DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,

INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

SSt. M8:Law Related Studies

Week 8

Unit 3: Criminal Justice System

Topic: Criminal Laws

Learning Outcomes:
1. Discuss the provisions of the Penal Code of the
Philippines.
2. Classify crimes according to the specific categories.
3. Cite the provision violated in sample criminal cases.

Concept Digest
Why should crime scenes be secured or be kept untouched
until the SOCO arrives?

This is one of the questions that we will answer in this

lesson.

What is criminal law?

Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime.
It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or
otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and
moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most
criminal law is established by statute, which is to say that
the laws are enacted by a legislature. Criminal law includes
the punishment and rehabilitation of people who violate such
laws.

What criminal laws were effective prior to the enactment of

the Penal Code of the Philippines?
When the Spanish colonizers conquered the Philippines,
the Spanish Codigo Penal was made applicable and extended to
the Philippines by Royal Decree of 1870. This was replaced
with the old Penal Code, which was put in place by Spanish
authorities, and took effect in the Philippines on July 14,
1876. This law was effective in the Philippines until the
American colonization of the Philippines. It was only on
December 8, 1930, when it was amended, under Act. No. 3815,
with the enactment of the Revised Penal Code of the
Philippines (the “Revised Penal Code”).
The Revised Penal Code took effect on January 1, 1932.
It is composed of two parts – Book One of the Revised Penal

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Code provides the general provisions on the application of

the law, and the general principles of criminal law. It
defines felonies and circumstances which affect criminal
liability, justifying circumstances and circumstances which
exempt, mitigate or aggravate criminal liability, and
defines the classification, duration, and effects of
criminal penalties. Finally, it provides for the extinction
and survival of criminal and civil liabilities in crimes.

Book Two of the Revised Penal Code on the other hand

defines the specific crimes and the penalties imposable for
each crime. Crimes are classified into:
a. crimes against national security (such as treason,
espionage and piracy);
b. crimes against the fundamental laws of the state
(rebellion, coup d'état, sedition and public
disorders);
c. crimes against public interest (counterfeiting of
currency, falsification of public documents);
d. crimes against public morals;
e. crimes committed by public officers;
f. crimes against persons (parricide, murder, physical
injuries, rape);
g. crimes against security (kidnapping); and
h. crimes against property (robbery, theft), among
others.
Criminal negligence is also an offense under the
Revised Penal Code. Under the Revised Penal Code, acts and
omissions punishable by law are called felonies. Thus, to
be considered as a felony there must be an act or omission.

What are the degrees of consummation of crimes?

Felonies can be consummated, frustrated, and attempted.
A felony is consummated when all the elements necessary for
its execution and accomplishment are present. It is
frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of
execution which would produce the felony as a consequence
but which, nevertheless, do not produce it by reason of
causes independent of the will of the perpetrator. There is
an attempt when the offender commences the commission of a
felony directly or overt acts, and does not perform all the
acts of execution which should produce the felony by reason
of some cause or accident other than his own spontaneous
desistance.

Conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an

agreement concerning the commission of a felony and decide
to commit it. Conspiracy can also be proven based on the
idea of "unity of purpose" and acts leading to a common
design. There is proposal when the person who has decided to

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

commit a felony proposes its execution to some other person

or persons. Conspiracy and proposal to commit a felony are
generally not punishable, except for conspiracy and proposal
to commit treason, coup d'État, and rebellion. Whilst not
generally punishable, conspiracy can determine the degree of
participation in criminal offenses in order to determine
criminal liability.

What are the circumstances that affect criminal liability?

The presence of certain circumstances have the effect
of removing, mitigating or aggravating criminal liability of
persons. Persons who commit crimes when justifying
circumstances are present do not incur criminal or civil
liability. Acting in self-defense is one of these justifying
circumstances.

The presence of exempting circumstances on the other

hand will exempt the perpetrator from criminal liability but
not from civil liability. Some of these exempting
circumstances are imbecility or youth. On the other hand,
the presence of one or more mitigating circumstances when a
crime is committed, can serve to reduce the penalty imposed.
An example is voluntary surrender.

Lastly, the presence of aggravating circumstances will

increase the penalty imposed under the crime, upon
conviction. Some examples are contempt or insult to public
authority.

Why does the law look at an individual’s participation in

crimes?
Under the Revised Penal Code, when more than one person
participated in the commission of the crime, the law looks
into their participation because in punishing offenders, the
Revised Penal Code classifies them as principals,
accomplices, or accessories. A persons can be liable as a
principal for (a) taking a direct part in the execution of
the felony, (b) directly forcing or inducing others to
commit it, or (c) cooperate in the commission of the offense
by another act without which it would not have been
accomplished. Accomplices are persons who, while not acting
as a principal, cooperate in the execution of the offense by
previous or simultaneous acts.

Lastly, accessories are those who, having knowledge of

the commission of the crime, and without having participated
therein, either as principals or accomplices, take part
subsequent to its commission by:
(a) profiting themselves or assisting the offender to
profit by the effects of the crime

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

(b) concealing or destroying the body of the crime,

or the effects or instruments thereof, in order to

prevent its discovery, or

(b) harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape
of the principals of the crime.

Principals are punished more severely than accomplices,

who are punished more severely than accessories. However,
when there is conspiracy, there will no longer be a
distinction as to whether a person acted as a principal,
accomplice or accessory, because when there is conspiracy,
the criminal liability of all will be the same, because the
act of one is the act of all.

What is the crime of murder?

Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code defines murder as
killing someone other than a family member with any of the
following six circumstances:
a. With treachery, taking advantage of superior
strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing
means to weaken the defense, or of means or
persons to insure or afford impunity;
b. In consideration of a price, reward, or promise;
c. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion,
shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or
assault upon a railroad, fall of an airship, by
means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any
other means involving great waste and ruin;
d. On occasion of any calamities enumerated in the
preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption
of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or
any other public calamity;
e. With evident premeditation;
f. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly
augmenting the suffering of the victim, or
outraging or scoffing at his person or corps.

Murder is punishable by reclusión perpetua (20 to 40

years' incarceration). Without any of these six aggravating
circumstances, a killing is instead homicide punishable by
reclusión temporal. A murder is committed “with treachery”
by
employing means, methods, or forms in the execution, which
tend directly and specially to insure its execution, without
risk to the offender arising from the defense which the
offended party might make. The essence of treachery is that
the attack comes without a warning and in a swift,

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

deliberate, and unexpected manner, affording the hapless,

unarmed, and unsuspecting victim no chance to resist or
escape. For treachery to be considered, two elements must
concur:
(1) the employment of means of execution that gives the
persons attacked no opportunity to defend themselves
or retaliate;
(1) the means of execution were deliberately or
consciously adopted.

What are special penal laws?

Apart from the crimes penalized in the Revised Penal
Code, several other pieces of criminal legislation have been
passed, penalizing acts such as illegal possession and
trafficking of dangerous drugs, money laundering, and
illegal possession of firearms. These laws are called
“Special Penal Laws” and they form part of Philippine
Criminal Laws. There are certain differences between crimes
punished under the Revised Penal Code and Special Penal
Laws.

Violations of the crimes listed in the Revised Penal

Code are referred to as mala in se, which literally means,
that the act is inherently evil or bad or wrongful in
itself. On the other hand, violations of Special Penal Laws
are generally referred to as malum prohibitum or an act that
is wrong because it is prohibited. Thus, no criminal intent
is needed in order to find a person liable for crimes
punished under Special Penal Laws. As long as the act is
committed, then it is punishable as a crime under law.

Note, however, that not all violations of Special Penal

Laws are mala prohibita. While intentional felonies are
always mala in se, it does not follow that prohibited acts
done in violation of special laws are always mala prohibita.

There are some important distinctions between crimes

punishable under the Revised Penal Code and Special Penal
Laws. One of them is that in crimes punished under the
Revised Penal Code, the moral trait of the offender is
considered. This is why liability would only arise when
there is criminal intent or negligence in the commission of
the punishable act. In crimes punished under Special Penal
Laws, the moral trait of the offender is not considered; it
is enough that the prohibited act was voluntarily done.

References:

1. http://www.hainesandyost.com/Criminal-Case-Examples.aspx date retrieved July 13,

2020
2. https://www.doj.gov.ph/files/ccc/Criminal_Code_September-2014(draft).pdf date
retrieved July 13, 2020

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

3. https://www.chanrobles.com/philippinecriminalaw.htm date retrieved July 13, 2020

4. https://www.oecd.org/site/adboecdanti-corruptioninitiative/46816935.pdf date
retrieved July 13, 2020