Penalty, defined – is the suffering that is inflicted by the State for the transgression of a law.

Concept of penalty – Penalty in its general sense signifies pain; especially considered in the juridical sphere, it
means suffering undergone, because of the action of human society, by one who commits a crime.
Different juridical conditions of penalty: (pcplcec)
1. Must be productive of suffering, without however affecting the integrity of the human personality.
2. Must be commensurate with the offense – different crimes must be punished with different penalties.
3. Must be personal – no one should be punished for the crime of another.
4. Must be legal – it is the consequence of a judgment according to law
5. Must be certain – no one may escape its effects
6. Must be equal for all.
7. Must be correctional.
What is the purpose of the State in punishing crimes? – To secure justice. The State has an existence of its
own to maintain, a conscience of its own to assert, and moral principles to be vindicated.
Theories justifying penalty:
1. Prevention — The State must punish the criminal to prevent or suppress the danger to the State arising
from the criminal acts of the offender.
2. Self-defense — The State has a right to punish the criminal as a measure of self-defense so as to protect
society from the threat and wrong inflicted by the criminal.
3. Reformation — The object of punishment in criminal cases is to correct and reform the offender.
4. Exemplarity — The criminal is punished to serve as an example to deter others from committing crimes.
5. Justice — That crime must be punished by the State as an act of retributive justice, a vindication of
absolute right and moral law violated by the criminal.
Social defense and exemplarity justify the penalty of death – When a person has proved himself to be a
dangerous enemy of society, the latter must protect itself from such enemy by taking his life in retribution for
his offense and as an example and warning to others.
The penalty under this Code has three-fold purpose:
1. Retribution or expiation — The penalty is commensurate with the gravity of the offense.
2. Correction or reformation — as shown by the rules which regulate the execution of the penalties
consisting in deprivation of liberty.
3. Social defense — shown by its inflexible severity to recidivists and habitual delinquents.
Constitutional restriction on penalties – The Constitution directs that "excessive fines shall not be imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted."
Article 21. Penalties that may be imposed. - No felony shall be punishable by any penalty not prescribed by law
prior to its commission.
Art. 21 simply announces the policy of the State as regards punishing crimes – This article is general in its
provisions and in effect prohibits the Government from punishing any person for any felony with any penalty
which has not been prescribed by the law.
Reason for the provision. – An act or omission cannot be punished by the State if at the time it was committed
there was no law prohibiting it, because a law cannot be rationally obeyed unless it is first shown, and a man
cannot be expected to obey an order that has not been given.
Article 22. Retroactive effect of penal laws. - Penal Laws shall have a retroactive effect insofar as they favor the
persons guilty of a felony, who is not a habitual criminal, as this term is defined in Rule 5 of Article 62 of this
Code, although at the time of the publication of such laws a final sentence has been pronounced and the convict
is serving the same.
Art. 22 is not applicable to the provisions of the Revised Penal Code. – Its application to the Revised Penal
Code can only be invoked where some former or subsequent law is under consideration. It must necessarily
relate (1) to penal laws existing prior to the Revised Penal Code, in which the penalty was less severe than those
of the Code; or (2) to laws enacted subsequent to the Revised Penal Code, in which the penalty is more
favorable to the accused.
General rule: to give criminal laws prospective effect.
Exception: to give them retroactive effect when favorable to the accused.
Reason for the exception – The sovereign, in enacting a subsequent penal law more favorable to the accused,
has recognized that the greater severity of the former law is unjust.
Giving a law retroactive effect, if unfavorable to accused, will violate the constitutional inhibition as to ex
post facto laws. – An act which when committed was not a crime, cannot be made so by statute without
violating the constitutional inhibition as to ex post facto laws.
Ex post facto law:
(1) makes criminal an act done before the passage of the law and which was innocent when done, and punishes
such an act;
(2) aggravates a crime, or makes it greater than it was, when committed;
(3) changes the punishment and inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime when
committed;
(4) alters the legal rules of evidence, and authorizes conviction upon less or different testimony than the law
required at the time of the commission of the offense;
(5) assuming to regulate civil rights and remedies only, in effect imposes penalty or deprivation of a right for
something which when done was lawful; and
(6) deprives a person accused of a crime of some lawful protection to which he has become entitled, such as the
protection of a former conviction or acquittal, or a proclamation of amnesty.
The favorable retroactive effect of a new law may find the defendant in one of these three situations:
1. The crime has been committed and prosecution begins;
2. Sentence has been passed but service has not begun;
3. The sentence is being carried out.
"Who is not a habitual criminal?" – A person shall be deemed to be a habitual delinquent if within a period
of ten years from the date of his release or last conviction of the crimes of serious or less serious physical
injuries, robbery, theft, estafa, or falsification, he is found guilty of any said crimes a third time or oftener.
Criminal liability under the repealed law subsists:
(1) When the provisions of the former law are reenacted; or
(2) When the repeal is by implication; or
(3) When there is a saving clause.
Classification of Penalties
Article 25. Penalties which may be imposed. – The penalties which may be imposed according to this Code,
and their different classes, are those included in the following:
Scale
Principal Penalties
Capital punishment:
Death.
Afflictive penalties:
Reclusion perpetua,
Reclusion temporal,
Perpetual or temporary absolute disqualification,
Perpetual or temporary special disqualification,
Prision mayor.
Correctional penalties:
Prision correccional,
Arresto mayor,
Suspension,
Destierro.
Light penalties:
Arresto menor,
Public censure.
Penalties common to the three preceding classes:
Fine, and
Bond to keep the peace.
Accessory Penalties
Perpetual or temporary absolute disqualification,
Perpetual or temporary special disqualification,
Suspension from public office, the right to vote and be voted for, the profession or calling.
Civil interdiction,
Indemnification,
Forfeiture or confiscation of instruments and proceeds of the offense,
Payment of costs.
General Classification
1. Principal penalties — those expressly imposed by the court in the judgment of conviction.
2. Accessory penalties — those that are deemed included in the imposition of the principal penalties.
3. Article 39. Subsidiary penalty. - If the convict has no property with which to meet the fine mentioned in
paragraph 3 of the next preceding article, he shall be subject to a subsidiary personal liability at the rate of one
day for each amount equivalent to the highest minimum wage rate prevailing in the Philippines at the time of
the rendition of judgment of conviction by the trial court, subject to the following rules:
1. If the principal penalty imposed be prision correccional or arresto and fine, he shall remain under
confinement until his fine referred in the preceding paragraph is satisfied, but his subsidiary imprisonment shall
not exceed one-third of the term of the sentence, and in no case shall it continue for more than one year, and no
fraction or part of a day shall be counted against the prisoner.
2. When the principal penalty imposed be only a fine, the subsidiary imprisonment shall not exceed six months
if the culprit shall have been prosecuted for a grave or less grave felony, and shall not exceed fifteen days, if for
a light felony.
3. When the principal penalty imposed is higher than prision correccional, no subsidiary imprisonment shall be
imposed upon the culprit.
4. If the principal penalty imposed is not to be executed by confinement in a penal institution, but such penalty
is of fixed duration, the convict, during the period of time established in the preceding rules shall continue to
suffer the same deprivations as those of which the principal penalty consists.
5. The subsidiary personal liability which the convict may have suffered by reason of his insolvency shall not
relieve him from the fine in case his financial circumstances should improve.
The principal penalties may be classified:
According to their divisibility.
1. Divisible. – Divisible penalties are those that have fixed duration and are divisible into three periods.
2. Indivisible. – Indivisible penalties are those which have no fixed duration.
The indivisible penalties are:
1. Death.
2. Reclusion perpetua.
3. Perpetual absolute or special disqualification.
4. Public censure.
Classification of penalties according to subject-matter:
1. Corporal (death).
2. Deprivation of freedom (reclusion, prision, arresto).
3. Restriction of freedom (destierro).
4. Deprivation of rights (disqualification and suspension).
5. Pecuniary (fine).
Classification of penalties according to their gravity:
1. Capital,
2. Afflictive,
3. Correctional,
4. Light.
Specific Principal and Accessory Penalties
Article 40. Death; Its accessory penalties. - The death penalty, when it is not executed by reason of
commutation or pardon shall carry with it that of perpetual absolute disqualification and that of civil interdiction
during thirty years following the date sentence, unless such accessory penalties have been expressly remitted in
the pardon.
Article 47. In what cases the death penalty shall not be imposed; Automatic Review of the Death Penalty
Cases. — The death penalty shall be imposed in all cases in which it must be imposed under existing laws,
except when the guilty person is below eighteen (18) years of age at the time of the commission of the crime or
is more than seventy years of age or when upon appeal or automatic review of the case by the supreme court,
the required majority vote is not obtained for the imposition of the death penalty, in which cases the penalty
shall be reclusion perpetua.
In all cases where the death penalty is imposed by the trial court, the records shall be forwarded to the Supreme
Court for automatic review and judgment by the court en banc, within twenty (20) days but not earlier than
fifteen (15) days after promulgation of the judgment or notice of denial of any motion for new trial or
reconsideration. The transcript shall also be forwarded within ten (10) days from the filing thereof by the
stenographic reporter.
Principal Punishment
Capital Punishment (Death)
R.A. No. 7659 restored the death penalty while R.A. No. 9346 prohibited the imposition of the death
penalty. – Republic Act No. 7659 which took effect on 31 December 1993, restored the death penalty for
certain heinous crimes. Republic Act No. 9346 which was enacted on June 24, 2006 prohibited the imposition
of the death penalty, and provided for the imposition of the penalty of reclusion perpetua in lieu of death.
Death penalty is not imposed in the following cases:
1. When the guilty person is below 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime.
2. When the guilty person is more than 70 years of age.
3. When upon appeal or automatic review of the case by the Supreme Court, the vote of eight members is not
obtained for the imposition of the death penalty.
In what crimes is death penalty imposed?
In (1) treason, (2) piracy, (3) qualified piracy, (4) qualified bribery, (5) parricide, (6) murder, (7) infanticide, (8)
kidnapping and serious illegal detention, (9) robbery with homicide, (10) destructive arson, (11) rape with
homicide, (12) plunder, (13) certain violations of the Dangerous Drugs Act, and (14) carnapping.
Two kinds of complex crimes:
1. When a single act constitutes two or more grave or less grave felonies.
2. When an offense is a necessary means for committing the other.
"When a single act constitutes two or more grave or less grave felonies."
Requisites:
1. That only a single act is performed by the offender.
2. That the single act produces (1) two or more grave felonies, or (2) one or more grave and one or more less
grave felonies, or (3) two or more less grave felonies.
Rep. Act No. 9346 expressly repealed Rep. Act No. 8177 which prescribed death by lethal injection.
In view of the enactment of Rep. Act No. 9346, the death penalty may not be imposed. Thus, Arts. 81 to 85 of
the Revised Penal Code have no application.
Section 19. Art III of the 1987 Constitution
1. Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall
death penalty be imposed, unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter
provides for it. Any death penalty already imposed shall be reduced to reclusion perpetua.
2. The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading punishment against any prisoner or detainee or the
use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman conditions shall be dealt with by law.
Article 27. Reclusion perpetua. - The penalty of reclusion perpetua shall be from twenty years and one day to
forty years.
Reclusion temporal. — The penalty of reclusion temporal shall be from twelve years and one day to twenty
years.
Prision mayor and temporary disqualification. — The duration of the penalties of prision mayor and temporary
disqualification shall be from six years and one day to twelve years, except when the penalty of disqualification
is imposed as an accessory penalty, in which case, its durations shall be that of the principal penalty.
Prision correccional, suspension, and destierro. — The duration of the penalties of prision correccional,
suspension, and destierro shall be from six months and one day to six years, except when the suspension is
imposed as an accessory penalty, in which case, its duration shall be that of the principal penalty.
Arresto mayor. — The duration of the penalty of arresto mayor shall be from one month and one day to six
months.
Arresto menor. — The duration of the penalty of arresto menor shall be from one day to thirty days.
Bond to keep the peace. — The bond to keep the peace shall be required to cover such period of time as the
court may determine.
Afflictive Penalties
Article 27. Reclusion perpetua. - The penalty of reclusion perpetua shall be from twenty years and one day to
forty years.
Reclusion temporal. — The penalty of reclusion temporal shall be from twelve years and one day to twenty
years.
Prision mayor and temporary disqualification. — The duration of the penalties of prision mayor and temporary
disqualification shall be from six years and one day to twelve years, except when the penalty of disqualification
is imposed as an accessory penalty, in which case, its durations shall be that of the principal penalty.
Article 41. Reclusion perpetua and reclusion temporal; Their accessory penalties. - The penalties of reclusion
perpetua and reclusion temporal shall carry with them that of civil interdiction for life or during the period of
the sentence as the case may be, and that of perpetual absolute disqualification which the offender shall suffer
even though pardoned as to the principal penalty, unless the same shall have been expressly remitted in the
pardon.
Article 42. Prision mayor; Its accessory penalties. – The penalty of prision mayor, shall carry with it that of
temporary absolute disqualification and that of perpetual special disqualification from the right of suffrage
which the offender shall suffer although pardoned as to the principal penalty, unless the same shall have been
expressly remitted in the pardon.
Correctional Penalties
Article 27. Prision correccional, suspension, and destierro. — The duration of the penalties of prision
correccional, suspension, and destierro shall be from six months and one day to six years, except when the
suspension is imposed as an accessory penalty, in which case, its duration shall be that of the principal penalty.
Arresto mayor. — The duration of the penalty of arresto mayor shall be from one month and one day to six
months.
Article 43. Prision correccional; Its accessory penalties. - The penalty of prision correccional shall carry with
it that of suspension from public office, from the right to follow a profession or calling, and that of perpetual
special disqualification from the right of suffrage, if the duration of said imprisonment shall exceed eighteen
months. The offender shall suffer the disqualification provided in the article although pardoned as to the
principal penalty, unless the same shall have been expressly remitted in the pardon.
Article 44. Arresto; Its accessory penalties. - The penalty of arresto shall carry with it that of suspension of the
right to hold office and the right of suffrage during the term of the sentence.
Light Penalties
Article 27. Arresto menor. — The duration of the penalty of arresto menor shall be from one day to thirty days.
Article 44. Arresto; Its accessory penalties. - The penalty of arresto shall carry with it that of suspension of the
right to hold office and the right of suffrage during the term of the sentence.
Penalties common to afflictive, correctional, and light penalties
Article 26. When afflictive, correctional, or light penalty. -A fine, whether imposed as a single or as an
alternative penalty, shall be considered an afflictive penalty, if it exceeds One million two hundred thousand
pesos (P1,200,000); a correctional penalty, if it does not exceed One million two hundred thousand pesos
(P1,200,000) but is not less than Forty thousand pesos (P40,000); and a light penalty, if it be less than Forty
thousand pesos (P40,000). (as amended by Republic Act No. 10951, [August 29, 2017])
Article 35. Effects of bond to keep the peace. - It shall be the duty of any person sentenced to give bond to keep
the peace, to present two sufficient sureties who shall undertake that such person will not commit the offense
sought to be prevented, and that in case such offense be committed they will pay the amount determined by the
court in the judgment, or otherwise to deposit such amount in the office of the clerk of the court to guarantee
said undertaking.
The court shall determine, according to its discretion, the period of duration of the bond. Should the person
sentenced fail to give the bond as required he shall be detained for a period which shall in no case exceed six
months, is he shall have been prosecuted for a grave or less grave felony, and shall not exceed thirty days, if for
a light felony.