ARTICLE 12: MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES 1.

Incomplete self-defense, defense of relatives and

Mitigating circumstances: if present in the commission defense of stranger
of the crime, do not entirely free the actor from criminal Unlawful aggression must be present
liability, but serve only to reduce the penalty What is absent is either one or both of the last
Basis: the diminution of either freedom of action, two requirements (reasonable necessity and
intelligence, or intent or on the lesser perversity of the lack of sufficient provocation)
offender If two of the three requisites are present
Classes of mitigating circumstances: (unlawful aggression and another)
1. Ordinary mitigating: enumerated in subsection 1 privileged mitigating rather than just ordinary
to 10 of Article 13 mitigating
2. Privileged mitigating Because majority of the conditions
a. Article 68: Penalty to be imposed upon a required is present
person under 18 years of age 2. Incomplete justifying circumstance of avoidance
b. Article 69: Penalty to be imposed when the of greater evil or injury
crime is committed is not wholly excusable If any of the last 2 requirements in paragraph
c. Article 64: Rules for the application of 4 of Article 11 is absent mitigating
penalties which contain three periods 3. Incomplete justifying circumstance of
performance of duty
Ordinary Mitigating Privileged Mitigating 2 requisites under Article 11 (5)
Susceptible of being Cannot be offset by Accused acted in the performance of a
offset by any aggravating aggravating circumstance duty or in lawful exercise of right or office
circumstance Injury caused or offense committed be
If not offset by Produces the effect of the necessary consequence of the due
aggravating imposing upon the performance of such duty or the lawful
circumstance, produces offender the penalty exercise of such right or office
only the effect of lower by one or two Since the SC considered one of the two
applying the penalty degrees than that requisites as constituting the majority, it
provided by law for the provided by law for the seems that there is no ordinary mitigating
crime in its minimum crime circumstance under Article 13 (1), when
period the justifying or exempting circumstance
*Mitigating circumstances only reduce the penalty, but has 2 requisites only. (Therefore,
do not change the nature of the crime. privileged mitigating)
Paragraph 1: All requisites of justifying and exempting 4. Incomplete justifying circumstance of obedience
circumstances are not attendant to an order
Requisites necessary to justify the act or exempt When all the requisites necessary to exempt from
from criminal liability in the respective cases are criminal liability are not attendant:
attendant: 1. Incomplete exempting circumstance of minority
1. Self-defense over 15 and under 18 years of age
2. Defense of relatives If the minor over 15 and under 18 acted with
3. Defense of stranger discernment mitigating circumstance only
4. State of necessity 2. Incomplete exempting circumstance of accident
5. Performance of duty Requisites:
6. Obedience to order of superior Performing a lawful act
7. Minority above 15 but below 18 With due care
8. Causing injury by mere accident Causes injury to another by mere accident
9. Uncontrollable fear Without fault or intention of causing it
Paragraphs 1 & 2 of Article 12 cannot give place to If second requisite and the 1st part of the
mitigation because the condition of a person is fourth requisite are absent Article 365:
indivisible; that there is no middle ground between punishes a felony by negligence or
sanity and insanity, between presence and absence imprudence but there is a mitigating
of intelligence circumstance because the penalty is lower
When all the requisites necessary to justify the act than that provided for intentional felony
are not attendant:
 If the first requisite and the 2nd part of fourth Intention, being an internal state, must be judged
requisite are absent, because the person by external acts.
committed an unlawful act and had the o Is judged not only by the proportion of the
intention of causing the injury, it will be an means employed by him to the evil produced by
intentional felony. The 2nd and 3rd requisites his act, but also by the fact that the blow was or
will not be present either. was not aimed at a vital part of the body
3. Incomplete exempting circumstance of o Weapon used
uncontrollable fear o Part of the body injured
Requisites: o Injury inflicted
Threat which caused the fear was of an o Manner it is inflicted
evil greater than, or at least equal to, that Not applicable when the offender employed brute
which he was required to commit force
It promised an evil such gravity and It is the intention of the offender at the moment
imminence that an ordinary person would when he is committing the crime which is
have succumbed to it (uncontrollable) considered, not to his intention during the planning.
If only one of these requisites is present, there Appreciated in murder qualified by circumstances
is only a mitigating circumstance based on manner of commission, not on state of
*two or more mitigating circumstances and no mind of accused.
aggravating circumstances: penalty next lower to that Lack of intention to commit so grave a wrong is not
prescribed by law, in the period that the court may appreciated where the offense committed is
deem applicable according to the number and nature of characterized by treachery.
such circumstance Lack of intent to kill, not mitigating in physical
Paragraph 2: Offender is under 18 and over 70 years of injuries
age o In crime against persons who do not dies a
Repealed by the provision of RA 9344 declaring a result of the assault, the absences of intent to
child above 15 years but below 18 years of age shall kill reduces the felony to mere physical injuries,
be exempt from criminal liability unless he/she has but it does not constitute a mitigating
acted with discernment circumstance.
If acted with discernment, such child in conflict with Not applicable to felonies by negligence
the law shall undergo diversion programs. o Reason: the offender acts without intent
Diversion: alternative, child-appropriate process of Applicable only to offenses in physical injuries or
determining the responsibility and treatment of a material harm
child in conflict with the law on the basis his/her o Not appreciated in cases of defamation or
social, cultural, economic, psychological, or slander
educational background without resulting to formal Basis: intent, an element of voluntariness in
court proceedings intentional felony, is diminished
Diversion Program: program that the child in Paragraph 4: Sufficient provocation or threat on the
conflict with the law is required to undergo after part of the offended party immediately preceded the
he/she is found responsible for an offense without act
resorting to formal court proceedings Provocation: any unjust or improper conduct or act
If offender is over 70 years of age is only a generic of the offended party, capable of exciting, inciting,
mitigating circumstance or irritating any one
o Article 68, providing for privileged mitigating Requisites:
circumstances, does not include the case of o Provocation must be sufficient
offenders over 70 years old o It must originate from the offended party
Basis: diminution of intelligence, a condition of o Provocation must be immediate to the act
voluntariness Sufficient: adequate to excite a person to commit
Paragraph 3: No intention to commit so grave a wrong the wrong and must accordingly be proportionate
as that committed to its gravity
Can be taken into account only when the facts o Depends upon:
proven show that there is a notable and evident act constituting the provocation
disproportion between the means employed to the social standing of the person provoked
execute the criminal act and its consequences
 the place and time when the provocation is o The felony is committed in vindication of such
made grave offense. A lapse of time is allowed
o Examples: between the vindication and the doing of the
When the deceased and ill-treated the grave offense
accused by kicking and cursing the latter, the Applies to grave offense committed against
accused who killed him committed the crime surviving spouse of deceased relative
with this mitigating circumstance Lapse of time: Although the grave offense was not
Although there was no unlawful aggression, so immediate, it was held that the influence thereof
because the challenge was accepted by the by reason of its gravity and the circumstances under
accused, and therefore, no self-defense, which it was inflicted, lasted until the moment the
there was however the mitigating crime was committed.
circumstance of immediate provocation. In o Example: abduction
this case, the deceased insulted the accused The offense did not cease while
and then challenged the latter. whereabouts remained unknown no
The performance of a duty is not a source of interruption from the time the offense was
provocation. committed to the vindication thereof
Provocation must originate from the offended Interval of time negating vindication: sufficient time
party. to recover his serenity
Provocation vs vindication
Provocation in self- Provocation in Provocation Vindication
defense mitigating circumstance Made directly only to the May be committed also
Must be absent or Present on the part of person committing the against the offenders
insufficient on the part of the offended party felony relative mentioned by
the person defending the law
himself Cause that brought about Offended party must
the provocation need not have done a grave
The provocation by the deceased in the first stage be a grave offense offense to the offender
of the fight is not a mitigating circumstance when or his relatives
the accused killed him after he had fled. Necessary that the May be proximate, which
o Because the deceased the moment he fled did provocation of threat is admits of an interval of
not give any provocation for the accused to immediately preceded time between the grave
pursue and to attack him the act offense done by the
Provocation must be immediate to the commission offended party and the
of the crime. (no interval of time in between) commission of the crime
The threat should not be offensive and positively by the accused
strong because if it is, the threat to inflict real injury *Reason for difference: greater leniency in the case of
is an unlawful aggression which may give rise to vindication is due undoubtedly to the fact that it
self-defense. concerns the honor of a person
Vague threats not sufficient (example: If you do Basis to determine the gravity of offense in
not agree, beware.) vindication:
Basis: diminution of intelligence and intent o Whether a certain personal offense is grave
Paragraph 5: The act was committed in the immediate must be decided by the court in consideration
vindication of a grave offense to the one committing of:
the felony, his spouse, ascendants, descendants, Social standing of the person
legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or sisters, or Place and time when the insult was made
relatives by affinity within same degrees Basis: diminution of the conditions of voluntariness
*vindicate: to show something is right Vindication of a grave offense and passion or
Requisites: obfuscation cannot be counted separately and
o There be a grave offense done to the one independently
committing the felony, his spouses, ascendants, Paragraph 6: Acted upon an impulse so powerful as
descendants, legitimate, natural or adopted naturally to have produced passion or obfuscation
brothers or sisters, or relatives, by affinity *obfuscation: making something difficult to understand
within the same degree Requisites:
 o Accused acted upon an impulse Obfuscation arising from jealousy cannot be
o Impulse must be so powerful that it naturally invoked in favor of the accused whose relationship
produced passion or obfuscation in him with the woman was illegitimate.
Reason: When there are causes naturally producing Where the killing of the deceased by the accused
in a person powerful excitement, he loses his arose out of rivalry for the hand of a woman,
reason and self-control, thereby diminishing the passion or obfuscation is mitigating.
exercise of his will power. The cause producing passion or obfuscation must
Rule for the application: come from the offended party.
o Passion or obfuscation should arise from lawful May passion or obfuscation lawfully arise from
sentiments. causes existing only in the honest belief of the
o No mitigating circumstance when the act is offender? YES.
committed in a spirit of: Basis: diminution of intelligence and intent
Lawlessness Provocation and obfuscation arising from one and
Revenge the same cause should be treated as only one
Requisites: mitigating circumstance.
o There be an act, both unlawful and sufficient to Vindication of grave offense cannot exits co-exist
produce such condition of mind with passion and obfuscation. (Exception: When
o Said act which produced the obfuscation was there are other facts, although closely connected)
not far removed from the commission of the Passion or obfuscation compatible with lack of
crime by a considerable length of time, during intention to commit so grave a wrong
which the perpetrator might recover is normal Passion or obfuscation incompatible with treachery
equanimity (calm emotions) (in treachery, means employed are consciously
The act of the offended party must be unlawful or adopted)
unjust. Vindication or obfuscation cannot be considered
o Crime committed by the accused must be when the person attacked is not the one who gave
provoked by prior unjust or improper acts of the cause therefor.
injured party. Passion and obfuscation cannot co-exist with
Exercise of a right or fulfillment of duty is not evident premeditation.
proper source of passion or obfuscation. Passion or obfuscation vs Irresistible force:
The act must be sufficient to produce such a Passion or Obfuscation Irresistible Force
condition of mind. Mitigating circumstance Exempting circumstance
No passion or obfuscation after 24 hours, or several Cannot give rise to an Requires physical force
hours, or half an hour. irresistible force because
The defense must prove that the act which irresistible force requires
produced passion or obfuscation took place at a physical force
time not far removed from the commission of the Is in the offender himself Come from a third
crime. person
The crime committed must be the result of a Must arise from lawful Unlawful
sudden impulse of natural and uncontrollable fury. sentiments
o The circumstance of passion and obfuscation Passion or obfuscation vs provocation
cannot be mitigating in a crime which is planned
Passion or Obfuscation Provocation
and calmly meditated before its execution.
Produced by an impulse Comes from the injured
Vengeance is not a lawful sentiment.
which may be caused by party
Passion and obfuscation may build up and provocation
strengthen over time until it can no longer be
Need not be immediate Must immediately
repressed and will ultimately motivate the
precede the commission
commission of the crime.
of the crime
Passion or obfuscation must arise from lawful
Effect: loss of reason and self-control on the part of
sentiments. the offender
The offender must act under the impulse of special
motives. Paragraph 7: Voluntarily surrendered prior to the
o The person who you asked to deliver a letter, presentation of evidence or voluntarily confessed his
failed to deliver the letter.
guilty before an open court prior to the presentation of Surrender of weapons cannot be equated with
the evidence for prosecution voluntary surrender.
2 mitigating circumstances: The surrender must be made to a person in
o Voluntary surrender authority or his agent.
o Voluntary confession of guilt o Person in authority: one directly vested with
When both are present, they should have an effect jurisdiction that is a public officer who has the
of mitigating as two independent circumstances power to govern and execute the laws
o Effect has greater extent o Agent of a person in authority: a person, who,
Requisite to voluntary surrender: by direct provision of the law, or by election or
o Offender had not been actually arrested by appointment by competent authority, is
o Offender surrendered himself to a person in charged with the maintenance of public order
authority or to latters agent and the protection and security of life and
o Surrender was voluntary property and any person who comes to the aid
Voluntary surrender in such a manner that it shows of persons in authority.
the interest of the accused to surrender o Voluntary surrender to the chief clerk of a
unconditionally to the authorities, either because district engineer is not mitigating.
he acknowledged his guilt or because he wishes to Voluntary surrender does not simply mean non-
save them the trouble and expenses necessarily flight.
incurred in his search and capture o It does not matter if the accused never avoided
No voluntary surrender if the warrant of arrest arrest and never hid or fled.
showed that the defendant was in fact arrested. o What matters voluntary surrender before his
Where a person, after committing the offense and arrest showing:
having opportunity to escape, voluntarily waited for Acknowledgment of his guilt
the agents of the authorities and voluntarily gave Intention to save the authorities from
himself up, he is entitled to the benefit of this trouble and expense that his search and
circumstance, even if he was placed under arrest by capture would require
a policemen then and there. *If none of these two reasons impelled the accused
When the accused helped in carrying his victim to to surrender because his surrender was obviously
the hospital tantamount to voluntary surrender by an intention to insure his safety, his arrest being
The accused who run to the municipal building after inevitable, the surrender us not spontaneous not
the commission of the crime had the intention or voluntary
desire to surrender. o Accompanying the police to the scene of the
The accused who fled and hid himself to avoid crime without surrendering to him and
reprisals from the companions of the deceased, but admitting complicity in the killing not
upon meeting a policeman voluntarily went with voluntary surrender
him to the jail, is entitled to the benefit of the Time and place of surrender
mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender. o RPC does not make any distinction among the
When the warrant has not been served or not various moments when the surrender may
returned unserved because cannot be located, the occur
surrender is mitigating. The surrender must be by reason of the commission
The law does not require that the surrender be of the crime for which defendants is prosecuted.
prior to the order of arrest. Surrender through an intermediary: appreciated as
o When after the commission of the crime and mitigating
the issuance of the warrant of arrest, the Spontaneous: inner impulse acting without external
accused presented himself in the municipal stimulus
building to post bond for temporary release, The conduct of the accused after the commission of
voluntary surrender is mitigating. the crime, determined the spontaneity of the
o The mere filing of an information and/or the surrender.
issuance of a warrant of arrest will not The circumstance that the accused did not resist
automatically make the surrender arrest or struggle to free himself after he was taken
involuntary. to custody by the authorities cannot amount to
o Voluntary surrender depends on the actual facts voluntary surrender.
surrounding the very act of giving himself up
 Intention to surrender, without actually Plea of guilty to lesser offense than that charged,
surrendering is not mitigating. not mitigating
There is spontaneity even if the surrender is o Plea of guilty must be to the offense charged
induced by fear of retaliation by the victims o If the voluntary confession is conditional or
relatives. qualified, it is not mitigating.
When the offender imposed a condition or acted Plea of guilty to the offense charged in the
with external stimulus, his surrender is not amended information, lesser than that charged in
voluntary. the original is mitigating.
Part 2 When the accused is charged with a grave offense,
Requisites of plea of guilty the court should take his testimony in spite of his
o Offender spontaneously confessed his guilt plea of guilty.
o Confession of guilt was made in open court and Mandatory presentation of evidence in plea of
is before the competent court that is to try the guilty to capital offense
case o Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure: Court shall
o Confession of guilt was made prior to the conduct a searching inquiry into the
presentation of evidence for the prosecution voluntariness and full comprehension of the
The plea must be made before trial begins consequences of his plea and shall require the
Plea of guilty on appeal, not mitigating (lacks the prosecution to prove his guilt and the precise
willingness of the accused to admit the commission degree of culpability. The accused may present
of the offense charged) evidence in his behalf.
Plea of not guilty upon arraignment at the Reason why plea of guilty is mitigating: it is an act of
preliminary investigation in the municipal court is repentance and respect for the law
no plea at all Basis: lesser perversity of the offender (perversity:
The confession of guilt must be made in open court deliberate desire to behave in an unreasonable or
The confession of guilt must be made prior to the unacceptable way)
presentation of the evidence for the prosecution. Paragraph 8: Deaf and dumb, blind or some physical
o It is not necessary that all the evidence of the defect which restricts his means of action, defense, or
prosecution have been presented. communication with fellow beings
Withdrawal of plea of not guilty and pleading guilty Physical defect: armless, cripple, or a stutterer
before the presentation of evidence by prosecution This paragraph does not distinguish between
is still mitigating educated and uneducated deaf-mute or blind
o Even if pleaded not guilty during arraignment persons
A conditional plea of guilty is not a mitigating Basis: Does not have complete freedom of action
circumstance diminution of freedom of voluntariness
Death penalty changed to life imprisonment Paragraph 9: Illness that diminishes the exercise of
because of plea of guilty even if done during the willpower without however depriving him the
presentation of evidence consciousness of his acts
o Indicates submission to the law and a moral Requisites:
disposition on his part to reform o Illness of the offender must diminish the
Plea of guilty to amended information exercise of his willpower
o In view of the willingness of the accused to o Illness should not deprive the offender of
plead guilty for a lesser offense, the consciousness of his act
prosecution, with leave of court, amended said When the offender completely lost the exercise of
information to make it one for homicide and will-power, it may be an exempting circumstance.
frustrated homicide, and the accused pleased Does this circumstance include illness of the mind?
thereto. o Refers only to diseases of pathological state that
o That was an entirely new information and no trouble the conscience of will
evidence was presented in connection with the o People vs Francisco: This paragraph applies to
charges made therein before the accused defendant who committed the crime while
entered his plea of guilty. suffering from some illness (of the body, the
o The accused is entitled to the mitigating mind, the nerves, or the moral faculty)
circumstance of plea of guilty.
 o It would seem that a diseased mind, not (5) Performance of righteous action: not justifying,
amounting to insanity, may give place to exempting or mitigating in the commission of
mitigation. wrongs, and although the accused had saved
Basis: diminution of intelligence and intent lives of a though and one persons, if he caused
Paragraph 10: Other circumstances of a similar nature the killing of a single human being, he is
and analogous to those above-mentioned nonetheless criminally liable
Over 60 years old with failing sight, similar to over
70 years of age mentioned in paragraph 2.
Outraged feeling of animal taken for ransom
analogous to vindication of a grave offense
Outraged feeling of creditor, similar to passion and
obfuscation mentioned in paragraph.
Impulse of jealous feeling, similar to passion and
obfuscation
Manifestation of Battered Wife Syndrome,
analogous to an illness that diminishes the
existence of will power
Voluntary restitution of stolen property similar to
voluntary surrender mentioned in paragraph 7
Extreme poverty and necessity, similar to
incomplete justification based on state of necessity
o Not mitigating where the accused had
impoverished himself and lost his gainful
occupation by committing crimes and not driven
to crime due to want and poverty
The act of the accused testifying for the
prosecution, without previous discharge, is
mitigating circumstance analogous to a plea of
guilty.
Restitution in malversation case is only mitigating
circumstance akin to voluntary surrender
Killing the wrong man is not mitigating.
Not resisting arrest not analogous to voluntary
surrender
The condition of running amuck is not mitigating.
o Mitigating circumstances must be applied alike
to all criminals be they Christians, Morons, or
Pagans
Mitigating circumstances which:
(1) From the moral attributes of the offender
(2) From his private relations with the offended
party
(3) From any other personal cause
Shall only serve to mitigate the liability of the
principals, accomplices, and accessories as to whom
such circumstances are attendant
Circumstances which are nether exempting nor
mitigating:
(1) Mistake in the blow or aberration ictus
(2) Mistake in the identity of the victim
(3) Entrapment of the accused
(4) The accused is over 18 years of age