Revised Penal Code of the Philippines

Felonies: definitions and criminal liability rules

Acts and omissions punishable by law are felonies (Article 3).
Felonies may be committed by deceit or by fault (Article 3).
There is deceit when the act is performed with deliberate intent (Article 3).
There is fault when the wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skill (Article 3).
Criminal liability is incurred by:
- any person committing a felony although the wrongful act done is different from that which he intended (Article 4); and
- any person performing an act which would be an offense against persons or property were it not for (i) inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or (ii) the employment of inadequate or ineffectual means (Article 4).
Courts must act when an act should be repressed but is not punishable by law: the court renders the proper decision and reports to the Chief Executive through the Department of Justice the reasons for penal legislation (Article 5).
Courts must also report when strict enforcement of the Code would result in a clearly excessive penalty, taking into account the degree of malice and the injury caused, without suspending sentence execution (Article 5).

Stage of execution; conspiracy and classification

Consummated, frustrated, and attempted felonies are punishable (Article 6).
A felony is consummated when all elements necessary for its execution and accomplishment are present (Article 6).
A felony is frustrated when the offender performs all acts of execution that would produce the felony as a consequence but it does not occur by causes independent of the will of the perpetrator (Article 6).
There is attempt when the offender commences commission of the felony directly by overt acts and does not perform all acts of execution due to a cause or accident other than his spontaneous desistance (Article 6).
Light felonies are punishable only when consummated, except those committed against persons or property (Article 7).
Conspiracy and proposal to commit felony are punishable only when the law specially provides a penalty therefor (Article 8).
A conspiracy exists when two or more persons agree to commit a felony and decide to commit it (Article 8).
Proposal exists when a person who decided to commit a felony proposes its execution to another person or persons (Article 8).
Felonies are classified as:
- Grave felonies: those where the law attaches capital punishment or afflictive penalties in any of their periods, consistent with Article 25 (Article 9);
- Less grave felonies: those where the law punishes with penalties whose maximum period is correctional, consistent with Article 25 (Article 9);
- Light felonies: infractions where the penalty of arresto menor, or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both, is provided (Article 9).
Offenses punishable under special laws are not governed by the Code’s provisions, and the Code is supplementary unless the special law specially provides the contrary (Article 10).

Justifying circumstances: complete absence of liability

A person incurs no criminal liability when acting in defense of his person or rights, if all requisites concur:
- unlawful aggression;
- reasonable necessity of means employed to prevent or repel it; and
- lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself (Article 11).
A person also has no criminal liability when defending the person or rights of specified relatives (spouse, ascendants, descendants, legitimate/natural/adopted brothers and sisters, relatives by affinity in the same degrees, and consanguinity within the fourth civil degree) if the first and second requisites above are present, and if the provocation was given by the person attacked, the defender had no part in it (Article 11).
A person acting in defense of a stranger incurs no criminal liability if the first and second requisites are present and the defender is not induced by revenge, resentment, or other evil motive (Article 11).
No criminal liability attaches to a person who, to avoid an evil or injury, does an act causing damage to another, if all requisites concur:
- the evil sought to be avoided actually exists;
- the injury feared is greater than that done to avoid it; and
- there is no other practical and less harmful means of preventing it (Article 11).
No criminal liability attaches to any person acting in:
- fulfillment of a duty, or
- the lawful exercise of a right or office (Article 11).
No criminal liability attaches to any person acting in obedience to an order issued by a superior for a lawful purpose (Article 11).

Exempting circumstances: personal incapacity or excuse

The following are exempt from criminal liability (Article 12):
- an imbecile or an insane person, unless the insane person acted during a lucid interval;
- a person under nine years of age;
- a person over nine years of age and under fifteen, unless the child acted with discernment (and if discernment exists, the minor is proceeded against under Article 80) (Article 12);
- a person who, while performing a lawful act with due care, causes injury by mere accident without fault or intention (Article 12);
- a person who acts under compulsion of an irresistible force (Article 12);
- a person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury (Article 12);
- a person who fails to perform an act required by law when prevented by some lawful or insuperable cause (Article 12).
When an imbecile or insane person commits an act defined as a felony, the court orders confinement in hospitals or asylums for such persons, and the person is not permitted to leave without the court’s permission (Article 12).
For a minor under fifteen who is adjudged criminally irresponsible, the court commits the minor to the care and custody of his family, charging them with surveillance and education; otherwise, the minor is committed to the institution or person mentioned in Article 80 (Article 12).

Mitigation and aggravation of liability

Mitigating circumstances include (Article 13):
- justification or exemption circumstances not fully present such that all requisites for justification or exemption are not attendant;
- the offender is under eighteen years of age or over seventy years of age (and in the case of the minor, the case proceeds under Article 80);
- lack of intention to commit so grave a wrong as that committed;
- sufficient provocation or threat immediately preceding the act;
- vindication in immediate response to a grave offense committed against specified persons (the one committing the felony, his spouse, ascendants, descendants, legitimate/natural/adopted brothers or sisters, or affinity relatives within the same degrees);
- impulse so powerful as naturally to produce passion or obfuscation;
- voluntary surrender to a person in authority or his agents, or voluntary confession before presentation of prosecution evidence;
- deaf and dumb, blind, or other physical defects restricting means of action, defense, or communication;
- illness diminishing exercise of will-power without depriving consciousness of acts;
- any other circumstance of similar nature and analogous to the listed items.
Aggravating circumstances include (Article 14):
- advantage taken of the offender’s public position;
- contempt of or insult to public authorities;
- insult or disregard of respect due to the offended party due to rank, age, or sex, or commission in the offended party’s dwelling if no provocation was given;
- abuse of confidence or obvious ungratefulness;
- commission in the palace of the Chief Executive, in his presence, where public authorities are engaged in discharge of duties, or in a place dedicated to religious worship;
- commission in night time, in an uninhabited place, or by a band whenever these facilitate commission, and whenever more than three armed malefactors act together, the crime is deemed committed by a band;
- commission on the occasion of a conflagration, shipwreck, earthquake, epidemic, or other calamity or misfortune;
- commission with the aid of armed men or persons who insure or afford impunity;
- the accused is a recidivist, defined as previously convicted by final judgment of another crime embraced in the same title of the Code at the time of trial;
- prior punishment for an offense with equal or greater penalty, or two or more crimes with lighter penalties;
- commission in consideration of a price, reward, or promise;
- use of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, stranding of a vessel or intentional damage thereto, derailment of a locomotive, or other artifice involving great waste and ruin;
- evident premeditation;
- craft, fraud, or disguise;
- advantage of superior strength or means to weaken defense;
- treachery (alevosia) defined when means/methods/forms tend directly and specially to insure execution without risk to the offender from defense the offended party might make;
- means or circumstances adding ignominy to natural effects of the act;
- commission after an unlawful entry, where an entrance is effected by a way not intended for the purpose;
- breaking a wall, roof, floor, door, or window as a means to commit the crime;
- aid of persons under fifteen years of age or by means of motor vehicles, airships, or similar means;
- deliberate augmentation of wrong by causing other wrong not necessary for commission.
Alternative circumstances are taken as aggravating or mitigating depending on nature and effects: relationship, intoxication, and degree of instruction and education (Article 15).
Relationship is considered when the offended party is the spouse, ascendant, descendant, legitimate/natural/adopted brother or sister, or relative by affinity within the same degrees of the offender (Article 15).
Intoxication is mitigating when the felony is committed in a state of intoxication if not habitual or subsequent to the plan; habitual or intentional intoxication is aggravating (Article 15).

Who is liable: principals, accomplices, accessories

Criminal liability attaches to:
- principals, accomplices, and accessories for grave and less grave felonies;
- principals and accomplices for light felonies (Article 16).
Principals are:
- those who take direct part in execution;
- those who directly force or induce others to commit it;
- those who cooperate in commission by another act without which it would not have been accomplished (Article 17).
Accomplices are those who, not being principals, cooperate in execution by previous or simultaneous acts (Article 18).
Accessories are those who, knowing commission of the crime and without participating as principal or accomplice, take part subsequent to commission by:
- profiting themselves or assisting offenders to profit by effects;
- concealing or destroying body of the crime, or effects or instruments to prevent discovery;
- harboring, concealing, or assisting escape of the principal, provided the accessory acts with abuse of public functions, or whenever the principal is guilty of treason, parricide, murder, or attempt to take the life of the Chief Executive, or is known to be habitually guilty of some other crime (Article 19).
Accessory penalties are not imposed on accessories with respect to certain relatives of the accessory, with a single exception for accessories falling within paragraph 1 of Article 19 (Article 20).

Penalties: legality, retroactivity, pardon, classifications

No felony is punishable by any penalty not prescribed by law prior to its commission (Article 21).
Penal laws are retroactive when they favor the person guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal, even if a final sentence has been pronounced and the convict is serving it (Article 22).
Pardon by the offended party does not extinguish criminal action except as provided in Article 344; civil liability regarding the injured party’s interest is extinguished by the injured party’s express waiver (Article 23).
The following are not considered penalties (Article 24):
- arrest and temporary detention of accused persons, including detention due to insanity or imbecility or illness requiring hospital confinement;
- commitment of a minor to institutions mentioned in Article 80 for specified purposes;
- suspension from employment or public office during trial or to institute proceedings;
- fines and corrective measures superior officials impose on subordinates in administrative/disciplinary powers;
- deprivation of rights and reparations civil laws establish in penal form.
Penalties may be capital punishment, afflictive, correctional, light, and other classes, with accessory penalties including those listed in Article 25 (Article 25).
The fine is classified based on its amount (Article 26):
- afflictive if it exceeds PHP 6,000;
- correctional if it does not exceed PHP 6,000 but is not less than PHP 200;
- light if it is less than PHP 200.

Duration, computation, crediting preventive imprisonment

Reclusion perpetua: a person sentenced to any perpetual penalty is pardoned after undergoing thirty years, unless the Chief Executive considers the person unworthy of pardon based on conduct or serious cause (Article 27).
Reclusion temporal is from twelve years and one day to twenty years (Article 27).
Prision mayor and temporary disqualification last from six years and one day to twelve years, except temporary disqualification imposed as an accessory has duration of the principal penalty (Article 27).
Prision correccional, suspension, and destierro last from six months and one day to six years, except suspension as an accessory has duration of the principal penalty (Article 27).
Arresto mayor lasts from one month and one day to six months (Article 27).
Arresto menor lasts from one day to thirty days (Article 27).
A bond to keep the peace is required for such period as the court determines (Article 27).
Computation of penalties:
- if the offender is in prison, temporary penalties are computed from the day the conviction judgment becomes final (Article 28);
- if not in prison, deprivation of liberty penalties are computed from the day the offender is placed at the disposal of judicial authorities (Article 28);
- other penalties are computed from the day the defendant commences to serve his sentence (Article 28).
Credit for preventive imprisonment: offenders credited with one-half of preventive imprisonment time, with exceptions (Article 29):
- no credit if recidivists or previously convicted twice or more of any crime;
- no credit if, upon being summoned for execution, they failed to surrender voluntarily;
- no credit if convicted of robbery, theft, estafa, malversation of public funds, falsification, vagrancy, or prostitution.

Effects of principal penalties; bond; pardon limits

Perpetual or temporary absolute disqualification produces effects including deprivation of public offices, deprivation of the right to vote or be elected to any popular elective office, disqualification for offices/public employment and related rights, lasting as specified for temporary disqualification, and loss of retirement pay or pension for the office formerly held (Article 30).
Perpetual or temporary special disqualification for public office, profession, or calling deprives the affected office/employment/profession/calling and disqualifies the offender from holding similar ones for the duration stated (Article 31).
Perpetual or temporary special disqualification for exercise of suffrage deprives the offender of the right to vote in any popular election or to be elected to such office perpetually or during the sentence, and the offender cannot hold any public office during disqualification (Article 32).
Suspension from public office/profession/calling and from suffrage disqualifies the offender from holding/ exercising the office/profession/calling or right during the sentence, and a suspended public officer cannot hold another similar function during the period (Article 33).
Civil interdiction deprives the offender during sentence of parental authority or guardianship rights (person or property of any ward), marital authority, right to manage property, and right to dispose of property by act or inter vivos conveyance (Article 34).
Bond to keep the peace: the sentenced person must present two sufficient sureties undertaking non-commission of the offense and payment of the amount determined by the court if committed, or deposit the amount with the clerk of court; the court determines the bond’s duration (Article 35).
If bond is not given as required, the person is detained for at most six months if prosecuted for a grave or less grave felony, and at most thirty days if for a light felony (Article 35).
Pardon effects: pardon does not restore the right to hold public office or right of suffrage unless expressly restored by the pardon, and pardon does not exempt payment of civil indemnity imposed by the sentence (Article 36).

Costs and payment order; subsidiary personal liability

Costs include fees and indemnities during judicial proceedings, whether fixed, unalterable by prior law/regulations, or unscheduled amounts (Article 37).
When property is insufficient for pecuniary liabilities, payment order is:
1. reparation of damage caused;
2. indemnification of consequential damages;
3. fine; and
4. costs of proceedings (Article 38).
Subsidiary personal liability for insolvency:
- imposes detention at one day for each PHP 2.50 (one day for each 2 pesos and 50 centavos), subject to limits and rules (Article 39).
- if the principal penalty is prision correccional or arresto and fine, confinement continues until fine and pecuniary liabilities are satisfied, but subsidiary imprisonment cannot exceed one-third of the sentence term and cannot continue for more than one year, with no fraction counted (Article 39).
- if principal penalty is only a fine, subsidiary imprisonment cannot exceed six months if prosecuted for grave or less grave felony, and cannot exceed fifteen days if for a light felony (Article 39).
- if principal penalty is higher than prision correccional, no subsidiary imprisonment is imposed (Article 39).
- if principal penalty is not executed by confinement in a penal institution but has fixed duration, the convict suffers the same deprivations during the period under the subsidiary liability rules (Article 39).
- subsidiary personal liability for insolvency does not relieve reparation of damage or consequential damages if financial circumstances improve, but it relieves from pecuniary liability as to the fine (Article 39).

Inherent accessory penalties; forfeiture of proceeds

Death penalty (if not executed due to commutation or pardon) carries perpetual absolute disqualification and civil interdiction during thirty years from sentence date unless accessory penalties expressly remitted in pardon (Article 40).
Reclusion perpetua and reclusion temporal carry civil interdiction for life or during the sentence and perpetual absolute disqualification even if principal penalty is pardoned, unless expressly remitted (Article 41).
Prision mayor carries temporary absolute disqualification and perpetual special disqualification from the right of suffrage even if pardoned, unless expressly remitted (Article 42).
Prision correccional carries suspension from public office, from the right to follow a profession or calling, and perpetual special disqualification from suffrage if imprisonment exceeds eighteen months, even if pardoned unless expressly remitted (Article 43).
Arresto carries suspension of the right to hold office and the right of suffrage during the term of the sentence (Article 44).
Every penalty for a felony carries forfeiture of proceeds and instruments/tools of the offense; forfeiture is for the Government unless property is of a third person not liable, and articles not subject to lawful commerce are destroyed (Article 45).
Courts must understand that accessory penalties are also imposed whenever a penalty carries them under Articles 40 to 45 (Article 73).

Application rules: principals, stages, and penalty adjustments

The penalty prescribed for a felony is imposed on principals; a penalty in general terms applies to the consummated felony (Article 46).
Where the law prescribes death, death is imposed in all cases required by existing laws, except:
- when the guilty person is more than seventy years of age; or
- on appeal or revision, when Supreme Court members are not unanimous as to propriety of death penalty—then Supreme Court decision is per curiam signed by all justices unless disqualification affects participation, requiring unanimous vote/signature of remaining justices (Article 47).
For complex crimes (single act constituting two or more crimes, or an offense as necessary means for committing the other), impose the penalty for the most serious crime applied in its maximum period (Article 48).
When the felony committed differs from what the offender intended:
- if penalty for felony committed is higher, impose penalty for intended offense in its maximum period;
- if penalty for felony committed is lower, impose penalty for the committed felony in its maximum period;
- these rules do not apply when acts also constitute attempt or frustration of another crime where law prescribes a higher penalty—then impose penalty provided for the attempt or frustrated crime in its maximum period (Article 49).
Penalty degrees for different stages:
- frustrated felony principal: penalty one degree lower than consummated felony (Article 50);
- attempted felony principals: penalty two degrees lower (Article 51);
- accomplices in consummated: one degree lower (Article 52);
- accessories in consummated: two degrees lower (Article 53);
- accomplices in frustrated: one degree lower (Article 54);
- accessories in frustrated: two degrees lower (Article 55);
- accomplices in attempted: one degree lower than attempt penalty (Article 56);
- accessories in attempted: two degrees lower than attempt penalty (Article 57).
Accessories under Article 19(3) who act with abuse of public functions suffer additional penalty or disqualification based on the principal’s category:
- absolute perpetual disqualification if principal is guilty of a grave felony;
- absolute temporary disqualification if principal is guilty of a less grave felony (Article 58).
Failure to commit due to impossible accomplishment or inadequate means: court imposes arresto mayor or a fine from PHP 200 to PHP 500, considering social danger and degree of criminality (Article 59).
Articles 50 to 57 do not apply when law expressly prescribes penalty for frustrated/attempted felony, or for accomplices/accessories (Article 60).
Graduation of penalties for frustrated/attempted and for accomplices/accessories follows specified rules for single indivisible penalties, two indivisible penalties, mixed composed penalties, and multiple periods (Article 61), and if not covered by the tabulation, courts impose by analogy (Article 61).

Habitual delinquency and period rules

Mitigating/aggravating circumstances and habitual delinquency affect penalty adjustment under rules:
- aggravating circumstances that themselves are specially punishable by law or are included in defining a crime and prescribing its penalty cannot increase penalty;
- inherent aggravating circumstances that must necessarily accompany commission similarly cannot increase;
- circumstances arising from moral attributes, private relations, or other personal cause affect only principals/accomplices/accessories to whom they are attendant;
- circumstances in material execution or means affect only those who had knowledge at the time or cooperated (Article 62).
Habitual delinquency effects:
- third conviction: last crime’s penalty plus additional prision correccional in medium and maximum periods;
- fourth conviction: last crime’s penalty plus additional prision mayor in minimum and medium periods;
- fifth or additional: last crime’s penalty plus additional prision mayor in maximum period to reclusion temporal in minimum period (Article 62).
Total of the two penalties under these rules may not exceed 30 years (Article 62).
A person is deemed habitual delinquent if, within ten years from date of release or last conviction, the person is found guilty of any of robo, hurto, estafa, or falsification a third time or oftener (Article 62).
Indivisible penalties: apply according to presence of mitigating/aggravating circumstances, with offset rules when both are present (Article 63).
Penalties with three periods: impose law’s penalty in medium when no aggravating/mitigating; apply minimum if only mitigating; apply maximum if only aggravating; offset classes if both present; impose next lower penalty when two or more mitigating and no aggravating; never impose greater than maximum period of the prescribed penalty (Article 64).
Penalties not composed of three periods are divided into three equal portions to form periods for application (Article 65).
In imposing fines, courts may fix any amount within legal limits and must consider mitigating/aggravating circumstances and the offender’s wealth or means (Article 66).
When exemption circumstance Article 12(4) is not fully present, courts impose arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period if guilty of a grave