CRIMINAL LAW II | FISCAL PETRAlBA | ADRIAN VARGAS | LLB-1

Title One - Crimes Against National Security 1. Levying war against the Philippines.
Tuesday, 7 November 2017 2. Adhering to the enemies giving them aid and
11:08 AM comfort.

There must be an overt act. In levying war, there

must be an actual assemblage of men to
deliver in whole or in part to the enemy. In
collaboration with foreign enemy or some
foreign sovereign.

It's not enough that you go to Fuente and

declare war. That's not treason because in
treason there must be an actual assemblage of
sizeable number of men with a very clear intent
not only talking about what their sentiments are,
but also showing or manifesting clear intent to
really commit the overt acts of going to war.
Actual assemblage MUST BE SIZEABLE. There
must be a war where the Philippines is involved,
and those involved in these acts must levy war
or adhere to enemies, giving aid and comfort.
*slide*
Mere going on stage and inciting to commit
treason, it may not be a crime of treason yet or
Before I go further, diba in Crim 1 we said that
conspiracy. For treason, we have four cases. We
there is also the crime of conspiracy? There may
also have conspiracy to commit treason,
be also the crime of proposal because
proposal to commit treason (there is a person
conspiracy may be a crime in itself or a mode of
who decides to commit a crime and proposes
incurring criminal liability.
to commit it to other persons).
In treason, there is a crime of conspiracy to
Misprision of treason (a felony by omission. It is
commit treason. Even if treason does not take
where an offender is punished for not doing
place, they are in the planning stages, they can
anything.) It is a crime committed by dolo. The
still be liable for conspiracy to commit treason. If
reason why he failed to do something must be
the treason materializes, or pushes through, then
intentional. It is committed by dolo ALWAYS. We
the crime would now be treason. A conspiracy
will find out in treason that we have these three,
to commit treason is one of those crimes
but we do not have inciting treason. So
involving conspiracy alone. In book 2, there are
declaring treason and want to levy war against
four crimes where the conspiracy stage is
the Philippines is not treason because there is
already punished as a penalty.
not crime of inciting treason.
1. Conspiracy to commit treason
It MUST INVOLVE A foreign sovereign country.
2. Conspiracy to commit rebellion
3. Coup de dat.
4. Sedition.

In these four crimes, the conspiracy is already

punished as a crime. When is there treason?

Two ways of committing treason:

*pic*

2-witness rule for the same overt act.

1|Page
 CRIMINAL LAW II | FISCAL PETRAlBA | ADRIAN VARGAS | LLB-1

No. People v. Prieto, - treason absorbs crimes

Crimes that may be committed during peace committed in furtherance thereof. In crimes of
time: treason, it involves a war. Naturally, you will have
to possess firearms. Naturally, people will be
• Espionage killed in a war. You can't go to war without
• Inciting to war or giving motives for reprisals killing. Naturally, properties may be burned,
• Violation of neutrality pillaged, or destroyed.
• Piracy and mutiny Treason according to the case of Ocampo v.
Abando (pertains to rebellion) the SC said that
when the crime is a political crime, any other
crime, even if these are not political, these non-
political crimes will be absorbed in the political
crimes if the non-political crimes are committed
in the furtherance in the political crimes. They
will acquire the political color of the main crime.
Like rebellion or sedition etc., in treason, when
there are common crimes in furtherance of a
political objective, these will be absorbed. They
will acquire political color, and so there is no
complexing. DOCTRINE OF ABSORPTION.

*pic*

Misprision is only punishable in treason. It is

unique to treason alone; cannot be committed
by a foreigner. It involves the failure, deliberate
intentional failure, to report to authorities any
conspiracy to treason. The reason why it cannot
be committed by foreigners is because that
duty is only for those who owe allegiance to the
Philippines. Thus, foreigners do not have that
duty.

Can treason be complexed with common Art. 117 - Espionage

crimes?
Two ways of committing crime:

*pic*

*pic*

2|Page
 CRIMINAL LAW II | FISCAL PETRAlBA | ADRIAN VARGAS | LLB-1
1. Enter a warship
without authority to obtain information of a
confidential nature relative to the defense of
the Philippines.
2. Disclosing it to the
representative of a foreign nation the contents
of the info by reason of his public office.
In espionage, it is not necessary that there is a
war. It is possible that there is no enemy. There
was a guy that was a friend of Lacson (she
doesn't recall), he was able to gain information
from the US government and relayed it to a
Philippine senator. He was collecting info. We
are not necessarily enemies of US, but because
of the confidentiality and its security to a
country, it can never be divulged. IF BOTH ARE
COMMITTED, IT WILL BE TWO COUNTS OF
ESPIONAGE.
For the first commission, even if the mere
entering is already enough (?).
(Question about cybercrime law) Cybercrime
law - anything that could damage either a
person and the person may include an entity, or
the damage to the computer can be
cybercrime. It can be covered by cybercrime,
but not espionage. Because in felonies and
other crimes, there must be the complete set of
elements. If one element is absent or lacking,
there are three possibilities.
a. Not a crime.
b. Not in
consummated stage.
c. It is a different crime.
Art. 118 - Inciting to war and giving motives for
reprisals
Any act which produces these effects - the
effect of inciting to war and giving motives for
reprisals - can be under this crime. If the effect is
to incite the other country to go to war or
reprisals, that is the time. Few months ago,
Duterte said Kim Jong Un is crazy. Would that be
inciting war? What if Un would put us in the
target of his missile because of that?
The Sabah incident happened around seven
years ago. A guy went to Sabah with 200 armed
men. Would it be a crime that might be a crime
punished by Art. 118? Could be, but fortunately,
it did not get to that stage. That's why the
government had to issue a statement to say
they were not supporting it. It was an individual
act.
Art. 119 - Violation of neutrality.
*pic*
its
Other countries are at war, but the Philippines is
supposed to be neutral. That doesn't happen
much anymore because Philippines is under the
UN. When there was a war in Kosovo, we sent
some forces there and to Liberia. There was a
standoff in Syria a few years ago, we sent troops
there. That wasn't a war where we were
involved. Was that in violation? No, we were
there to keep peace, not incite war. This was
enacted before the UN was born. These are
obsolete laws.
Correspondence with hostile country - another
obsolete law. You're not supposed to
communicate with a hostile country. It doesn't
even say a person residing there. If you upload
something in your FB, you would know where the
people reading your posts would be from. It was
not meant for them. You do not write a long
letter anymore and do all the things that were
relevant before.
And then flight to enemy country - It is possible
that this is committed if we have an enemy
country. It is possible that there is an enemy.
3|Page
 CRIMINAL LAW II | FISCAL PETRAlBA | ADRIAN VARGAS | LLB-1

Art. 122 - Piracy

When PD 532 was passed, there was not
inconsistencies with the RPC. In 1994, Congress
passed RA 7659 tweaked the definition of
piracy. It says that piracies may be committed
within the Philippine waters, but this time this will
have a higher penalty. RA 7659 amended Art
122. It cannot be committed by a passenger. It
must be committed by a third person under RA
7659. It amended Art 122 by increasing penalty,
increasing coverage, but it excluded
passengers or crew members. Therefore, if a
passenger or crew commits piracy, he will not
be prosecuted under RA 7659 even if it is
committed on the high seas because it is only
for third persons. It is only for piracy.

For mutiny, we still go to 122. 7659 supplements

but does not take away or repeal 122. 122 is still
Three laws pertaining to piracy. Art 122 and 123,
there because mutiny is still there. RA 7659 only
PD 532, and RA 7659. Piracy v. Mutiny = piracy's
enlarged. These three are still existing.
objective is more economic in nature. To take
the vessel itself, or to take cargo or part of the
vessel. The objective is economic. Mutiny's goal
In Tulin, there was piracy. It started in Philippine
is to wrest control - more political in nature than
waters, but there were several personalities
economic. If the objective is to have power
involved. We will not talk about the other guys.
over it, it would be mutiny. It can only be
We will concentrate on Singaporean guy -
committed by the crew because we're talking
Chiong.
about leadership. If it is a third party, it is not
mutiny but piracy. Piracy may be qualified.
Question: Which of these laws among the three
were the accused charged? PD 532. It did not
Circumstances are in 123.
amend Art 122, it was RA 7659. 532 says that
piracy committed in Philippine waters is
Another law is PD 532. Why do we need this
punished under PD 532, regardless of the person
law? PD - Presidential Decree: Passed during
and size of boat. Crime was committed in 1991,
Martial Law. During ML, there was no Congress
we should not be talking about 7659 because it
and so the President can pass issuances and
was enacted only in 1994. We cannot have
directives that had the force of law. Around
retroactive effect because it would not be
1970s-1980s.
favorable to the accused. WE SHOULD ONLY
FOCUS ON 532. However, on the part of Chiong,
RA 7659 - Not exclusive to piracy. It imposed the
his participation is when the boat reached
death penalty, and in imposing that death
Singapore waters. Why was he convicted under
penalty, it tweaked the definition of certain
532 if it talks about piracy committed in the
crimes like piracy and rebellion. The original
Philippine territory?
definition of these crimes were sort of amended.
For example, the original definition of piracy in
Art. 122 was amended or tweaked. Same is true
of rebellion. What happened now? Under
original definition of piracy under RPC, it says
there that piracy can be committed only in a
vessel which is different from a boat that is
committed in the high seas. But, in the 70s-90s
period, there were also piracies committed
within the Philippine waters.

122 would not be applicable because it would

only punish piracies committed on the high seas.
In order to make up for this, PD 532 was
enacted. This time saying that 1, piracy in
Philippine waters is also punished. Now, this will
involve even other boats, not only vessels. PD
532 only talks about Philippine waters.

4|Page
 CRIMINAL LAW II | FISCAL PETRAlBA | ADRIAN VARGAS | LLB-1
He committed his part in Singaporean waters. It
is because piracy is a continuing crime, so he
was still part of where its initial commission
occurred. PREVAILING DOCTRINE.
Art. 2 says there can be extraterritoriality when
the crime falls under Title 1. But the crime that is
charged is not Art. 122 because it falls under Title
1, but it was not 122. It was PD 532. We cannot
even make that argument. There is however, a
short discussion that could be applicable. That
discussion is about piracy being a crime against
humanity. When it is under this, any country can
apply its universal jurisdiction. Wherever the
crime was committed, as long as it is a crime
against humanity, any country may prosecute
using its own laws. It was discussed a bit, but a
very tiny bit.
Who declares crimes against humanity? In case
of piracy, it was declared by the UN General
Assembly. If pirates took Filipino seafaring
Filipinos in Somalia, and there are a lot of pirates
in Somalia, and most of them are Filipino OFWs.
Can we try those pirates under Philippine laws
under PD 532? Answer is still yes because it is a
crime against humanity, and any country may
use its universal jurisdiction.
PD 532 also penalizes accomplices. Under
special penal laws, we cannot have
conspiracies or attempted etc. We cannot also
have accessories or accomplices unless law
itself provides. The penalties involved, even if
aggravating etc. circumstances are ONLY
APPLICABLE TO FELONIES. UNLESS SPL EXPRESSLY
PROVIDES. In PD 532, the law itself penalizes the
accomplice. The accomplice being penalized,
that's the reason why Chiong was penalized as
accomplice. If there was not section 2, he could
not be punished as an accomplice.
Other things to know:
*pic*
Piracy must be committed with an intent to
gain. Similar to robbery. There is intent to gain
and there is intimidation of persons or force
upon things. Even if you get something from the
vessel, but even if the mode of taking is not with
force or intimidation, then it cannot be piracy.
The nature of committing piracy must be similar
to robbery, not theft.
When crimes found in slide are committed
during the piracy, the crime will not be qualified
which carries a higher penalty. We do not
complex. If there are other crimes like arson,
that will also not be qualified or complexed.
Destructive arson = higher penalty. Can we
complex piracy with direct assault? Yes.
For example, boat owned by government
manned by agents with authority. In order to
commit piracy, there is a need to attack a
public officer - direct assault. If it is serious
enough, it will not be absorbed in piracy. One
crime is committed as a means to the other.
Direct assault was a means to commit piracy.
But for the specific crimes of murder, rape, PI,
homicide, then it would be qualified.
Committing mutiny:
*pic*
5|Page
 CRIMINAL LAW II | FISCAL PETRAlBA | ADRIAN VARGAS | LLB-1

CASE STUDY 1

(pic)

The crime is theft for the first question.

For the second question, robbery in a boat IS

piracy.

(SIDE: RA 10951).

6|Page