Art. 44.

The following are juridical persons:

(1) The State and its political subdivisions;
(2) Other corporations, institutions and entities for public interest or purpose, created by
law; their personality begins as soon as they have been constituted according to law;
(3) Corporations, partnerships and associations for private interest or purpose to which the
law grants a juridical personality, separate and distinct from that of each shareholder,
partner or member. (35a)
II. Principles of Criminal Liability
A. To be guilty of a crime, one must commit the crime himself (principal) or if
committed by another, he must, in some manner, participate either in its
commission ( accomplice) or in the fruits thereof ( accessory).
B. As a rule only natural persons who are alive can beheld criminally liable. The
reasons are: (i) The element of mens rea can only be found in natural persons:
malice in intentional felonies and indifference in culpable felonies are attributes
of natural persons (ii) juridical persons cannot be arrested (iii) the principal
penalties consisting of deprivation of life or of liberty, restriction of liberty,
deprivation of rights, and the accessory penalties of disqualification, cannot be
served by juridical persons.
C. When may a juridical entity be held criminally liable? A juridical
entity may be prosecuted and held liable if the offense is punishable by
a fine.
D. For what acts may a juridical person be held liable?
1. For acts committed by its responsible officers, policy makers or those having
charge of the management and operation of the entity.
2. A corporation also incurs criminal liability for the acts of its employees or
agents if (i) the employee or agent committed the offense while acting within the
scope of his employment and (ii) the offense was committed with at least an
intent to benefit the employer ( PP. vs. Chowderry, 235 SCRA 572)
E. Who are liable if the violation was made by a juridical entity? Per
Ching vs. Secretary of Justice ( Feb. 06, 2006) the principles maybe
summarized as follows
1. The juridical entity itself where the penalty is one which can properly be
imposed on it, such as fine or revocation of license

2. The officers, employees or agents who actually executed the prohibited act or
incurred the omission
Example: LLamado vs. CA ( 270 SCRA 423) it was held that even if the officer
of the corporation had no involvement in the negotiation of the transaction for
which he, as treasurer of the corporation, issued a postdated check which
bounced, he is liable for Violation of B.P. 22
3. The person specifically mentioned by law violated to be held liable. Examples:
a). Section 8 of R.A. 8042 (Migrant and Overseas Filipino Act of l995) provides:
In cases of juridical persons the offices having control, management, and
direction of their business shall be held liable
b). P.D. 1612 (Anti Gambling Law) provides that the President shall be liable if
gambling is carried on by a juridical entity
c). In case of libel under Art. 360 the persons liable shall be the editor of a book
or pamphlet, business manager of a daily newspaper, magazine or serial
publication
4. a). An employee or officer even if not among those enumerated by the law
violated, if, with knowledge of the illegal act/business, he consciously contributes
his efforts to its conduct or promotion ( PP. vs. Chowderry)
b). The culpability of the employee hinges on his knowledge of the offense and
his active participation on its commission. Where it is shown that the employee
was merely acting under the direction of his superiors and was unaware that his
acts constituted a crime, he may not be held criminally liable for an act done for
and in behalf of his employer ( PP. vs. Corpuz, October 1, 2003)
5. Those who, by virtue of their managerial position or similar relations to the
corporation could be deemed responsible for its commission, if by virtue of their
relations to the corporation, they had the power to prevent the act
F. Where the act is a violation by a juridical entity, the officers or
employee cannot put up the following defenses:
1. It is no defense that he did not benefit from the act
2. The accused cannot hide behind the principle of separate corporate
personality of the juridical entity in order to escape liability
G. A person cannot escape punishment when he participates in the
commission of a crime on the ground that he simply acted as an agent
or representative of a party
H. Criminally liability is purely personal and is limited to the acts/omissions of an
accused and not for the acts or omissions of third persons ( res inter alios acta
rule). Except when there exists a conspiracy between two or more
persons where the act of one becomes the act of all resulting to a joint
criminal responsibility or collective liability.

Criminal liability is generally personal to the miscreant. Nonparticipating copartners are

ordinarily not liable for crimes if guilty intent is an element. When guilty intent is not an
element, as in certain regulatory offenses, all partners may be guilty of an act committed by a
partner in the course of the business.