Comprehensive Review Notes on Philippine Criminal Law (Book Two, Revised Penal Code)

Crimes Against National Security and the Law of Nations

• Treason (Art. 114):

  • Offenders: Filipino citizens (anywhere) or permanent resident aliens residing in the Philippines.

  • Acts: Levying war against the Government or adhering to enemies, giving them aid or comfort during wartime.

  • Evidentiary Requirement (Two-Witness Rule): Testimony of at least two witnesses to the same overt act, or an open-court confession by the accused.

  • Penalties: Reclusion temporal to death and fine not exceeding $20,000$ pesos for citizens; prision mayor to death and fine not exceeding $20,000$ pesos for resident aliens.

• Conspiracy and Proposal to Commit Treason (Art. 115):

  • Punishable in wartime. Conspiracy carries prision mayor and fine up to $10,000$ pesos; proposal carries prision correccional and fine up to $5,000$ pesos.

• Misprision of Treason (Art. 116):

  • Failure by a citizen owing allegiance to promptly report known treasonous conspiracy to the provincial governor/fiscal or city mayor/fiscal. Punished as an accessory to treason.

• Espionage (Art. 117):

  • Entering unauthorized military/naval establishments to obtain confidential defense data, or disclosing such data held by reason of public office to a foreign representative. Penalty is prision correccional (higher if committed by a public officer).

• Inciting to War and Violation of Neutrality (Arts. 118–119):

  • Art. 118: Unlawful/unauthorized acts in peacetime provoking war or exposing citizens to reprisals (reclusion temporal for public officers, prision mayor for private individuals).

  • Art. 119: Violating government regulations enforcing declared neutrality in an external war (prision correccional).

• Correspondence and Flight to Enemy Country (Arts. 120–121):

  • Art. 120: Wartime correspondence with hostile country: prision correccional (if prohibited), prision mayor (in ciphers/signs), or reclusion temporal to death (if providing useful notice or aiding the enemy).

  • Art. 121: Attempted flight to an enemy country when prohibited by authority (arresto mayor).

• Piracy and Mutiny (Arts. 122–123):

  • Piracy (Art. 122): Attacking/seizing a vessel or cargo on the high seas or Philippine waters by persons who are strangers to the vessel (attack from outside with intent to gain).

  • Mutiny (Art. 122): Unlawful resistance or commotion raised by complement or passengers against the ship commander (attack from inside; intent to gain not required).

  • Qualified Piracy/Mutiny (Art. 123): Imposed with reclusion temporal to death if the vessel is seized by boarding or firing, if victims are abandoned without means of saving themselves, or if accompanied by murder, homicide, physical injuries, or rape.

Crimes Against Fundamental Laws of the State

• Arbitrary Detention (Art. 124):

  • Detention of a person without legal grounds (legal grounds: commission of a crime, violent insanity, or hospital-required ailments) by a public officer vested with arrest authority.

  • Penalties: Graduated based on duration (up to $3$ days; $>3$ to $15$ days; $>15$ days to $6$ months; $>6$ months).

• Delay in Delivery of Detained Persons (Art. 125):

  • Lawful warrantless arrest where the officer fails to deliver (file charges against) the detainee before judicial authorities within:

  • $12\text{ hours}$ (light offenses)

  • $18\text{ hours}$ (correctional offenses)

  • $36\text{ hours}$ (afflictive/capital offenses)

• Delaying Release and Expulsion (Arts. 126–127):

  • Art. 126: Undue delay in executing release orders or serving release petitions.

  • Art. 127: Unlawful expulsion of a person from the Philippines or compelling a change of residence (prision correccional).

• Violation of Domicile and Unlawful Searches (Arts. 128–130):

  • Art. 128: Public officer entering a dwelling without a judicial order against owner's will, searching effects without consent, or refusing to leave after surreptitious entry.

  • Art. 129: Procuring search warrants without just cause, or exceeding authority / using unnecessary severity in executing a legal warrant (warrants valid for $10\text{ days}$).

  • Art. 130: Searching a domicile under legal warrant in the absence of the owner, family members, or two local resident witnesses.

• Crimes Against Assembly and Religion (Arts. 131–133):

  • Art. 131: Public officer arbitrarily prohibiting, interrupting, or dissolving a peaceful meeting, lawful association, or petition for redress of grievances.

  • Art. 132: Public officer preventing or disturbing ceremonies of any religion (prision correccional in minimum period; medium/maximum if with violence/threats).

  • Art. 133: Any person performing acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful in a place of worship or during religious ceremonies (arresto mayor maximum to prision correccional minimum).

Crimes Against Public Order

• Rebellion and Coup d'Etat (Arts. 134–136):

  • Rebellion (Art. 134): Public uprising and taking up arms against the government to remove territory/armed forces from allegiance, or deprive the Executive/Congress of powers.

  • Coup d'Etat (Art. 134-A): Swift attack accompanied by violence, intimidation, threat, strategy, or stealth against authorities, military camps, utilities, or communication facilities to seize or diminish state power; committed by military, police, or public officers with or without civilian support.

  • Penalties (Art. 135): Reclusion perpetua for leaders/promoters of rebellion and coup leaders; reclusion temporal for rebellion participants; prision mayor maximum for government personnel in a coup; reclusion temporal maximum for civilian participants.

  • Conspiracy & Proposal (Art. 136): Punishable for rebellion and coup d'etat.

• Sedition (Arts. 139–142):

  • Sedition (Art. 139): Public and tumultuous uprising (more than 3 armed persons) employing force/intimidation for political or social ends outside legal methods (e.g., preventing execution of laws/elections, acts of hate/revenge against officers or social classes, despoiling property).

  • Penalties (Art. 140): Prision mayor minimum and fine up to $10,000$ pesos for leaders; prision correccional maximum and fine up to $5,000$ pesos for participants.

  • Conspiracy (Art. 141) & Inciting (Art. 142): Punished by separate statutory penalties.

• Crimes Against Popular Representation and Assemblies (Arts. 143–147):

  • Preventing legislative meetings (Art. 143), disturbing proceedings (Art. 144), and violating parliamentary immunity (Art. 145).

  • Illegal Assemblies (Art. 146): Meetings of armed persons to commit RPC crimes, or meetings where the audience is incited to treason, rebellion, sedition, or assault.

  • Illegal Associations (Art. 147): Organizing entities for purposes contrary to public morals or to commit RPC crimes.

• Assault, Disobedience, and Public Disorders (Arts. 148–160):

  • Direct Assault (Art. 148): Employing force/intimidation for rebellion/sedition ends without public uprising, or attacking/seriously resisting a person in authority or their agent in the line of duty.

  • Indirect Assault (Art. 149): Use of force/intimidation upon any person coming to the aid of an agent of authority.

  • Public Disorders (Arts. 153–155): Tumults (serious disturbance by >$3$ armed persons), unlawful utterances/false news endangering public order (Art. 154), alarms and scandals (Art. 155).

  • Evasion of Service of Sentence (Arts. 157–159): Escape by a final-judgment convict (Art. 157); leaving penal institution during calamities and failing to return within $48\text{ hours}$ after proclamation of passing of calamity incurs $1/5$ added penalty, not exceeding $6\text{ months}$ (Art. 158); violation of conditional pardon (Art. 159).

  • Quasi-Recidivism (Art. 160): Committing a new felony before serving or while serving sentence for a prior conviction; punishable by the maximum period prescribed for the new felony.

Crimes Against Public Interest

• Forging Seals, Currency, and Securities (Arts. 161–169):

  • Forging the Great Seal, President's signature, or stamp (Art. 161; reclusion temporal).

  • Counterfeiting, importing, and uttering false coins (Art. 163) or mutilated legal tender (Art. 164; repealed in part by PD 247).

  • Forging obligations, securities, treasury notes, or bank notes payable to bearer (Art. 166) or not payable to bearer (Art. 167).

• Falsification of Documents (Arts. 170–173):

  • Legislative Documents (Art. 170): Unauthorized alteration changing meaning.

  • By Public Officers/Notaries (Art. 171): Counterfeiting handwritings/signatures, simulating participation, untruthful narrations of facts, altering dates, or intercalating records while taking advantage of official position.

  • By Private Individuals (Art. 172): Falsifying public/commercial documents (damage not required); falsifying private documents (damage or intent to cause damage is required).

  • Wireless/Telegraph/Telephone (Art. 173): Falsifying or uttering fictitious dispatches.

• Other Falsifications, Perjury, and Frauds (Arts. 177–189):

  • Usurpation (Art. 177): Falsely representing an official or performing official functions without authority.

  • False Testimony (Arts. 180–182): False witness testimony in criminal cases (penalties tie to defendant's outcome) or civil cases.

  • Perjury (Art. 183): Willful and deliberate assertion of falsehood under oath/affidavit on a material matter before an authorized officer in cases required by law.

  • Machinations & Monopolies (Arts. 185–186): Bidding machinations at auctions (Art. 185); combinations and monopolies in restraint of trade, especially involving prime necessities (Art. 186).

  • Frauds in Commerce (Arts. 187–189): False marking of gold/silver (Art. 187), substituting trademarks (Art. 188), unfair competition, and fraudulent registration (Art. 189).

Dangerous Drugs and Crimes Against Public Morals

• Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972 (RA 6425, as amended):

  • Punishes importation, sale, administration, manufacture, cultivation, and possession of prohibited and regulated drugs.

  • Capital penalties (reclusion perpetua to death, fine of $500,000$ to $10,000,000$ pesos) apply to specific threshold quantities (e.g., $40\text{ g}$ opium/morphine/heroin/cocaine, $200\text{ g}$ shabu, $750\text{ g}$ Indian hemp, $50\text{ g}$ marijuana resin).

  • Mandatory maximum penalty if victim is a minor or drug causes death.

• Gambling and Betting (Arts. 195–199, PD 449, PD 483):

  • Unlawful lotteries, jueteng, unauthorized cockfighting (PD 449 allows licensed cockpits on Sundays, legal holidays, and local fiestas up to $3\text{ days}$), and sports game-fixing/point-shaving (PD 483).

• Offenses Against Decency and Customs (Arts. 200–202):

  • Grave Scandal (Art. 200): Highly scandalous conduct offending decency/good customs committed in public places or within public knowledge/view.

  • Immoral Doctrines & Obscene Exhibitions (Art. 201): Proclaiming immoral doctrines, obscene publications, or indecent shows.

  • Vagrancy and Prostitution (Art. 202): Loitering without visible means of support; women who habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct for money/profit.

Crimes Committed by Public Officers

• Dereliction of Duty (Arts. 204–209):

  • Judge knowingly rendering an unjust judgment (Art. 204; prision mayor and perpetual absolute disqualification) or through inexcusable negligence/ignorance (Art. 205).

  • Prevaricacion (Art. 208): Malicious tolerance or failure to prosecute violators of the law.

  • Betrayal of trust by attorneys/solicitors (Art. 209).

• Bribery and Corruption (Arts. 210–212, RA 3019):

  • Direct Bribery (Art. 210): Accepting gifts/promises to commit a crime, do an unjust act, or refrain from official duty.

  • Indirect Bribery (Art. 211): Accepting gifts offered by reason of office (no specific agreed act required).

  • Qualified Bribery: Law enforcement officer refraining from arresting an offender facing reclusion perpetua or death in consideration of a bribe.

  • Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019): Regulates corrupt practices, undue injury, unexplained wealth (Sec. 8), and prescribes within $15\text{ years}$.

• Plunder (RA 7080, as amended by RA 7659):

  • Accumulating ill-gotten wealth through a series or combination of overt criminal acts in an aggregate value of at least $50,000,000$ pesos. Prescribes in $20\text{ years}$.

• Malversation of Public Funds or Property (Arts. 217–222):

  • Art. 217: Accountable public officer appropriating, taking, or through negligence permitting others to take public funds/property. Failure to produce funds upon demand constitutes prima facie evidence of personal use.

  • Technical Malversation (Art. 220): Applying appropriated public funds to another public use without authorization.

• Infidelity of Public Officers (Arts. 223–230):

  • Conniving with or consenting to prisoner evasion (Art. 223) or evasion through negligence (Art. 224).

  • Infidelity in custody of documents (Art. 226), breaking seals (Art. 227), opening closed documents (Art. 228), and revelation of secrets (Arts. 229–230).

• Other Irregularities (Arts. 231–245):

  • Open disobedience (Art. 231), maltreatment of prisoners (Art. 235), anticipation (Art. 236) / prolongation (Art. 237) / abandonment of office (Art. 238), usurpation of legislative/executive/judicial powers (Arts. 239–241), and abuses against chastity (Art. 245).

Crimes Against Persons

• Destruction of Life (Arts. 246–254):

  • Parricide (Art. 246): Killing one's father, mother, child (legitimate/illegitimate), legitimate ascendant/descendant, or legitimate spouse (reclusion perpetua to death).

  • Death/Injuries under Exceptional Circumstances (Art. 247): Legally married spouse or parent killing or inflicting serious injury upon spouse/daughter (<$18\text{ years}$) and paramour/seducer caught in the act of sexual intercourse suffers only destierro.

  • Murder (Art. 248): Unlawful killing attended by treachery, price/reward, inundation/fire/explosives, evident premeditation, cruelty, or taking advantage of superior strength (reclusion temporal maximum to death).

  • Homicide (Art. 249): Unlawful killing lacking parricide, infanticide, or murder qualifications (reclusion temporal).

  • Tumultuous Affray (Arts. 251–252): Deaths or physical injuries occurring during confused, non-organized fights among at least 4 persons where the specific killer cannot be determined.

• Infanticide and Abortion (Arts. 255–259):

  • Infanticide (Art. 255): Killing a child less than three days ($72\text{ hours}$) old.

  • Abortion (Arts. 256–259): Intentional abortion with violence or without consent (Art. 256), unintentional abortion through violence (Art. 257), abortion practiced by the woman herself (Art. 258), or by physicians/midwives/pharmacists (Art. 259).

• Physical Injuries (Arts. 262–266):

  • Mutilation (Art. 262): Deliberate castration or mayhem.

  • Serious (Art. 263): Resulting in insanity, loss of principal member/speech/sight/hearing, incapacity for labor for >$90\text{ days}$ or >$30\text{ days}$.

  • Less Serious (Art. 265): Incapacitation or medical attendance for $10\text{ to }30\text{ days}$.

  • Slight (Art. 266): Incapacitation or medical attendance for $1\text{ to }9\text{ days}$, or ill-treatment by deed without injury.

• Rape (RA 8353 / Anti-Rape Law of 1997):

  • Reclassified under Crimes Against Persons.

  • Carnal knowledge by force, threat, intimidation, when the victim is unconscious, or under $12\text{ years}$ old; or sexual assault by penetration of mouth/orifice with penis or instruments.

  • Death penalty applies if accompanied by homicide, victim under $7\text{ years}$, or committed by relatives within the specified degrees.

Crimes Against Personal Liberty and Security

• Kidnapping and Illegal Detention (Arts. 267–274):

  • Kidnapping & Serious Illegal Detention (Art. 267): Private individual detaining another for >$5\text{ days}$, simulating public authority, inflicting serious injuries/death threats, or where victim is a minor, female, or public officer; or extorting ransom (punished by reclusion perpetua to death).

  • Slight Illegal Detention (Art. 268): Lacking qualifying circumstances; mitigated if voluntarily released within $3\text{ days}$ prior to prosecution without achieving purpose.

  • Unlawful Arrest (Art. 269): Arresting another without legal authority to turn them over to authorities.

  • Kidnapping/Exploitation of Minors (Arts. 270–273): Deliberate failure to restore minors, inducing abandonment of home, slavery, and child labor exploitation.

• Abandonment and Trespass (Arts. 275–281):

  • Failing to render aid to wounded/endangered persons in uninhabited places, or abandoning children under $7\text{ years}$ (Arts. 275–277).

  • Qualified Trespass to Dwelling (Art. 280): Private person entering dwelling against owner's will (arresto mayor; prision correccional if with violence/intimidation).

• Threats, Coercion, and Secrets (Arts. 282–292):

  • Grave Threats (Art. 282): Threatening to inflict a crime upon person, honor, or property with/without condition.

  • Grave Coercions (Art. 286): Preventing another by violence from doing what is not unlawful, or compelling them against their will.

  • Revelation of Secrets (Arts. 290–292): Unlawful seizure of correspondence (Art. 290) or leaking industrial secrets (Art. 292).

Crimes Against Property

• Robbery (Arts. 293–305):

  • Taking personal property of another with intent to gain by means of violence/intimidation against persons, or force upon things.

  • Special Complex Crimes (Art. 294): Robbery with Homicide (reclusion perpetua to death); Robbery with Rape; Robbery with Mutilation or Serious Physical Injuries.

  • Robbery by Band (Art. 296): More than $3$ armed malefactors; all members presumed liable for assaults committed by the band.

  • Force Upon Things (Arts. 299, 302): Unlawful entry into inhabited houses/public buildings (Art. 299) or uninhabited places (Art. 302) via openings not intended for ingress, breaking walls/doors, using picklocks/false keys, or breaking locked receptacles.

• Brigandage (Arts. 306–307): Band of more than $3$ armed persons organized for highway robbery or kidnapping for ransom.

• Theft (Arts. 308–311):

  • Unlawful taking of personal property with intent to gain without violence, intimidation, or force upon things; includes failure to deliver lost property.

  • Qualified Theft (Art. 310): Higher by two degrees if committed by a domestic servant, with grave abuse of confidence, or stealing motor vehicles, mail matter, large cattle, coconuts from plantations, or fish from fishponds.

• Swindling / Estafa (Arts. 315–318):

  • Defrauding another with unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence (misappropriating property held in trust), or by deceit and false pretenses (fictitious names, post-dating bouncing checks, inducing execution of documents).

  • Bouncing Checks (BP 22): Making, drawing, and issuing dishonored checks.

• Arson and Destructions (Arts. 320–326):

  • Destructive Arson (Art. 320) and other forms (Art. 321, PD 1613) based on property type, habitation, and value.

• Malicious Mischief (Arts. 327–331):

  • Willfully damaging another's property purely for the sake of damaging it due to hate, revenge, or other evil motive (not arson or incidental to robbery).

• Exemption from Criminal Liability (Art. 332):

  • Only civil liability results for theft, swindling, or malicious mischief committed mutually between spouses, ascendants, descendants, relatives by affinity in the same line, widowed spouses (before property passes to others), and cohabiting brothers/sisters and brothers/sisters-in-law.

Crimes Against Chastity, Civil Status, Honor, and Quasi-Offenses

• Crimes Against Chastity (Arts. 333–346):

  • Adultery (Art. 333): Married woman having sexual intercourse with a man not her husband, and the man knowing her to be married.

  • Concubinage (Art. 334): Husband keeping a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, having scandalous sexual intercourse, or cohabiting elsewhere.

  • Seduction (Arts. 337–338): Qualified seduction of a virgin ($12\text{ to }18\text{ years}$) by persons in authority, teachers, priests, or domestics; simple seduction by deceit.

  • Abduction (Arts. 342–343): Forcible (against will, with lewd designs) or Consented (virgin $12\text{ to }18\text{ years}$, with lewd designs).

  • Prosecution (Art. 344): Requires complaint by the offended spouse or victim/family; subsequent marriage between parties extinguishes criminal action.

• Crimes Against Civil Status (Arts. 347–352):

  • Simulation of births and substitution of children (Art. 347), usurpation of civil status (Art. 348).

  • Bigamy (Art. 349): Contracting a second or subsequent marriage before legal dissolution of a former marriage or before judicial declaration of presumptive death of an absent spouse.

  • Premature Marriages (Art. 351): Widow marrying within $301\text{ days}$ from her husband's death or before delivery if pregnant.

• Crimes Against Honor (Arts. 353–364, RA 4200):

  • Libel (Art. 353): Public and malicious imputation of a crime, vice, or defect tending to cause dishonor or contempt of a natural/juridical person, or blacken the memory of the dead.

  • Privileged Communications (Art. 354): Private communication in performance of legal/moral duty, or fair/true reports of official non-confidential proceedings without commentary.

  • Slander (Art. 358) & Slander by Deed (Art. 359): Oral defamation and acts casting dishonor/contempt in the presence of others.

  • Anti-WireTapping Act (RA 4200): Prohibits unauthorized wiretapping, overhearing, or recording of private spoken communications.

• Criminal Negligence and Quasi-Offenses (Art. 365):

  • Reckless Imprudence: Voluntary act or omission without malice resulting in material damage through inexcusable lack of precaution.

  • Simple Imprudence: Lack of precaution where the impending damage is not immediate or danger is not clearly manifest.

  • Emergency Rule & Last Clear Chance: Emergency rule protects drivers acting under sudden peril not of their own making; contributory negligence of the victim does not bar prosecution but only mitigates liability.