ABSOLUTORY CAUSES
INSTIGATION
The act by which one incites another to do something, as to injure a third
person, or to commit some crime or misdemeanor, to coramence a suit
or to prosecute a criminal.
ARTICLE 6
Art. 6. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies. —
Consummated felonies as well as those which are frustrated and
attempted, are punishable.
A felony is consummated when all the elements necessary for its
execution and accomplishment are present; and 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 over acts, and does not perform all the acts of
execution which should produce the felony by reason of some cause or
accident other than this own spontaneous desistance.
DEVELOPMENT OF CRIME
From the moment the culprit conceives the idea of committing a crime
up to the realization of the same, his act passes through certain stages:
(1) Internal Acts;
(2) External Acts;
(1) Internal Acts
Mere ideas in the mind of the person are not punishable even if, had
they been carried out, they would constitute a crime.
Intention and effect must occur.
*Mere intention producing no effect is no more a crime than a mere effect
without intention is a crime.
(2) External Acts
External acts cover:
(1) Preparatory acts; and
(2) Acts of Execution
(1) Preparatory acts – ordinarily they are not punishable.
*Proposal and conspiracy to commit a felon, which are only preparatory acts,
are not punishable, except when the law provides for their punishment in
certain felonies. (Art. 8)
*But preparatory acts which are considered in themselves, by law, as
independent crimes are punishable.
(2) Acts of Execution – punishable under RPC.
The stages of Acts of Execution:
(1) Attempted;
(2) Frustrated; and
(3) Consummated.
In performing the acts of execution of a felony, the offender may reach
only the first stage or the second stage.
*In either cases, he does not produce the felony he intends to commit. But
he Is liable for attempted felony or frustrated felony, as the case may be.
ATTEMPTED FELONY
When offender commences the commission of felony 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.
Elements:
(1) Offender commences the commission of the felony directly by
overt acts;
(2) He does not perform all the acta of execution which should
produce the felony;
(3) Offender’s act is not stopped by his own spontaneous
desistance;
(4) Non-performance of all acts of execution was due to cause or
accident other than his spontaneous desistance.
*In Attempted Felony, the offender never passes the subjective phase
of the offense.
DESISTANCE
It is an absolutory cause which negates criminal liability because the law
allows a person to desist from committing a crime.
Desistance should be made before all acts of execution are performed.
*Desistance which exempts from criminal liability has reference to the crime
intended to be committed, and has no reference to the crime actually
committed by the offender before his desistance.
Kinds of Desistance
(1) Legal Desistance – it is a desistance referred in law which would
obviate criminal liability, unless the overt or preparatory act already
committed in themselves constitute a felony other than what the actor
intended. It is made during the attempted stage.
(2) Factual Desistance – It is the actual desistance of the actor; the
actor is still liable for the attempt. It is one made after the attempted
stage of the crime. It has no legal effect because the law recognizes
desistance only at the attempted stage.
FRUSTRATED FELONY
Offender performs all 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.
Elements:
(1) Offender performs all acts of execution;
(2) All acts performed would produce the felony as a consequence;
(3) But felony is not produced;
(4) By reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.
ATTEMPTED V FRUSTRATED
Attempted Frustrated
As to the Accomplishment
Offender did not accomplish. Offender did not accomplish.
As to Acts of Execution
Does not perform all acts of Performs all acts of execution
execution
ABSOLUTORY CAUSES
As to non-accomplishment Art. 308. Who are liable for theft. — Theft is committed by any person
Did not perform all acts of Intervention of foreign or who, with intent to gain but without violence against or intimidation of
execution extraneous cause. persons nor force upon things, shall take personal property of another
without the latter's consent.

Theft is likewise committed by:

ATTEMPTED/FRUSTRATED V IMPOSSIBLE CRIME
1. Any person who, having found lost property, shall fail to deliver the
Attempted/Frustrated Impossible Crime same to the local authorities or to its owner;
As to the evil intent
Not accomplished Not accomplished 2. Any person who, after having maliciously damaged the property of
As to possibility of accomplishment another, shall remove or make use of the fruits or object of the damage
Evil intent is possible to Not possible to accomplish. caused by him; and
accomplish.
3. Any person who shall enter an inclosed estate or a field where
As to non-accomplishment trespass is forbidden or which belongs to another and without the
Intervention of certain cause Inherently Impossible consent of its owner, shall hunt or fish upon the same or shall gather
or accident. because means employed is cereals, or other forest or farm products.
inadequate or ineffectual.
(3) Alteration of boundary marks;

CONSUMMATED FELONY Art. 313. Altering boundaries or landmarks. — Any person who
shall alter the boundary marks or monuments of towns, provinces, or
A felony is consummated when all the elements necessary for its estates, or any other marks intended to designate the boundaries of
execution and accomplishment are present. the same, shall be punished by arresto menor or a fine not exceeding
100 pesos, or both.

(4) Malicious mischief;

WHEN NOT ALL ELEMENTS OF A FELONY ARE PROVED
Art. 327. Who are liable for malicious mischief. — Any person who
shall deliberately cause the property of another any damage not falling
When a felony has 2 or more elements and one of them is not proved
within the terms of the next preceding chapter shall be guilty of
by the prosecution during the trial, either: malicious mischief.

(1) Felony is not shown to have been consummated;
(2) Felony is not shown to have been committed; or
(3) Another felony is shown to have been committed.
Art. 328. Special cases of malicious mischief. — Any person who
shall cause damage to obstruct the performance of public functions, or
using any poisonous or corrosive substance; or spreading any infection
or contagion among cattle; or who cause damage to the property of the
National Museum or National Library, or to any archive or registry,
waterworks, road, promenade, or any other thing used in common by
the publicxxx

HOW TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE CRIME IS A, F, OR C (5) Intriguing against honor.

In determining whether the felony is only attempted, frustrated, or Art. 364. Intriguing against honor. — The penalty of arresto menor
consummated these 3 must be considered: or fine not exceeding 200 pesos shall be imposed for any intrigue which
has for its principal purpose to blemish the honor or reputation of a
(1) Nature of offense; person.

(2) Elements consisting of Felony; “with the exception of those committed against person or property.”

(3) Manner of committing the Felony. GR: Light felonies are punishable only when they are consummated.

EXC: Light felonies committed against persons or property are

punishable even if attempted or frustrated.
ARTICLE 7
RATIONALE FOR GR – Light felonies produce such light, such insignificant
Art. 7. When light felonies are punishable. — Light felonies are moral and material injuries that public conscience is satisfied with providing
a light penalty for their consummation. If they are not consummated, the
punishable only when they have been consummated, with the exception
wrong done is so slight that there is no need of providing penalty at all.
of those committed against person or property.
RATIONALE FOR EXC – The commission of felonies against persons or
WHAT ARE LIGHT FELONIES? property presupposes in the offender moral depravity. For that reason, even
attempted or frustrated light felonies against persons or property are
Light felonies are those infractions of the law for the commission of punishable.
which the penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200php, or
both, is provided (Art. 9, par 3)

Light felonies punished by RPC: ARTICLE 16

(1) Slight Physical Injuries; Art. 16. Who are criminally liable. — The following are criminally
liable for grave and less grave felonies:
Art. 265. Less serious physical injuries. — Any person who shall
inflict upon another physical injuries not described in the preceding 1. Principals.
articles, but which shall incapacitate the offended party for labor for ten
days or more, or shall require medical assistance for the same period, 2. Accomplices.
shall be guilty of less serious physical injuries and shall suffer the
penalty of arresto mayor. 3. Accessories.

(2) Theft;
ABSOLUTORY CAUSES
The following are criminally liable for light felonies:
1. Principals
2. Accomplices.
*Art. 16 enumerates the active subjects of the crime.
TREBLE DIVISION OF PERSONS CRIMINALLY LIABLE
Treble division of persons criminally responsible for an offense rests
upon the very nature of their participation in the commission of the crime.
When a crime is committed by many, without being equally shared by
all, a different degree of responsibility is imposed upon each and every
one of them. In that case, they are criminally liable either as principals,
accomplices, or accessories.
ACCESSORIES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR LIGHT FELONIES
Reason: In the commission of light felonies, the social wrong as well as
the individual prejudice is so small that penal sanction is deemed not
necessary for accessories.
RULES RELATIVE TO LIGHT FELONIES
(1) Light felonies are punishable only when they have been
consummated. (Art.7)
(2) But when light felonies are committed against persons or
property, they are punishable even if they are only in the attempted
or frustrated stage of execution;
(3) Only principal and accomplices are liable for light felonies. (Art.
16)
(4) Accessories are not liable for light felonies, even if they are
committed against persons, or property. (Art. 16)
ACTIVE SUBJECT AND PASSIVE SUBJECT OF CRIME
In all crimes there are always two parties, namely:
(1) Active subject (criminal);
(2) Passive subject (injured)
ONLY NATURAL PERSONS CAN BE ACTIVE SUBJECT OF CRIMES
Since a felony is a punishable act or omission which produces or tends
to produce a change in the external world, it follows that only a natural
person can be the active subject of the crime, because he alone by his
act can set in motion a cause or by his inaction can make possible the
completion of a developing modification in the external world.
Only a natural person can be the offender because –
(1) RPC requires that the culprit should have acted with personal
malice or negligence. An artificial or juridical person cannot act with
malice or negligence.
(2) a juridical person cannot commit a crime which a willful purpose
or a malicious intent is required.
(3) There is substitution of deprivation of liberty.
(4) imprisonment can only be executed against individuals.
OFFICERS, NOT CORPORATION, ARE CRIMINALLY LIABLE
A corporation can only act through its officers or incorporators, and that
as regards a violation of the law committed by an officer of a corporation,
in the exercise of his duties, he answers criminally for his acts, and not
the corporation to which he belongs, for being an artificial person, it
cannot be prosecuted criminally.
*Juridical persons are criminally liability under certain special laws.
*Only the officers of the corporation who participated either principals by direct
participation or principals by induction or by cooperation, or as accomplices in the
commission of an act punishable by law are liable.
*Manager of partnership is liable even if there is no evidence of his participation in
the commission of the offense.
PASSIVE SUBJECT OF CRIME
Passive subject – holder of the injured right: man, juristic person, group,
and state.
*Corporation or partnership can be a passive subject to a crime.
CORPSE OR ANIMAL CANNOT BE PASSIVE SUBJECT
GR: Dead and animals have no right that may be injured.
EXC: Art. 353, the crime of defamation may be committed if the
imputation tends to blacken the memory of one who is dead.
ARTICLE 20
Art. 20. 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.
Art. 19. Accessories. — 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 in any
of the following manners:
1. By profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by the effects of
the crime.
2. By concealing or destroying the body of the crime, or the effects or
instruments thereof, in order to prevent its discovery.
3. By harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principals of
the crime, provided the accessory acts with abuse of his public functions or
whenever the author of the crime is guilty of treason, parricide, murder, or an
attempt to take the life of the Chief Executive, or is known to be habitually
guilty of some other crime.
GROUND FOR EXEMPTION
Based on the ties of blood and the preservation of the cleanliness of
one’s name, which compels one to conceal crimes committed by
relatives so near as those mentioned in this article.
PRINCIPALS RELATED TO ACCESSORIES EXEMPT FROM
CRIMINAL LIABILITY
An accessory is exempt from criminal liability, when the principal is his:
ABSOLUTORY CAUSES
(1) spouse;
(2) ascendant;
(3) descendants;
(4) legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters, or
relatives by affinity within the same degree;
Relationship by affinity between surviving spouse and blood relatives of
the deceased spouse survives even after the death of the deceased
spouse.
Nephew and niece not included among such relatives.
ACCESSORY IS NOT EXEMPT FROM CRIMINAL LIABILITY EVEN
IF THE PRINCIPAL IS RELATED TO HIM WHEN:
(1) profiting by the effects of the crime;
(2) assisting the offender to profit by the effects of the crime.
Only accessories under par. 2 and 3 of article 19 are exempt from
criminal liability if they are related to the principals.
LIABILITY OF A PUBLIC OFFICER WHEN RELATED TO THE
PRINCIPAL
Such public officer does not incur criminal liability. Ties of blood or
relationship constitutes a more powerful incentive than the call of duty.
Art. 124. Arbitrary detention. — Any public officer or employee who,
without legal grounds, detains a person, shall suffer;
1. The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision
correccional in its minimum period, if the detention has not exceeded
three days;
2. The penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum
periods, if the detention has continued more than three but not more
than fifteen days;
3. The penalty of prision mayor, if the detention has continued for more
than fifteen days but not more than six months; and
4. That of reclusion temporal, if the detention shall have exceeded six
months.
The commission of a crime, or violent insanity or any other ailment
requiring the compulsory confinement of the patient in a hospital, shall
be considered legal grounds for the detention of any person.
Art. 247. Death or physical injuries inflicted under exceptional
circumstances. — Any legally married person who having surprised his
spouse in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another person,
shall kill any of them or both of them in the act or immediately thereafter,
or shall inflict upon them any serious physical injury, shall suffer the
penalty of destierro.
If he shall inflict upon them physical injuries of any other kind, he shall
be exempt from punishment.
These rules shall be applicable, under the same circumstances, to
parents with respect to their daughters under eighteen years of age, and
their seducer, while the daughters are living with their parents.
Any person who shall promote or facilitate the prostitution of his wife or
daughter, or shall otherwise have consented to the infidelity of the other
spouse shall not be entitled to the benefits of this article.
Art. 280. Qualified trespass to dwelling. — Any private person who
shall enter the dwelling of another against the latter's will shall be
punished by arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
If the offense be committed by means of violence or intimidation, the
penalty shall be prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods
and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
The provisions of this article shall not be applicable to any person who
shall enter another's dwelling for the purpose of preventing some serious
harm to himself, the occupants of the dwelling or a third person, nor shall
it be applicable to any person who shall enter a dwelling for the purpose
of rendering some service to humanity or justice, nor to anyone who
shall enter cafes, taverns, inn and other public houses, while the same
are open.
Art. 332. Persons exempt from criminal liability. — No criminal, but
only civil liability, shall result from the commission of the crime of theft,
swindling or malicious mischief committed or caused mutually by the
following persons:
1. Spouses, ascendants and descendants, or relatives by affinity in the
same line.
2. The widowed spouse with respect to the property which belonged to
the deceased spouse before the same shall have passed into the
possession of another; and
3. Brothers and sisters and brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, if living
together.
The exemption established by this article shall not be applicable to
strangers participating in the commission of the crime.
Art. 344. Prosecution of the crimes of adultery, concubinage,
seduction, abduction, rape and acts of lasciviousness. — The
crimes of adultery and concubinage shall not be prosecuted except upon
a complaint filed by the offended spouse.
The offended party cannot institute criminal prosecution without
including both the guilty parties, if they are both alive, nor, in any case,
if he shall have consented or pardoned the offenders.
The offenses of seduction, abduction, rape or acts of lasciviousness,
shall not be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the offended
party or her parents, grandparents, or guardian, nor, in any case, if the
offender has been expressly pardoned by the above named persons, as
the case may be.
In cases of seduction, abduction, acts of lasciviousness and rape, the
marriage of the offender with the offended party shall extinguish the
criminal action or remit the penalty already imposed upon him. The
provisions of this paragraph shall also be applicable to the co-principals,
accomplices and accessories after the fact of the above-mentioned
crimes.
RA 9262 – BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME
SECTION 26. Battered Woman Syndrome as a Defense. – Victim-
survivors who are found by the courts to be suffering from battered
woman syndrome do not incur any criminal and civil liability
notwithstanding the absence of any of the elements for justifying
circumstances of self-defense under the Revised Penal Code.
ABSOLUTORY CAUSES
BATTERED WOMAN, DEFINED

Who is repeatedly subjected to any forceful physical or psychological

behavior by a man in order to coerce her to do something he wants her
to do without concern for her rights.

Battered woman includes:

(1) wives;

(2) women in any form on intimate relationship with men.

In order to be classified as a battered woman, the couple must go

through the battering cycle at least twice.

Cycle of violence:

(1) tension-building phase;

(2) acute battering incident;

(3) tranquil, loving phase.

RA 9344 – STATUS OF OFFENSES

SEC. 57. Status Offenses. – Any conduct not considered an offense or

not penalized if committed by an adult shall not be considered an offense
and shall not be punished if committed by a child.

SEC. 58. Offenses Not Applicable to Children. – Persons below

eighteen (18) years of age shall be exempt from prosecution for the
crime of vagrancy and prostitution under Section 202 of the Revised
Penal Code, of mendicancy under Presidential Decree No. 1563, and
sniffing of rugby under Presidential Decree No. 1619, such prosecution
being inconsistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child: Provided, That said persons shall undergo appropriate
counseling and treatment program.

(RA 9344 as Amended by RA 10630) – Violation of Local

Ordinances

SEC. 57. Status Offenses. - Any conduct not considered an offense or

not penalized if committed by an adult shall not' be considered an
offense and shall not be punished if committed by a child.

SEC. 57-A. Violations of Local Ordinances. - Ordinances enacted by

local governments concerning juvenile status offenses such as, but not
limited to, curfew violations, truancy, parental disobedience, anti-
smoking and anti-drinking laws, as well as light offenses and
misdemeanors against public order or safety such as, but not limited to,
disorderly conduct, public scandal, harassment, drunkenness, public
intoxication, criminal nuisance, vandalism, gambling, mendicancy,
littering, public urination, and trespassing, shall be for the protection of
children. No penalty shall be imposed on children for said violations, and
they shall instead be brought to their residence or to any barangay
official at the barangay hall to be released to the custody of their parents.
Appropriate intervention programs shall be provided for in such
ordinances. The child shall also be recorded as a 'child at risk' and not
as a 'child in conflict with the law'. The ordinance shall also provide for
intervention programs, such as counseling, attendance in group
activities for children, and for the parents, attendance in parenting
education seminars."