1. How does a person incur criminal liability?

Answer:

Art. 4 of the RPC states that criminal liability shall be incurred:

1.) by any person committing a felony (delito) although the wrongful act be
different from that which he intended.

= “committing a felony” not merely performing an act

= felony – an act or omission punishable by the Revised Penal Code
- if the act is not punishable by the Revised Penal Code then it is
not a felony
- felony should be one committed by the means of dolo, that is,
with malice, because paragraph 1 of Art. 4 speaks of wrongful act
done “different from that which he intended.”
= The act or omission should not be punishable by a special law, because the
offender violating a special law may not have the intent to do an injury to
another
= when a person has not committed a felony, he is not criminally liable for the
result which is not intended.

= “Although the wrongful act done be different from that which he intended”
- mistake in the identity of the victim
- mistake in the blow, that is, when the offender intending to do
an injury to one person actually inflicts it on another;
- act exceeds the intent, that is, the injurious result is greater than
that intended

2.) by any person performing an act which would be an offense against person or
property, were it not for the inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or on
account of the employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.

2. How does the court determine the liability of the accused?

Answer:

Nature of Participation >

Art. 17. Principals

1.) Those who take a direct part in the execution of the act;

2.) Those who directly force or induce others to commit it;

3.) Those who cooperate in the commission of the offense by another act without
which it would not have been accomplished

Art. 18. Accomplices

• Are the persons, who not being included in Article 17, cooperate in
the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts

Art. 19. 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 principal 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

Stages Reached >

Art. 6. Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies.

• Consummated felonies
= as well as those which are frustrated and attempted, are
punishable.
= when all the elements necessary for its execution and
accomplishment are present;

• Frustrated felonies
= 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.

3. Justifying Circumstances;

Answer:

Art. 11. Justifying circumstances

• The following do not incur any criminal liability:
1.) Defense of Self:

= Unlawful aggression.
= Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it.
= Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending
himself.

2.) Defense of Relative:

= Unlawful aggression.
= Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it.
= in case the revocation was given by the person attacked, that the one
making defense had no part therein.

3.) Defense of Stranger

= Unlawful aggression.
= Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it.
= the person defending be not induced by revenge, resentment, or other
evil motive.

4.) Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or injury, does not act which causes
damage to another, provided that the following requisites are present;
 = That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists;
= That the injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it;
= That there be no other practical and less harmful means of preventing it.

5.) Any person who acts in the fulfillment of a duty or in the lawful exercise of a
right or office.

6.) Any person who acts in obedience to an order issued by a superior for some
lawful purpose.

4. Quantum of evidence;
For the police what is the quantum of evidence required to file a case in the
municipal courts?
- probable cause
For the prosecutor to file a case in the higher court?
- prima facie evidence
For the Judge to condemn an accused?
- evidence beyond reasonable doubt

5. Why justifying and exempting circumstances are considered internationally

accepted principles?

Answer:

- The law on self-defense embodied in any penal system in the civilized world
finds justification in man’s natural instinct to protect, repel and save his person or rights
from impending danger or peril;
- it is based on this impulse of self preservation

6. Pillars of the Criminal Justice System?

- Police
- Prosecutor
- Court
- Correctional
- Community

Additional notes/questions

• Is conspiracy a punishable act?

According to sir Akong:
- only crimes described by law are punishable
- not a punishable act until it affects the economy of the country
- conspiracy = applies to felonies
- should involve the very security of the state

• Different qualification of penalties/felonies?

[From Amurao notes]
- Grave Felonies = those that the law attaches the capital punishment or
penalties that are afflictive based on Article 25 of the RPC
= Afflictive Penalties [D,RP,RT,PM]:
> Death
> Reclusion Perpetua
> Reclusion Temporal
> Prison Mayor

- Less Grave = those that the law punishes with penalties whose
maximum periods are correctional
= Correctional Penalties [PC, AM, S,D]:
> Prison Correccional
> Arresto Mayor
 > Suspension
> Destierro

- Light Felonies = Infractions of law that are punishable by arresto menor or

fines
= Light Penalties
> Arresto Menor
> Fines
> Public Censure

• Exempting Circumstance
- a circumstance if present during the commission of the crime will free the accused from
criminal liability
- burden of proof to prove the existence of an exempting circumstance: lies with the
defense
1. Imbecility – one who is deprived completely of reason discernment and
freedom of will when committing a crime; exempted in all cases
2. Insanity - not so exempt because during a lucid interval, the person can act
with intelligence
3. Minority
4. Accident - basis of exemption is absence of intent
5. Compulsion of Irresistible force
– basis of exemption is absence of freedom
6. involves the use of violence or physical force to compel
7. Impulse of an uncontrollable force
– Presupposes intimidation, threat, not force of violence
8. involves the use of threat or intimidation to compel

Justifying Exempting
There is neither a crime nor a criminal There is a crime but there is no criminal
The act is justified and the actor is not The act is not justified but the person is not
criminally liable criminally liable
There is no civil liability except in There is civil liability except in Paragraphs
paragraph 4 4 and 7

• Instigation
- is an illegal act because the public officer plants the seed of criminality in the
mind of the person or offender (Amurao)
- the public officer induces an innocent person to commit the crime which the
public officer conceived (Reyes)

• Entrapment
- is a legal act because the purpose is to capture or trap the lawbreaker

• Is there such a thing as victimless crimes?

- gambling