Basics

Question 1

Freedom of Speech is NOT absolute (T/F)

Answer 1

True. It must be balanced with the requirements of equally important public interests.

Question 2

Cybercrime Law

Answer 2

Regulate access to and use of the cyberspace.

Question 3

Cyberspace

Question 4

RA 10175 -
Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

Question 5

Bouncing Checks Law (Batasang Pambansa 22)

Answer 5

devised to safeguard the interest of the banking system and the legitimate public checking account user

Question 6

Certiorari Vs Appeal

Answer 6

certiorari - only issues of jurisdiction are considered; includes grave abuse of discretion
appeal - opens the entire case for review

Question 7

Ratione cessat lex, et cessat lex

Answer 7

“When the reason for the law ceases, the law ceases.”Application of the law must be consistent with the purpose of and reason for the law.

Question 8

Batasang Pambansa 22

Answer 8

“AN ACT PENALIZING THE MAKING OR DRAWING AND ISSUANCE OF A CHECK WITHOUT SUFFICIENT FUNDS OR CREDIT AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.”

Question 9

Habeas Corpus

Answer 9

Protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment

Question 10

Article 22. Retroactive effect of penal laws

Answer 10

Penal laws shall have a retroactive effect insofar as they favor the person guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal

Question 11

Habitual criminal

Answer 11

A person who within 10 years from the date of their release or last conviction of the crimes of serious or less serious physical injuries, robo, hurto, estafa, or falsificacion, he is found guilty of any of said crimes a third time

Question 12

Why is criminal to issue checks without sufficient funds or credit?

Answer 12

Not only is it harmful to the private parties involved, worthless checks could hamper the economy by polluting the channels of trade and commerce, injure the banking system and eventually hurt the welfare of society and the public interest. The Batasang Pambansa 22 punishes the offense against public order, not property.

Question 13

Positivist Theory

Answer 13

The basis for criminal liability is the sum total of the social and economic phenomena to which the offense is expressed.

Question 14

Article 3 of the RPC

Answer 14

Article 3. Acts and omissions punishable by law are felonies (delitos).

Felonies are committed not only by means of deceit (dolo), but also by means of fault (culpa).

There is deceit when the act is performed with deliberate intent; and there is fault when the wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skill.

Question 15

Article 5 of the RPC

Answer 15

Article 5. Duty of the court in connection with acts which should be repressed but which are not covered by the law, and in cases of excessive penalties.

Courts are not concerned with the wisdom, efficacy or morality of laws. The only function of the judiciary is to interpret the laws and, if not in disharmony with the constitution, to apply them

Question 16

Article 12 of the RPC

Answer 16

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, 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

Question 17

In Article 3 of the RPC, “felonies” mean?

Answer 17

acts and omissions punishable by the RPC

Question 18

In Article 3 of the RPC, what are the elements of felonies?

Answer 18

1. that there must be an act or omission
2. that the act or omission must be punishable by the RPC
3. that the act is performed or the omission incurred by means of dolo or culpa

Question 19

In Article 3 of the RPC, “act” means?

Answer 19

act must be understood any bodily movement tending to produce some effect in the external world, it being unnecessary that the same be actually produced, as the possibility of its productions is sufficient. but the act must be one which is defined by the RPC as constituting a felony; or, at least, an overt act of that felony, that is, an external act which has direct connection with the felony intended to be committed.

Question 20

What does “only external act is punished” mean?

Answer 20

The act must be external, because internal acts are beyond the sphere of penal law. Hence, a criminal thought or a mere intention, no matter how immoral or improper it may be, will never constitute a felony. Thus, even if A entertains the idea of killing B, as long as he does not commence the commission of the crime directly by overt act, A is not criminally liable.

Question 21

Meaning of the word “omission” in Article 3 of the RPC?

Answer 21

By omission is meant inaction, the failure to perform a positive duty which one is bound to do. There must be a law requiring the doing or performance of an act. In other words, the omission must be punishable by law.

Question 22

Examples of felony by omission

Answer 22

1. Anyone who fails to render assistance to any person whom he finds in an uninhabited place wounded or in danger of dying, is liable for abandonment of persons in danger. (Article 275)
2. An officer entrusted with collection of taxes who voluntarily fails to issue a receipt as provided by law, is guilty of illegal exaction. (Article 213)
3. Every person owing allegiance to the Philippines, without being a foreigner, and having knowledge of any conspiracy against the government, who does not disclose and make known the same to the proper authority, is liable for misprision of treason. (Article 116)

Question 23

What’s the meaning of “punishable by law” ?

Answer 23

This is based upon the maxim, “nullen crimen, nulla poena sine lege,” that is, there is no crime where there is no law punishing it. The phrase “punished by law” should be understood to mean “punished by the Revised Penal Code” and not by a special law. That is to say, the term “felony” mean acts and omissions punished in the RPC to distinguish it from the words “crime” and “offense” which are applied to infractions of the law punished by special statutes.

Question 24

Under Article 3 of the RPC felonies are classified into two categories: intentional and culpable felonies. What are the differences between the two?

Answer 24

Intentional felonies = malicious. The offender, in performing the act or in incurring the omission, has the intention to cause an injury to another.
Culpable felonies = not malicious. The injury caused by the offender to another person is unintentional, it being simply the incident of another act performed without malice. As stated in Article 3, the wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight or lack of skill.

Question 25

What are the requisites of dolo or malice?

Answer 25

1. Freedom. When a person acts without freedom, he is no longer a human being but a tool; his liability is as much as that of the knife that wounds, or of the torch that sets fire, or of the key that opens a door, or of the ladder that is placed against the wall of a house in committing robbery. Thus, a person who acts under the compulsion of an irresistible force is exempt from criminal liability. Likewise, a person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury is exempt from criminal liability.
2. Intelligence. Without this power, necessary to determine the morality of human acts, no crime can exist. Thus, the imbecile or the insane, and the infant under nine years of age as, well as the minor over nine but less than 15 years old and acting without discernment, have no criminal liability, because they act without intelligence.
3. Intent. Intent to commit the act with malice, being purely a mental process, is presumed and the presumption arises from the proof of the commission of an unlawful act.
   “A voluntary act is a free, intelligent, and intentional act.”

Question 26

What’s the distinction between general and specific intent?

Answer 26

In felonies committed by dolus, the third element of voluntariness is a general intent; whereas, in some particular felonies, proof of particular specific intent is required. Thus, in certain crimes against property, there must be the intent to gain. Intent to kill is essential in frustrated or attempted homicide in forcible abduction, the specific intent of lewd designs must be proved.

Question 27

What is “mala prohibita?”

Answer 27

Refers generally to acts made criminal by special laws. Wrong merely because prohibited by statute and not because it is wrongful by its nature like mala in se. Mala prohibita are violations of mere rules of convenience designed to secure a more orderly regulation of the affairs of society.

Question 28

What’s an honest “mistake of fact?”

Answer 28

While ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith (ignorantia legis non excusat), ignorance or mistake of fact relieves the accused from criminal liability (ignorantia facti excusat).

Mistake of fact is a misapprehension of fact on the part of the person who caused injury to another. He is not, however, criminally liable, because he did not act with criminal intent.

An honest mistake of fact destroys the presumption of criminal intent which arises upon the commission of a felonious act.

Question 29

What are the requisites of mistake of fact as a defense?

Answer 29

1. That the act done would have been lawful had the facts been as the accused believed them to be;
2. That the intention of the accused in performing the act should be lawful; and
3. That the mistake must be without fault or carelessness on the part of the accused