11.
In consideration of a Price, Promise or Reward d) If a person is killed, then the corpse is burned, the burning
1. This deals with the motive. It involves the giver of the price, promise
or reward known as the Principal by Inducement and the actor as
Principal by Direct Participation.
2. “In consideration” means the PPR was the sole reason for the
commission of the crime. Had it not been for the PPR the accused
would not have committed the crime. The actor should not have his own
reasons for committing the crime. Thus motive is essential.
3. The PPR may be in any form: money, chattels, material services.
The recipient may be the actor himself or a person closely associated
with him such as: promise of a promotion or employment of a family
member
12. By Means of Inundation, Fire, Poison, Explosion etc.
1. These artifices used involve great waste, destruction and ruin
2. These may be (a) inherent in the crime as in Crimes Involving
Destruction under Article 332 or (b) they constitute the crimes in
themselves, as in Arson
3. In cases where both burning and death occurs, in order to determine
what crime/crimes was/were perpetrated- whether arson, murder, or
arson and homicide/murder, it is de rigueur to ascertain the main
objective of the malefactor, thus:
a). If the main objective is the burning of the building or edifice, (or
enclosure for that matter) but death results by reason or on the
occasion of arson, the crime is simply arson, and the resulting
homicide is absorbed
b). if the main objective is to kill a particular person who may be in a
building or edifice (or enclosure) when fire is resorted to as a means
to accomplish such goal, the use of fire becomes a qualifying
aggravating circumstance and the crime is murder only even if a
property is burned
c). if the objective is to kill particular person, and in fact the offender
has already done so, but fire is resorted as a means to cover up the
killing, then there are two separate and distinct crimes committed-
homicide/murder and arson (PP. vs. Malngan 503 SCRA 294, Sept.
26, 2006)
constitutes the qualifying circumstance of scoffing or ignominy and
the crime would be murder
d) If the body of the dead is placed in an enclosure as a car or a
house,
4. Examples: opening the irrigation canal to flood the crops or to drown
animals; placing a bomb under a bus; parricide/infanticide by poison
13. With Evident Premeditation
1. Concept (pre is prior, meditate is to think or to reflect) this means the
commission of the crime was the result of cool thought and reflection.
The accused carefully planned and deliberated on the crime. The
commission is not the result of a reflex action or an-on-the-spur of the
moment decision.
2. It must however be shown that the crime was intentionally planned
hence there must be clear, positive and convincing evidence on the
following elements:
a) the time when the accused decided to commit the crime
b). an act manifestly indicting the accused clung to his
determination
c) the lapse of a sufficient time between the decision and the actual
commission of the crime, such that the accused could have desisted
from continuing with his plan but he did not
3. This is however inherent in crimes against property, such as in theft,
robbery and estafa. But in Robbery with Homicide, the premeditation
must be to cause death in the course of the robbery
4. In cases of aberration ictus, it does not apply unless the accused
determined to kill not only the intended victim but others who might help
or interpose a resistance
5. Examples: Assassinations, ambuscades, assaults due to a desire for
vengeance
14. Craft, Fraud or Disguises
1. These are referred to as the intellectual means of committing a crime
because they involve cunning, deception and the use of the intellect
2. Both craft (trickery) and fraud (deception) are intended to catch the
victim unaware and to throw him off guard
3. Examples of craft: luring the victim to the killing place; pretending to
be relatives or employees of the Post Office to gain entry; pretending
to be collecting agents; pretending to be legitimate passengers of
taxicabs and thereafter the driver is robbed and killed; pretending a
person needs help and thereby vehicles are stopped in the highway
only to be robbed; the modus operandi of carnappers of telling the
driver to stop due to a defect and then taking over the car when the
driver stops
4. Examples of fraud: inducing a victim to sleep in one’s house; sending
a letter purportedly written by a friend of the victim to lure the victim to
come to the place where he is robbed. Telling a maid to give money
and valuables as his employer met an accident and needs money for
hospitalization; courting a lady and pretending to be an ardent suitor
5. Fraud is inherent in estafa by means of deceit
6. Disguise includes all attempt to hide one’s identity in the commission
of a crime. It is not limited to wearing mask, moustaches, false glasses
but also hiding one’s identity in crimes of libel as hiding under the name”
concerned citizen”; or muffling one’s voice.
7. Disguise is not aggravating if the accused was nevertheless
identified.
15. Taking Advantage of Superior Strength
1.Concept: the use of excessive force out of proportion to the means of
defense available to the victim. It connotes inequality of forces based
on factors such as: (a) superiority in numbers (b) weapons used (c)
physique, body built, age, sex (d) others such as the weakened
condition of the victim on account of illness, physical defect ort
diminished reasoning (e) skill of the accused in unarmed combat or
martial arts
16. Means Used to Weaken Defense
1. Example: Throwing sand in the face of the victim; covering him with
sack; pulling down his pants; putting a sleeping pill to get him drowsy
17. Treachery
1. Concept: When the offender commits any of the crimes against
persons employing means, methods, or forms in the execution thereof
which tend directly and specially to ensure the execution thereof without
risk to himself arising from the defenses which the victim might make.
The attack comes without warning and in a swift, deliberate and
unexpected manner, affording the hapless, unarmed, and unsuspecting
victim no chance to resist or escape.
2. The elements to be proved are
a) that the means, methods or forms of execution are such that the
victim was rendered defenseless or was in no position to make a
defense and
b). that the method of attack was consciously or deliberately adopted
and not an on- the spur-of-the-moment decision
3. This is the qualifying circumstance of murder which is preferred over
the others and it usually absorbs the other circumstances which have
relation to the means or method of attack such as nighttime,
uninhabited place, use of poison or explosion, fire or evident
premeditation. If they are not absorbed they are appreciated as ordinary
aggravating
4. Applies even if the crime against persons is complexed with other
crimes, such as direct assault
5. Killing a child is always treacherous
6. Rule as to Frontal Attacks: generally, there is no treachery as the
victim cannot be said to be unaware as he is face-to-face with his
attacker. But not (a) if the attack was so sudden, deliberate and
unexpected and consciously adopted or (b) if the victim was forced into
a position where he is defenseless, as in the Teehankee case
7. In case the attack was preceded by a quarrel: there is no treachery
8. In case of Attack from Behind: Generally considered as treacherous
if this mode was consciously adopted.
9. Rule in case of a continuous attack or if there was a break in the
attack. Applies to situations where, at the time of the infliction of the
wound, the victim was defenseless
a). There is no treachery if there was no treachery at the inception
of the attack
b) Even if there be no treachery at the inception of the attack but
there was a break in the attack, then treachery is to be appreciated

10. Other situations where victim is said to be defenseless:
a) where he was preoccupied: as when he was busy studying or
eating or watching an ongoing activity or was answering the call of
nature, or was working
b) victim was asleep or resting
c) body was found with hands tied
11. In case of several accused, treachery affects only those who had
prior knowledge of or were aware of it
18. Ignominy
1. Concept: adding mental torture or insult to the injury. The time, place,
and other circumstances in the commission of the crime are such that
they caused unnecessary humiliation or embarrassment either to the
victim or to the surviving relatives
2. This is appreciated in crimes against persons, chastity, honor,
coercion, unjust vexation
3. Examples: kissing a girl in public; hanging the victim in a tree;
throwing the body in a urinal or garbage pit; removing the pants; boxing
the priest who is saying mass; committing rape dog style
4. This is the only aggravating which may arise after the commission of
the crime; as chopping off the arms and legs or sex organ of the victim
after killing him.
19. Unlawful Entry
1. The entrance is effected by a way not intended for entrance into a
dwelling or in an uninhabited place. The passage is other than the door.
2. The entry must be to commit a crime and not just to violate the
dwelling else the unlawful entry becomes trespass
3. This is inherent in crimes of trespass to dwelling, robbery with force
upon things
20. Breaking of a Wall, Roof, Floor, Window
1. These pertains to the wall, roof, floor of a dwelling and the breaking
is for the purpose of gaining entry in order to commit a crime inside.
Else it is attempted trespass or malicious mischief
2. It is inherent in Robbery with Force Upon Things
21. (a) With the Aid of a Minor and (b) Use of a Motor Vehicle
1. The minor is one below 15.
a). Suppose the accused is a minor over 15 but below 18?
b). The purpose is to prevent the corruption of minors
3. Motor vehicle refers to modes of transporting people and goods ran
by motor energy not muscle effort. A bicycle to which is attached a
motor is a motor vehicle
a) Must be used to commit, or to facilitate the commission of the
crime
b) If used to kill a person as by hitting running over him, this may
qualify the killing to murder
c). Examples: (i) transporting the victim on board a car as in
abduction or kidnapping (ii) widespread robbery using a vehicle to
go around the neighborhood
22. By Inflicting Another Wrong Not Necessary
to the Commission
1. May refer either to:
a). Cruelty: making the victim suffer slowly and deliberately. It is
synonymous to torture or slow death or acts of sadism. It is usually
done by inflicting wounds on the victim while the victim is still alive
and at intervals of time to cause maximum pain. Or that the method
of killing involves lingering pain or suffering. Example: death by
skinning him alive, or by slow fire. (Memory Aid: Pinikpikan)
b). Other crimes such as rape, unnecessary deaths or physical
injuries are appreciated as aggravating the crimes of robbery with
homicide
ARTICLE 15. ALTERNATIVE CIRCUMSTANCES
1. Concept: Those which may be considered either as mitigating or
aggravating according to the nature and effects of the crime and other
conditions attendant to the crime. They must affect the commission of
the crime. They are: (i) relationship (2) intoxication and (3) degree of
instruction.
2. Relationship: This is taken into account when the offended party is
the spouse, ascendant, descendant, legitimate or natural, or adopted
brother or sister, or relative by affinity in the same degree of the
offender.
A. Effect of Relationship in general:
i). As basis for a justifying circumstance
ii). As an absolutory cause under Articles 20, 247 and 332
iii). As an alternative circumstance under Article 15
B. Under Article 15, relatives by consanguinity within the 4th civil
degree are not included. However, step parents and step children
are included.
C. When relationship is appreciated as Aggravating:
i). Where the offense is a grave felony
ii). In crimes against chastity
iii) If the offense is a less grave or light felony, it is aggravating if
the victim is a relative of an equal or higher degree
D. When it is mitigating
i) In less grave or light offenses where the victim is a relative of a
lower degree
ii) In crimes against property as in case by a mother- in- law who
stole from his son-in -law
3. Intoxication: Presupposes that when the accused committed the
crime, he had taken in alcohol in such quantity as to have affected his
mental faculties, blurred his reasoning and diminished his self-control.
A. There is no fixed rule as to the minimum quantity of alcohol in-
take required before it is said that a person’s mental faculties had
been affected. This is dependent on several factors such as the type
or kind of liquor taken in i.e. hard vs. soft liquor or wine, brandy vs.
gin vs. scotch vs. beer; manner of in-take e.g. straight or on the rocks
or food is taken; as well as the personal factors such as sex, age,
state of health and other factors affecting the alcohol tolerance of a
person.
B. Test: (i) external conduct of a person (ii) breathalyzer to determine
if a person was driving under the influence of liquor (iii) Rhomberg
test and tandem gait, etc
C. It is Mitigating if intoxication is not habitual or intentional such that
the crime is said to be the result of an impulse or urge or delusion
due to the effects of alcohol
D. It is aggravating when the intoxication is intentional i.e. to
strengthen the resolve or to use as shield or excuse or habitual i.e
the accused is used to taking in alcohol as to be alcoholic. However,
the drinking of wine as an appetizer is not included.
E. When it is proven that the accused was intoxicated when he
committed the crime, the presumption is in favor of mitigation and it
is for the prosecution to prove it was intentional or habitual.
4. Degree of Instruction and Education.
A. What is involved is whether or not the accused finished formal
education or schooling. However, what is considered is not so much
the illiteracy but the level of intelligence. The emphasis is the lack of
sufficient intelligence and knowledge of the full significance of one’s
actions
i) Some are naturally intelligent and mentally alert though illiterate
while some literates are densely ignorant
ii). Note that the rule does not apply to persons 15 years of age
or below even if naturally intelligent or gifted in secondary school
because they are presumed ot be incapable of forming criminal
intent
B. Generally it is mitigating, especially to crimes mala prohibita, but
not to crimes universally condemned as evil or those which are mala
in se
C. Aggravating: when the accused has a high degree of education
which he used or availed of to commit or facilitate the commission of
the crime
i) A law student who used his knowledge to defraud another
ii) Physician who kills his patients
iii) A handwriting expert who falsifies using his knowledge
iv). A Financial Analyst defrauding a business entity
v) Computer expert who hacks