TITLE THREE

PENALTIES
Penalty is the suffering that is inflicted by the State for the
transgression of a law.
In its general sense, it signifies pain; especially considered in the
juridical sphere, it means suffering undergone, because of the
action of human society by one who commits a crime.
Different Juridical Conditions of Penalty
1. Must be productive of suffering, without however affecting the
integrity of the human personality.
2. Must be commensurate with the offense different crimes
must be punished with different penalties.
3. Must be personal no one should be punished for the crime of
another.
4. Must be legal it is the consequence of judgment according to
law.
5. Must be certain no one may escape its offense.
6. Must be equal for all.
7. Must be correctional.
When a person has proved himself to be a dangerous enemy of the
society, the latter must protect itself from such enemy by taking
his life in retribution for his offense and as an example and
warning to others. [People vs. Carillo, 85 Phil. 611, 635]
Purpose of Penalty Under this Code
Retribution or Expiation the penalty is commensurate
with the gravity of the offense.
Correction or Reformation as shown by the rules which
regulate the execution of the penalties consisting in
deprivation of liberty.
Social defense shown by its inflexible severity to
recidivists and habitual delinquents.
Constitutional Restriction on Penalties
The Constitution directs that excessive fines shall not be imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.
The punishment is cruel and unusual when it is so
disproportionate to the offense committed as to shock the moral
sense of all reasonable men as to what is right and proper under
the circumstances.

Article 21. Penalties that may be imposed.

No felony shall be punishable by any penalty not prescribed
by law prior to its commissions.
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Article 22. Retroactive effect of penal laws.
Penal laws shall have a retroactive effect in so far as they
favor the person guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual
criminal, as this term is defined in Rule 5 of Article 62 of
this Code, although at the time of the publication of such
laws a final sentence has been pronounced and the convict
is serving the same.
Giving a law retroactive effect, if unfavorable to the accused, will
violate the constitutional inhibition as to ex post facto laws.
Habitual Criminal is a person within a period of ten years from the
date of 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 the said crimes a third time or oftener.
NOTES:
The principle that criminal statutes are retroactive so far as
they favor the culprit does not apply to the latters civil liability,
because the rights of offended persons or innocent third
parties are not within the gift of arbitrary disposal of the State.
A new law increasing the civil liability cannot be given a
retroactive effect.
Both laws must refer to the same deed or omission, having the
same end.
The law cannot be applied retroactively if the new law is
expressly made inapplicable.
This provision is applicable even to special laws which provide
more favorable conditions to the accused.
Criminal liability under the repealed law subsists:
o When the provisions of the former law are
reenacted; or

o When the repeal is by implication; or

o When there is a saving clause.
The right to punish offenses committed under an old penal law
is not extinguished if the offenses are still punished in the
repealing penal law.

such compromise shall not extinguish the public action for the
imposition of the legal penalty.
A contract stipulating for the renunciation of the right to
prosecute an offense or waiving the criminal liability is void. The
consideration or subject matter is illegal.
The offended party in the crimes of adultery and concubinage
cannot institute criminal prosecution, if he shall have consented or
pardoned the offenders.
The pardon here may be implied, as continued inaction of the
offended party after learning the offense. The second paragraph
of Article 344 requires also that both offenders must be pardoned
by the offended party.
In the crimes of seduction, abduction, rape or acts of
lasciviousness, there shall be no criminal prosecution if the
offender has been expressly pardoned by the offended party or her
parents, grandparents, or guardian, as the case may be. The
pardon here must be express.

Article 23. Effect of Pardon by the offended party.

A pardon by the offended party does not extinguish criminal
action except as provided in Article 344 of this Code, but
civil liability with regard to the interest of the injured party
is extinguished by his express waiver.

The pardon must be made before the institution of criminal

prosecution. The only act that, according to Article 344,
extinguishes the penal action after the institution of criminal
action, is the marriage between the offender and the offended
party.

Even if the injured party already pardoned the offender, the fiscal
can still prosecute the offender. Such pardon by the offended party
is not even a ground for the dismissal of the complaint since the
crime committed is an offense against the State. In criminal cases,
the intervention of the aggrieved party is limited to being
witnesses to the prosecution.

NOTE:
An offense has two classes of injuries:
1. Social Injury produced by the disturbance and alarm
which are the outcome of the offense;
2. Personal Injury -

Compromise does not extinguish criminal liability. There may be a

compromise upon the civil liability arising from an offense, but