DEFENSES AGAINST PHYSICAL INJURIES

I. Article 11 of the Revised Penal Code (Justifying Circumstances)

a. Self-defense
b. Defense of Relatives
c. In Aid of Third Persons (Strangers)
d. State of Necessity (Avoidance of Greater Evil)
e. Fulfillment of Duty or Lawful Exercise of Right or Office
f. Defense of Honor
II. Article 12 of the Revised Penal Code (Exempting Circumstances)
a. Insanity or Imbecility
b. Minority; Without Discernment
c. Accident
d. Irresistible Force
e. Uncontrollable Fear
f. Insuperable or Lawful Cause
III. Battered Woman Syndrome

I. JUSTIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES

Article 11. Justifying circumstances. - The following do not incur any criminal liability:
1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights, provided that the following circumstances
concur;
First. Unlawful aggression.
Second. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it.
Third. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself.
2. Any one who acts in defense of the person or rights of his spouse, ascendants, descendants, or
legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or sisters, or his relatives by affinity in the same degrees and
those consanguinity within the fourth civil degree, provided that the first and second requisites
prescribed in the next preceding circumstance are present, and the further requisite, in case the
revocation was given by the person attacked, that the one making defense had no part therein.
3. Anyone who acts in defense of the person or rights of a stranger, provided that the first and second
requisites mentioned in the first circumstance of this Article are present and that 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;
First. That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists;
Second. That the injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it;
Third. 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.

DEFENSE OF A STRANGER
Stranger - Any person not included in the enumeration of relatives under [par. 2 of Art. 11]
Requisites:
 1. Unlawful Aggression
2. Reasonable necessity of means employed
3. Person defending was not induced by revenge, resentment or other evil motive (motive is relevant
only in this kind of defense)
Basis - What one may do in his defense, another may do for him. The ordinary man would not stand idly by
and see his companion killed without attempting to save his life

Scenarios/Examples from Revised Penal Code Made Easy Book I by Justice Rodolfo Palattao:
o A, seeing his 78-year old neighbor, B, held down on the ground by a strong young man, X, gave a
weapon to A which A used to inflict a mortal wound to X. B is entitled to the claim of defense of
strangers.
o A was inside a jeep going to Divisoria when held up by B of his watch and other valuables. When A
discovered B was alone, he decided to fight him. B drew an icepick and was about to stab A when C
helped by pushing B outside the jeep. C incurs NO CRIMINAL LIABILITY.
o A woman was on board a bus when a male passenger accosted her. The man accused her of
infidelity and slapped the woman. Finally, the man grabbed her bad claiming that the money was
owned by the family. A woman helped and sprayed acid to the man’s face. The man turned out to
be a robber. The woman who helped incurs no criminal liability.

DEFENSE OF HONOR
We are convinced from a study of the record that the deceased did in fact grab hold of the
defendant on the night in question, and whether he intended to rape her or not, taking into consideration
that it was a dark night and that the deceased grabbed her from behind without warning and without
making himself known and refused to say who he was, and in the struggle that followed touched her private
parts, and the fact that she was unable to free herself by means of her strength alone, we are of the opinion
that she was justified in making use of the pocket-knife in repelling what she believed to be an attack upon
her honor, since she had no other means of defending herself.
In the case of the United States vs. Ana and Ramos (22 Phil., 249), this court held that a woman
in defense of her honor is justified in inflicting wounds on her assailant with a bolo which she happens to
be carrying, even though her cry for assistance might have been heard by people near by.||| (People v. De la
Cruz, G.R. No. 41674, [March 30, 1935], 61 PHIL 344-350)

CRIMINAL LAW; ATTEMPTED RAPE; SELF-DEFENSE; DEFENSE OF HONOR. — Aside from the right to
life on which rests the legitimate defense of our person, we have the right to property acquired by us, and
the right to honor which is not the least prized of our patrimony. (1 Viada, 172, 173, 5th edition.)||| (People v.
Luague, G.R. No. 43588, [November 7, 1935], 62 PHIL 504-512)

II. EXEMPTING CIRUMSTANCES

Article 12. Circumstances which exempt from criminal liability. - the following are exempt from criminal
liability:

1. An imbecile or an insane person, unless the latter has acted during a lucid interval.
 When the imbecile or an insane person has committed an act which the law defines as a felony
(delito), the court shall order his confinement in one of the hospitals or asylums established for
persons thus afflicted, which he shall not be permitted to leave without first obtaining the
permission of the same court.

2. A person under nine years of age.

3. A person over nine years of age and under fifteen, unless he has acted with discernment, in
which case, such minor shall be proceeded against in accordance with the provisions of Art. 80 of
this Code.

When such minor is adjudged to be criminally irresponsible, the court, in conformably with the
provisions of this and the preceding paragraph, shall commit him to the care and custody of his
family who shall be charged with his surveillance and education otherwise, he shall be committed
to the care of some institution or person mentioned in said Art. 80.

4. Any person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes an injury by mere accident
without fault or intention of causing it.

5. Any person who act under the compulsion of irresistible force.

6. Any person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury.

7. Any person who fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by some lawful
insuperable cause.

III. BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME

Sec. 26, RA 9262. 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.

In the determination of the state of mind of the woman who was suffering from battered woman syndrome
at the time of the commission of the crime, the courts shall be assisted by expert psychiatrists/
psychologists.