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial
domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular
shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters around, between, and
connecting the islands of the archipelago, regardless of their breadth and
dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the Philippines.

Exceptions to the territorial application of criminal law.

Article 2 of the R.P.C. provides that its provisions shall be enforced outside
of the jurisdiction of the Philippines against those who:

1. Should commit an offense while on a Philippine ship or airship;

2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the Philippines

or obligations and securities issued by the
Government of the Philippines;

3. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into the
Philippines of the obligations and securities mentioned in the preceding
number;

4. While being public officers or employees, should commit an offense in

the exercise of their functions; or

5. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law
of nations, defined in Title One of Book Two of the R.P.C.

III. PROSPECTIVE. As a general rule, penal laws shall have no

retroactive application, lest they acquire the character of an ex post facto
law. (Mejia v. Pamaran, 160 SCRA 457, 472)

Principle of prospectivity of penal laws, applied.

Republic Act No. 7659 (1983) amended Article 248 of the Code by
imposing a heavier penalty for murder than that originally prescribed, the
new penalty provided in Section 6 of said amendatory statute being
reclusion perpetua to death.

Being a penal law, such provision of R.A. No. 7659 may not be applied to
the crime of murder committed in 1982 by appellant, based on the
principle of prospectivity of penal laws.

Exceptions to the prospective application of criminal laws.

A penal law may have retroactive effect only when it is favorable to the
accused.

But this exception has no application:

1 Where the new law is expressly made inapplicable to pending actions or

existing causes of action. (Tavera v. Valdez, 1 Phil. 463, 470-471)

2. Where the offender is a habitual criminal under Rule 5, Article 62,

R.P.C. (Art. 22, R.P.C.)
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Construction of penal laws.

1. Penal laws are strictly construed against the Government and liberally
in favor of the accused. (U.S. v. Abad Santos, 36 Phil. 243; People v. Yu
Hai, 99 Phil. 728) The rule that penal statutes should be strictly construed
against the
State may be invoked only where the law is ambiguous and there is doubt
as to its interpretation. Where the law is clear and unambiguous, there is
no room for the application of the rule. (People v. Gatchalian, 104 Phil.
664)

2. In the construction or interpretation of the provisions of the R.P.C., the

Spanish text is controlling, because it was approved by the Philippine
Legislature in its Spanish text. (People v. Manaba, 58 Phil. 665, 668)

Characteristics of the classical theory.

1. The basis of criminal liability is human free will and the purpose of the
penalty is retribution.
2. That man is essentially a moral creature with an absolutely free will to
choose between good and evil, thereby placing more stress upon the
effect or result of the felonious act than upon the man, the criminal
himself.
3. It has endeavored to establish a mechanical and direct proportion
between crime and penalty.
4. There is a scant regard to the human element. (Basic Principles,
Rationale, p. 2, by the Code Commission on Code of Crimes)

Characteristics of the positivist theory.

1. That man is subdued occasionally by a strange and morbid phenomenon

which constrains him to do wrong, in spite of or contrary to his volition.

2. That crime is essentially a social and natural phenomenon, and as

such, it cannot be treated and checked by the application of abstract
principles of law and jurisprudence nor by the imposition of a punishment,
fixed and determined a priori; but rather through the enforcement of
individual measures in each particular case after a thorough, personal and
individual investigation conducted by a competent body of psychiatrists
and social scientists.

The Revised Penal Code

ACT No. 3815, as amended

AN ACT REVISING THE PENAL CODE AND OTHER PENAL LAWS

Preliminary Article - This law shall be known as "The Revised Penal

Code."

What is a penal law?

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A penal provision or statute has been consistently defined by

jurisprudence as follows:

A penal provision defines a crime or provides a punishment for one.

Penal laws and laws which, while not penal in nature, have provisions
defining offenses and prescribing penalties for their violation.

Penal laws are those acts of the Legislature which prohibit certain acts
and establish penalties for their violations; or those that define crimes,
treat of their nature, and provide for their punishment.

CLASSES OF INJURIES
As a general rule, an offense causes 2 classes of injuries:

1. Social Injury
The first is the social injury produced by the criminal act which is sought
to be repaired thru the imposition of the corresponding penalty:
and

2. Personal Injury
The second is the personal injury caused to the victim of the crime which
injury is sought to be compensated through indemnity which is civil in
nature.

Thus, "every person criminally liable for a felony is also civilly liable." This
is the law governing the recovery of civil liability arising from the
commission of an offense. Civil liability includes restitution, reparation for
damage caused, and indemnification of consequential damages.

The offended party may prove the civil liability of an accused arising from
the commission of the offense in the criminal case since the civil action is
either deemed instituted with the criminal action or is separately
instituted.

When a person commits a crime he offends two entities namely (1) the
society in which he lives in or the political entity called the State whose
law he has violated; and (2) the individual member of the society whose
person, right, honor, chastity, or property has been actually or directly
injured or damaged by the same punishable act or omission.

MALA IN SE VS. MALA PROHIBITA

Criminal law has long divided crimes into acts wrong in themselves called
acts mala in se; and acts which would not be wrong but for the fact that
positive law forbids them, called acts mala prohibita.

A common misconception is that all mala in se crimes are found in the

Revised Penal Code (RPC), while all mala prohibita crimes are provided
by special penal laws. In reality, however, there may be mala in se
crimes under special laws, such as plunder under RA. No. 7080, as
amended. Similarly, there may be mala prohibita crimes defined in the
RPC such as technical malversation.
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In criminal law, the quantum of evidence for conviction is that which

produces moral certainty in an unprejudiced mind that the accused is
guilty beyond reasonable doubt, but, if the evidence is susceptible of
two interpretations, one consistent with the innocence of the accused and
the other consistent with his guilt, the accused must be acquitted.

EQUIPOISE DOCTRINE or EQUIPOISE RULE

The "equipoise doctrine" is the rule which states that when the evidence
of the prosecution and the defense are so evenly balanced the
appreciation of such evidence calls for tilting of the scales in favor of the
accused. Thus, the evidence for the prosecution must be heavier to
overcome the presumption of innocence of the accused.

IN DUBIO PRO REO

This Latin legal maxim literally means "when in doubt for the accused"
The earliest historical root of this rule is from the Roman Emperor Trajan
(AD 98-117) when he gave the legal advice that "it is better not to punish
the act of a culprit than to sentence an innocent."

RULE OF LENITY

Intimately intertwined with the in dubio pro reo principle is the rule of
lenity. It is the doctrine that a court, in construing an ambiguous criminal
statute that sets out multiple or inconsistent punishments, should resolve
the ambiguity in favor of the more lenient punishment.

FINALITY-OF-ACQUITTAL DOCTRINE

In our jurisdiction, we adhere to the finality-of-acquittal doctrine, that is, a

judgment of acquittal is final and unappealable.

Exceptions:

The rule on double jeopardy, however, is not without exceptions, which

are:

1. Where there has been deprivation of due process and where there is a
finding of a mistrial; or
2. Where there has been a grave abuse of discretion under exceptional
circumstances.

In the name of the People of the Philippines

A crime is an offense against the State and hence is prosecuted in the

name of the People of the Philippines, The participation of the private
offended party is not essential to the prosecution of crimes, except in the
crimes stated above, or in the prosecution of the civil action deemed
instituted with the criminal action.
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Article 2. Application of its provisions. - Except as provided in the treaties

and laws of preferential application, the provisions of this Code shall be
enforced not only within the Philippine Archipelago, including its
atmosphere, its interior waters and maritime zone, but also outside of its
jurisdiction, against those who:

1. Should commit an offense while on a Philippine ship or airship;

2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the Philippine
Islands or obligations and securities sued by the Government of the
Philippine Islands;
3. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into these
islands of the obligations and securities mentioned in the preceding
number;
4. While being public officers or employees, should commit an offense in
the exercise of their functions; or
5. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law
of nations, defined in Title One of Book Two of this Code.

Territoriality (Intraterritorial) Principle

The provisions of the Revised Penal Code shall be enforced within the
Philippine Archipelago, including its atmosphere, its interior waters and
maritime zone.

Extraterritoriality Principle

The provisions of the Revised Penal Code shall also be enforced outside of
its jurisdiction, against those who:

1. Should commit an offense while on a Philippine ship or airship;

2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the

Philippine Islands or obligations and securities issued by the
Government of the Philippine Islands

3. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into these
islands of the obligations and securities mentioned in the preceding
number;

4. While being public officers or employees, should commit an offense in

the exercise of their functions; or

5. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law
of nations, defined in Title ne of Book Two of the Revised Penal Code.