Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Law Book 1 Articles 31 – 40
Art. 31. Effect of the penalties of perpetual or temporary special disqualification. — The
penalties of perpetual or temporal special disqualification for public office, profession or calling
shall produce the following effects:
1. The deprivation of the office, employment, profession or calling affected;
2. The disqualification for holding similar offices or employments either perpetually or during the
term of the sentence according to the extent of such disqualification.
Art. 32. Effect of the penalties of perpetual or temporary special disqualification for the
exercise of the right of suffrage. — The perpetual or temporary special disqualification for the
exercise of the right of suffrage shall deprive the offender perpetually or during the term of the
sentence, according to the nature of said penalty, of the right to vote in any popular election for
any public office or to be elected to such office. Moreover, the offender shall not be permitted to
hold any public office during the period of his disqualification.
Temporary disqualification if imposed is an accessory penalty, its duration is that of the principal
penalty
Effects of Perpetual and Temporary Special Disqualification
a. For public office, profession, or calling
Deprivation of the office, employment, profession or calling affected
Disqualification for holding similar offices or employment during the period of disqualification
b. For the exercise of the right of suffrage
Deprivation of the right to vote or to be elected in an office.
Cannot hold any public office during the period of disqualification.
Art. 33. Effects of the penalties of suspension from any public office, profession or
calling, or the right of suffrage. — The suspension from public office, profession or calling, and
the exercise of the right of suffrage shall disqualify the offender from holding such office or
exercising such profession or calling or right of suffrage during the term of the sentence.
The person suspended from holding public office shall not hold another having similar functions
during the period of his suspension.
Effects:
a Disqualification from holding such office or the exercise of such profession or right of
suffrage during the term of the sentence.
b Cannot hold another office having similar functions during the period of suspension.
Art. 34. Civil interdiction. — Civil interdiction shall deprive the offender during the time of
his sentence of the rights of parental authority, or guardianship, either as to the person or
property of any ward, of marital authority, of the right to manage his property and of the right to
dispose of such property by any act or any conveyance inter vivos.
Effects:
a. Deprivation of the following rights:
Parental rights
Guardianship over the ward
Martial authority
Right to manage property and to dispose of the same by acts inter vivos
b. Civil Interdiction is an accessory penalty to the following principal penalties
If death penalty is commuted to life imprisonment
Reclusion perpetua
Reclusion temporal
He can dispose of such property by will or donation mortis causa
Art. 35. Effects of bond to keep the peace. — It shall be the duty of any person
sentenced to give bond to keep the peace, to present two sufficient sureties who shall
undertake that such person will not commit the offense sought to be prevented, and that in case
such offense be committed they will pay the amount determined by the court in the judgment, or
otherwise to deposit such amount in the office of the clerk of the court to guarantee said
undertaking.
The court shall determine, according to its discretion, the period of duration of the bond.
Should the person sentenced fail to give the bond as required he shall be detained for a period
which shall in no case exceed six months, is he shall have been prosecuted for a grave or less
grave felony, and shall not exceed thirty days, if for a light felony.
Bond to keep the peace is different from bail bond which is posted for the provisional release of
a person arrested for or accused of a crime. Bond to keep the peace or for good behavior is
imposed as a penalty in threats.
Art. 36. Pardon; its effect. — A pardon shall not work the restoration of the right to hold
public office, or the right of suffrage, unless such rights be expressly restored by the terms of
the pardon.
A pardon shall in no case exempt the culprit from the payment of the civil indemnity imposed
upon him by the sentence.
Pardon by the President does not restore the right to public office or suffrage except when both
are expressly restored in the pardon. Nor does it exempt from civil liability/from payment of civil
indemnity.
Limitations to President’s power to pardon:
a can be exercised only after final judgment
b does not extend to cases of impeachment
c does not extinguish civil liability – only criminal liability
Pardon granted in general terms does not include accessory penalties.
Exceptions:
Pardon by the offended party – does not extinguish criminal liability, may include offended party
waiving civil indemnity and it is done before the institution of the criminal prosecution and
extended to both offenders.
if the absolute pardon us granted after the term of imprisonment has expire, it removes all that is
left of the consequences of conviction. However, if the penalty is life imprisonment and after the
service of 30 years, a pardon is granted, the pardon does not remove the accessory penalty of
absolute perpetual disqualification
if the facts and circumstances of the case show that the purpose of the President is to precisely
restore the rights i.e., granting absolute pardon after election to a post (mayor) but before the
date fixed by law for assuming office to enable him to assume the position in deference to the
popular will.
Art. 37. Cost. — What are included. — Costs shall include fees and indemnities in the
course of the judicial proceedings, whether they be fixed or unalterable amounts previously
determined by law or regulations in force, or amounts not subject to schedule.
Costs include:
Costs (expenses of the litigation) are chargeable to the accused in vase of conviction.
In case of acquittal, the costs are de oficio, each party bearing is own expense
No costs allowed against the Republic of the Philippines until law provides the contrary
fees
indemnities in the course of judicial proceedings
Art. 38. Pecuniary liabilities. — Order of payment. — In case the property of the offender
should not be sufficient for the payment of all his pecuniary liabilities, the same shall be met in
the following order:
1. The reparation of the damage caused.
2. Indemnification of consequential damages.
3. The fine.
4. The cost of the proceedings.
Applicable “in case property of the offender should not be sufficient for the payment of all his
pecuniary liabilities.” Hence, if the offender has insufficient or no property, there is no use for Art
38.
Order of payment is mandatory
Example: Juan inflicted serious physical injuries against Pedro and took the latter’s watch and
ring. He incurred 500 worth of hospital bills and failed to earn 300 worth of salary. Given that
Juan only has 1000 pesos worth of property not exempt from execution, it shall be first applied
to the payment of the watch and ring which cannot be returned as such is covered by
“reparation of the damage caused” thus, no. 1 in the order of payment. The 500 and 300 are
covered by “indemnification of the consequential damage” thus, no. 2 in the order of payment.
Art. 39. Subsidiary penalty. — If the convict has no property with which to meet the fine
mentioned in the paragraph 3 of the nest preceding article, he shall be subject to a subsidiary
personal liability at the rate of one day for each eight pesos, subject to the following rules:
1. If the principal penalty imposed be prision correccional or arresto and fine, he shall remain
under confinement until his fine referred to in the preceding paragraph is satisfied, but his
subsidiary imprisonment shall not exceed onethird of the term of the sentence, and in no case
shall it continue for more than one year, and no fraction or part of a day shall be counted against
the prisoner.
2. When the principal penalty imposed be only a fine, the subsidiary imprisonment shall not
exceed six months, if the culprit shall have been prosecuted for a grave or less grave felony,
and shall not exceed fifteen days, if for a light felony.
3. When the principal imposed is higher than prision correccional, no subsidiary imprisonment
shall be imposed upon the culprit.
4. If the principal penalty imposed is not to be executed by confinement in a penal institution, but
such penalty is of fixed duration, the convict, during the period of time established in the
preceding rules, shall continue to suffer the same deprivations as those of which the principal
penalty consists.
5. The subsidiary personal liability which the convict may have suffered by reason of his
insolvency shall not relieve him, from the fine in case his financial circumstances should
improve. (As amended by RA 5465, April 21, 1969.)
There is no subsidiary penalty for nonpayment of reparation, indemnification and costs in par 1,
2 and 4 of Art 38. It is only for fines.
Art 39 applies only when the convict has no property with which to meet the fine in par 3 of art
38. Thus, a convict who has property enough to meet the fine and not exempted from execution
cannot choose to serve the subsidiary penalty instead of the payment of the fine.
Subsidiary imprisonment is not an accessory penalty. It is covered by Art 4045 of this Code.
Accessory penalties are deemed imposed even when not mentioned while subsidiary
imprisonment must be expressly imposed.
Rules:
PENALTY IMPOSED
LENGTH OF SUBSIDIARY PENALTY
Prision correccional or arresto and fine Not exceed 1/3 of term of sentence, in no case
more than 1 year fraction or part of a day not counted.
Fine only Not to exceed 6 months if prosecuted for grave or less grave felony, not to
exceed 15 days if prosecuted for light felony
Higher than prision correccional No subsidiary imprisonment
Not to be executed by confinement but of fixed duration Same deprivations as those of the
principal penalty under rules 1, 2 and 3 above
If financial circumstances improve, convict still to pay the fine even if he has suffered subsidiary
personal liability.
the penalty imposed must be PC, AM, Am, suspension, destierro and fine only. – other than
these (PM, RT, RP) court cannot impose subsidiary penalty.
Even if the penalty imposed is not higher than PC, if the accused is a habitual delinquent who
deserves an additional penalty of 12 yrs and 1 day of RT, there is no subsidiary imprisonment.
Art. 40. Death — Its accessory penalties. — The death penalty, when it is not executed
by reason of commutation or pardon shall carry with it that of perpetual absolute disqualification
and that of civil interdiction during thirty years following the date sentence, unless such
accessory penalties have been expressly remitted in the pardon.