E.

PERSON CRIMINALLY LIABLE

PD 1829 (Decree Penalizing Obstruction of Apprehension

and Prosecution of Criminal Offenders) IN RELATION
TO ARTICLE 20 OF THE RPC

PRESENTED BY:
JENNELIE N. JANDUSAY
Section 1. The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period, or a fine
ranging from 1,000 to 6,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person
who knowingly or willfully obstructs, impedes, frustrates or delays the
apprehension of suspects and the investigation and prosecution of criminal
cases by committing any of the following acts:

(a) preventing witnesses from testifying in any criminal proceeding or

from reporting the commission of any offense or the identity of any offender/s
by means of bribery, misrepresentation, deceit, intimidation, force or threats;

(b) altering, destroying, suppressing or concealing any paper, record,

document, or object, with intent to impair its verity, authenticity, legibility,
availability, or admissibility as evidence in any investigation of or official
proceedings in, criminal cases, or to be used in the investigation of, or official
proceedings in, criminal cases;

(c) harboring or concealing, or facilitating the escape of, any person he

knows, or has reasonable ground to believe or suspect, has committed any
offense under existing penal laws in order to prevent his arrest prosecution and
conviction;
 (d) publicly using a fictitious name for the purpose of concealing a
crime, evading prosecution or the execution of a judgment, or concealing his
true name and other personal circumstances for the same purpose or purposes;

(e) delaying the prosecution of criminal cases by obstructing the

service of process or court orders or disturbing proceedings in the fiscal's
offices, in Tanodbayan, or in the courts;

(f) making, presenting or using any record, document, paper or object

with knowledge of its falsity and with intent to affect the course or outcome of
the investigation of, or official proceedings in, criminal cases;

(g) soliciting, accepting, or agreeing to accept any benefit in

consideration of abstaining from,

(h) threatening directly or indirectly another with the infliction of

any wrong upon his person, honor or property or that of any immediate
member or members of his family in order to prevent such person from
appearing in the investigation of, or official proceedings in, criminal cases, or
imposing a condition, whether lawful or unlawful, in order to prevent a person
from appearing in the investigation of or in official proceedings in, criminal
cases;
 (i) giving of false or fabricated information to mislead or prevent
the law enforcement agencies from apprehending the offender or from
protecting the life or property of the victim; or fabricating information
from the data gathered in confidence by investigating authorities for
purposes of background information and not for publication and
publishing or disseminating the same to mislead the investigator or to
the court. If any of the acts mentioned herein is penalized by any other
law with a higher penalty, the higher penalty shall be imposed.

Section 2. If any of the foregoing acts is committed by a public official or

employee, he shall in addition to the penalties provided thereunder,
suffer perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
ARTICLE 20 OF THE REVISED PENAL CODE:
ACCESSORIES WHO ARE EXEMPT FROM CRIMINAL
LIABILITY

The penalties prescribed for accessories shall not be imposed

upon those who are such with respect to their spouses, ascendants,
descendants, legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters, or
relatives by affinity within the same degrees, with the single exception of
accessories falling within the provisions of paragraph 1 of the next
preceding article.
AN ACCESSORY IS EXEMPT FROM CRIMINAL LIABILITY
WHEN THE PRINCIPAL IS HIS:
1. spouse, or
2. ascendant, or
3. descendant, or
4. legitimate, natural or adopted brother, sister or relative by
affinity within the same degree.

Accessory Is Not Exempt From Criminal Liability Even If The

Principal Is Related To Him, If Such Accessory –
1. profited by the effects of the crime, or
2. assisted the offender to profit by the effects of the crime.
•Public officer contemplated in par. 3 of Art. 19 is exempt by reason of
relationship to the principal, even if such public officer acted with
abuse of his official functions.

P.D. 1829 penalizes the act of any person who knowingly or

willfully obstructs, impedes, frustrates or delays the apprehension of
suspects and the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases.
The benefits of the exception in Art. 20 do not
apply to PD 1829.
JURISPRUDENCE
Jugdge Adoracion Angeles vs. Hon. Manuel B. Gaite, et al.
(GR No. 165276, November 25, 2009)

Petitioner argues that the evasion of arrest constitutes a violation of Section 1(e) of
PD No. 1829. This Court does not agree.

The failure on the part of the arresting officer/s to arrest the person of the accused
makes the latter a fugitive from justice and is not equivalent to a commission of another
offense of obstruction of justice.

Juan Ponce Enrile vs. Hon. Omar U. Amin

(GR No. 93335, September 13, 1990)

Can a separate crime of a violation of PD 1829 be charged against the petitioner?

No. The Supreme Court used the doctrine that if a person cannot be charged with
the complex crime of rebellion, he can neither be charged separately for two different offenses,
where one is a constitutive or component element or committed in furtherance of rebellion.
It was also noted that petitioner was already facing charges of rebellion in
conspiracy with Honasan. Being in conspiracy thereof, the act of harboring or concealing Col.
Honasan is clearly a mere component or ingredient of rebellion or an act done in furtherance
of rebellion. It cannot be made the basis of a separate charge.
 F. PENALTIES

RA 9346(ACT PROHIBITING THE

IMPOSITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN THE
PHILIPPINES)
SECTION 1. The imposition of the penalty of death is hereby prohibited.
Accordingly, Republic Act No. Eight Thousand One Hundred Seventy Seven
(R.A. No. 8177), otherwise known as the Act Designating Death by Lethal
Injection is hereby repealed, Republic Act No. Seven Thousand Six Hundred
Fifty-Nine (R.A. No. 7659), otherwise known as the Death Penalty Law, and
all other laws, executive orders and decrees, insofar as they impose the death
penalty are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SECTION 2. In lieu of the death penalty, the following shall be imposed:

(a) the penalty of reclusion perpetua, when the law violated makes
use of the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code; or

(b) the penalty of life imprisonment, when the law violated does not
make use of the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code.
SECTION 3. Persons convicted of offenses punished with reclusion
perpetua, or whose sentences will be reduced to reclusion perpetua, by
reason of this Act, shall not be eligible for parole under Act No. 4103,
otherwise known as the Indeterminate Sentence Law, as amended.

SECTION 4. The Board of Pardons and Parole shall cause the publication
at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general
circulation of the names of persons convicted of offenses punished with
reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment by reason of this Act who are being
considered or recommended for commutation or pardon: Provided,
however; That nothing herein shall limit the power of the President to
grant executive clemency under Section 19, Article VII of the Constitution.
JURISPRUDENCE
People vs. Nicanor Salome (G.R. No. 169077, August 31 2006)

Involves a rape of a 13-year old girl (who got pregnant),

committed in a dwelling and with the aid of a bladed weapon. The
imposable penalty should have been death, but with the abolition of the
Death Penalty, the Supreme Court reduced the penalty to reclusion
perpetua, without the possibility of parole.

People vs. Florenda Castro and Christopher Talita

(GR No. 172370, October 6, 2008)

Since the killings were committed in 1998, the trial court as well
as the CA were correct in imposing upon appellant Christopher the
supreme penalty of death. In view, however, of the passage and effectivity
of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 9346[48] on June 24, 2006, proscribing the
imposition of the capital punishment,[49] the proper imposable penalty on
appellant is reclusion perpetua, without eligibility for parole, in line with
Sections 2 and 3 of the said law.