Art. 16 - 20 (Persons Criminally Liable For Felonies)

Question 1

Who are the persons involved in the commission of a felony?

Answer 1

1. Offender
2. The offended party

There are 2 offended parties:

1. The private offended party, to whom civil liabilities are awarded
2. The State, the real aggrieved party

Question 2

Can a natural person commit a felony?

Answer 2

Yes.

Question 3

Can a juridical person commit a felony?

Answer 3

No. A juridical person can never commit a felony because a felony is an act with physical movement, where there is intent or negligence and knowledge.

Therefore, a corporation can only act through its object. Its officers shall be liable for allowing the unlawful act

A juridical person, however, can be a victim of a felony.

Question 4

Can a dead person be an offended party?

Answer 4

Generally, a dead person cannot be a victim of a felony as he/she has no more rights, unless if he/she is a victim of libel, slander or defamation.

Question 5

State:

Article 16. Who are criminally liable.

Answer 5

The following are criminally liable for grave and less grave felonies:

 1. Principals
 2. Accomplices
 3. Accessories

The following are criminally liable for light felonies:

 1. Principals
 2. Accomplices

Question 6

Why are accessories exempt from criminal liability for light felonies?

Answer 6

Light felony is a very minor infraction of the law, and the role of an accessory is also very minor - the harm done to society is negligible.

Question 7

State:
Article 17. Principals.
(3)

Answer 7

The following are considered 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.

Question 8

Can co-conspirators be liable as principals by direct participation?

Answer 8

To be co-principals of direct participation, the following must concur:

1. They are co-conspirators; thus, conspiracy exists between them.
2. They carried out the conspiracy and committed the act together by performing acts which tend towards the same objective.

The prosecution has to prove the conspiracy to convict co-conspirators as co-principals.

Question 9

What are the principles of conspiracy?

Answer 9

1. The act of one is the act of all.
2. Acts not contemplated in the conspiracy cannot make other co-conspirators who did not commit the act also liable for it (People vs. Frederico)

Question 10

Explain the principle of “The act of one is the act of all.”

Answer 10

Conspirators are necessarily liable for all the acts of another conspirator even though such act differs radically and substantially from which they intended to commit.

Question 11

Suppose A induces B to commit the crime. B agreed. But later on, B did not proceed to commit a crime.

Is A a principal by inducement?

Answer 11

No, because there can be no principal of inducement if there is no principal by direct participation.

Thus, A is only guiltt of proposal to commit a felony.

Question 12

What are the requisites to be a principal by inducement?

Answer 12

1. A person induces another to commit the crime.
2. The inducement is the determining cause for the commission if the felony, and without which, the crime would not have been committed.

Question 13

State:

Article 18. Accomplices.

Answer 13

Accomplices are persons who, not being included n Article 17, cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous or simultaneous acts.

Question 14

What are the elements to be liable as an accomplice?

Answer 14

The following are elements that must concur to be liable as an accomplice:

1. COMMUNITY DESIGN that the accomplice know of and CONCURS WITH THE CRIMINAL DESIGN of the principal by direct participation.
2. The performance by the accomplice by PREVIOUS OR SIMULTANEOUS ACTS that are NOT INDISPENSABLE to the commission of the crime.
3. His acts bore a DIRECT RELATION with the acts done by the principal.

Mere commission of an act which aids the perpetrator is not enough. It must have to be not indispensable to the commission of the crime but there must be an act committed.

Question 15

State:
Article 19. Accessories.
(3)

Answer 15

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 of 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.

Question 16

Liability of Accessories under PD No. 1612

Answer 16

Under Article 19 (1) a person is liable as an accessory because they profit themselves or assist the offender to profit by the effect of the crime.

However, with the Anti-Fencing Law (PD No. 1612), the act of profiting or concealing the crime is considered as liability of a principals under PD No. 1612.

Question 17

Liability of Accessories under PD No. 1829

Answer 17

Under Article 19 (3) the act of harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principal of the crime makes a person accessory to the felony.

However, prosecuted under PD No. 1829 (Obstruction of Justice) such may be liable as principal under PD No. 1829.

Question 18

State:

Article 20. Accessories who are exempt from criminal liability

Answer 18

The penalties prescribed for accessories shall not be imposed upon those who are such with respect to their spouses, ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters, or relatives by affinity within the same degrees, with the single exception of accessories falling within the provisions of paragraph 1 of the next preceding article.