By: Mary Grace Guevarra- Escabel

• It must be noted that the Revised Penal Code was enacted as Act
Number 3815. At first, it was thought to be a comprehensive
compendium of all Philippine penal laws but later on, some
other criminal laws were enacted by Congress, due to changes in
time and necessity, which are in the form of Republic Acts or
what is more commonly known in law schools and in practice as
special penal laws.

The basis of the Revised Penal Code was Spanish Código Penal.
This Penal Code of Spain had been in force all over the Philippines
from 1886 to 1930 (the year the Revised Penal Code took effect in
the Philippines). It must be noted, moreover, that the date of the
Code's enactment is different from the date of its effectivity.
• The new Code was drafted by a committee created in 1927, and led
by Judge Anacleto Díaz, who would later on be a justice in the
Supreme Court, the Highest Tribunal of the Land. Instead of
cropping up another criminal code, or engaging in a wholesale
codification of all penal laws in the Philippines, the committee
decided to merely revise the old penal code and simply appended
other penal laws in effect and in force at the time and amended
some provisions to adjust to the conditions
obtaining then.

Like any other criminal code all over the world, Act 3815
makes criminal a lot of acts which are considered by the
international community as inherently condemnable acts. This
includes many forms of taking of a life like murder, homicide,
infanticide or parricide. Controversially, the Code still penalizes
abortion.
• Rape is also a crime under the Code. Robbery, theft, treason
and espionage are also a few. Interestingly, acts of infidelity
are punished in two forms: adultery for women and
concubinage for men. The Code makes an express and very
academic definition of the elements that each crime
is composed of, and the existence of all these elements have to
be proved beyond reasonable doubt in order to secure
conviction.

Anything shorter than proof beyond reasonable doubt would

cause the acquittal of the accused. This is in consonant with
the principle that criminal laws shall be liberally construed in
favor of the accused and in case of doubt, the scales of
justice shall be titled for the accused.
• Since the enactment of Act 3815, many other special
criminal legislations have been passed by Congress to penalize
other crimes mala prohibita (not inherently wrong but wrong
only because prohibited) like illegal possession of firearms and
the issuance of worthless checks. The most famous crimes now
excluded from the Revised Penal Code are those on illegal drug use
or trafficking, which are penalized under the Dangerous Drugs Act
of 1972 and later the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs
Act of 2002.
One of the unique aspects of the Revised Penal Code of the
Philippines is its portion devoted to circumstances affecting
criminal liability: aggravating, exempting and mitigating
circumstances. These circumstance, when appreciated by the
court, can increase or decrease in certain grades the imposition
of appropriate penalties provided for by law.
• Penalties under the Revised Penal Code, in general, are
categorized into three periods – the minimum period, the
medium period, and the maximum period. In addition
to establishing the elements of the crime, the State may
also establish the presence of aggravating circumstances in
order to set the penalty at the maximum period, or the
defense may interpose mitigating circumstances to reduce
the penalty to its minimum period.
• Aside from the addition of acts or omissions punishable by
law, the Congress, through Republic Acts, also made
amendments to the provisions of Revised Penal Code. For
instance, the Anti- Rape Law of 1997, RA 8353, reclassified
rape from being a crime against chastity to a crime against
persons.
Criminal or penal law is that branch of public law
which defines, crimes, treat of their nature, and
provides for their punishment.

NOTE: The Revised Penal Code is the book that

contains the PHILIPPINE CRIMINAL LAW and likewise,
it is embodied in different special laws and decrees
which are penal in nature

JANUARY 1, 1932 - effectivity date of the Revised

Penal Code
1. It is general in application
2. It is territorial in character
3. It is specific and definite
4. It is uniform in application
5. It must be prospective
6. There must be a penal sanction or punishment
An act or omission in violation of public law forbidding
or
commanding it.
1.
FELONY
An act or omission punishable by law which is committed
by means or dolo (deceit) or culpa (fault) and punishable
under the Revised Penal Code.

2. OFFENSE
An act or omission in violation of a special law.

3. INFRACTION
An act or omission in violation of a city or municipal ordinance.
1. Crime Mala In Se
Acts that are outlawed because they violate basic moral
values such as rape, murder, assault and robbery
a. Intentional felony (IFI)
b. Non-intentional felony (IFN)

2. Crime Mala Prohibita

Acts that are outlawed because they clash with
current
norms and public opinion, such as tax, traffic and drug laws.
A. INTENTIONAL FELONIES:
- committed by means of dolo (deceit)
- The act or omission is performed with deliberate
intent or malice
1) Freedom or voluntariness
2) Intelligence
3) Intent
• It is committed by means of culpa (fault).

• The act or omission of the offender is not malicious and the injury
caused by the offender is unintentional, it being the simply the incident
of another act performed without malice.

1) freedom or voluntariness
2) intelligence
3) negligence or imprudence (lack of
foresight or lack of skill)
1. As to the manner crimes are
committed:
a) by means of dolo or deceit
b) by means of culpa or fault

2. As to the stage in the commission of crimes:

a) Consummated crime - when all the element necessary for its
execution and accomplishment are present
b) Frustrated crime – when the offender has performed all the acts
of execution which will produce the felony as a consequence but
which nevertheless do not produce it, by reason of causes
independent of the will of the perpetrator
c) Attempted crime – when the offender commences the
commission of crime directly by 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
3. According to
plurality:
• a) simple crime – single act constituting only one offense
• b) Complex crime – single act constituting two or more grave felonies
or an is a necessary means for committing the other

4. According to gravity:
• Grave felonies – those the law attaches the capital punishment
or afflictive penalties
• Less grave felonies – those to which the law attaches
correccional
penalties
• Light felonies – those to which the law attaches the penalty of
arresto menor or a fine not exceeding P200.00
1) According to the result of the
crime:
• Acquisitive crime – the offer acquires something
• Extinctive crime – the consequence of the act is destructive
2)According to the time or period of the commission of
the crime:
• Seasonal crime – committed only during a certain period of the
year
• Situational crime – committed only when the situation is
conductive to its
commission
3)According to the length of time of the commission of
the crime:
• Instant crime – committed in the shortest possible time
• Episoidal crime – committed by series of acts in lengthy space of
time
4) According to the place or
location:
• Static crime - committed in only one place
• Continuing crime – committed in several place
5) According to the use of mental faculties:
• Rational crime – committed with intent and the offender is in
full possession of his sanity
• Irrational crime –committed by an offender who does not
know the
nature and quality of his act an account of the disease of the
mind
6) According to the type of offender:
• White collar crime – committed by a person belonging to the
upper
socio- economic class in the course of his occupational
activities
• Blue collar crime – committed by ordinary professional criminal
• Acute criminals – persons who violated criminal law because
at
the impulse of the moment, fit of passion or anger.

• Chronic criminals - persons who acted in consonance with

deliberated thinking such as:

1)neurotic criminals – persons whose acting arise from the intra-physic

conflict between the social and anti-social components of his
personality.
2)normal criminals – persons whose psychic organization resembles
that of a normal individual except that he identifies himself with
criminal prototype.
• Ordinary criminals – the lowest form of criminal career;
they
engaged only unconventional crimes which require limited
skill.

• Organized criminals – these criminals have a high degree of

organization that enables them to commit crimes without
being detected and committed to specialized activities which
can be operated in large scale business.

• Professional criminals – these are highly skilled and able to

obtain considerable amount of money without being
detected because of organization and contact with other
professional criminals.
• Professional criminals –those who earn their living through
criminal
activities.

• Accidental criminals – those who commit criminal acts as a result

of unanticipated circumstance.

• Habitual criminals – those who continue to commit criminal acts

for such diverse reason due to deficiency of intelligence and lack
of control.

• Situational criminals – those who are actually not criminals but get
in trouble with legal authorities because they commit crimes
intermixed with legitimate economic activities.