Stages of commission

US vs. Eduave

Facts: The accused rushed upon the girl suddenly and struck her from behind with
a sharp bolo, producing a frightful gash in the lumbar region and slightly to the side
eight and one-half inches long and two inches deep, severing all of the muscles and
tissues there. The accused was incensed at the girl for the reason that she had
theretofore charged him criminally before the local officials with having raped her
and with being the cause of her pregnancy. He was her mother‘s querido and was
living with her as such at the time the crime here charged was committed

Issues: Whether or Not the crime murder or homicide if the girl had been killed,
WON the stage of commission is attempted or frustrated

Held:
The crime committed was MURDER; the attack was made treacherously. Qualified by
the circumstance of alevosia (Sp. treachery, a-le-vo-SI-a), the accused making a
sudden attack upon his victim partly from the rear and dealing her a terrible blow in
the back and side with his bolo. The stage of commission is FRUSTRATED; not
attempted murder because defendant PERFORMED ALL OF THE ACTS which should
have resulted in the consummated crime and voluntarily desisted from further acts.

Art. 6: Rape
People vs. Orita

Facts:
Victim: Cristina Abaya, 19 years old, freshman at St. Joseph‘s College in
Borongan, Eastern Samar At around 1:30 am, after attending a party, Abayan came
home to her boarding house. As she knocked at the door, Orita suddenly held her
and poked a knife at her neck. She pleaded for him to let her go but instead of doing
so, Orita dragged her upstairs with him while he had his left arm wrapped around her
neck and his right hand holding and poking the balisong at the victim. At the second
floor, he commanded Christina to look for a room. Upon finding a room, Orita held
her against the wall while he undressed himself. He then ordered her to undress. As
she took off her shirt, he pulled off her bra, pants and panty, and ordered her to lie
on the floor. He then mounted her and, pointing the balisong at her neck, ordered
him to hold his penis and insert it in her vagina. In this position, only a portion of his
penis entered her, so he ordered Abayan to go on top of him. With him lying on his
back and Abayan mounting him, still, he did not achieve full penetration and
only part of his penis was inserted in the vagina. At this instance, Abayangot the
opportunity to escape Orita because he had both his hands and the knife on the
floor.

Abayan, still naked, was chased from room to room with Orita climbing over the parti
tions. Abayan, frantic and scared, jumped out of a window and darted for the
municipal building and was finally found by Pat. Donceras and other policemen. Due
to darkness though, the failed to apprehend Orita.
In the medico legal, Dr. Ma. Luisa Abude had the following findings: circumscribed
hematoma at Ant. neck, linear abrasions below left breas, multiple pinpoint marks at
the back, abrasions on both kness, erythemetous areas noted surrounding vaginal
orifice, tender; hymen intact; no laceration fresh and old noted; examining finger can
barely enter and with difficulty; vaginal cavity tight, no discharges noted

Issue: Whether or not rape is consummated

Held: Rape was consummated. Perfect penetration is not essential. For the
consummation of rape, any penetration ofthe female organ by the male organ is
sufficient to qualify as having carnal knowledge.In the crime of rape, from the
moment the offender has carnal knowledge of the victim, he actually attains his
purpose and from that moment, and the essential elements of the offense have been
accomplished.

People vs. Campuhan

Facts:
Primo Campuhan was accused of raping four year old Crysthel Pamintuan. Camp
uhan was caught by child‘s mother on April 25, 1996 at around 4pm in their house.
Campuhan, helper of Corazon‘s brother was allegedly
Kneeling in front of the child with both their pants down and child was crying
―ayoko, ayoko while Primo forced his
Penis into child‘s vagina

Issue:
Whether or Not crime is rape?

Held: No. Modified to attempted rape

1. Consummated rape: perfect penetration not essential. Slight penetration is equival
ent to rape. Mere touching of external genitalia considered when it’s an essential
part of penetration not just touching in ordinary sense (People v. Orita).Labia major a
must be entered for rape to be consummated (People v. Escober)
2. Attempted
–no penetration or didn‘t reach labia/mere grazing of surface
3. Failed to prove that penetration occurred. Mother‘s testimony questionable with
regards to her position relative to Primo and child. They failed to establish how she
could have seen actual contact in her position
4. Man‘s instinct is to run when caught. Primo could not have stayed or to satisfy his
lust even if.. Seeing Corazon
5. Child denied penetration occurred People v. Villamor consummation even when
penetration doubted: pain‘s felt, discoloration of inner lips of vagina or
red labia minora or hymenal tags not visible. Now seen in case, Medico legal officer,
though penetration not needed to prove contact, no medical basis to hold that there
was sexual contact. Hymen intact.
Art. 6: Thef

US vs. Adiao

Facts:
Defendant: Tomas Adiao
Adiao, a customs inspector, took a leather belt valued at P0.80 from the baggage of
T. Murakami
Adiao kept the belt in his desk at the Custom House, where it was found by other
customs employees
He was charged with the crime of theft in the Municipal Court of the city of
Manila.He was found guilty of frustrated theft
He appealed to the Court of First Instance of the city of Manila and the decision of
the Municipal Court was affirmed and he was sentence to pay a fine of P100, with
subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and to pay the costs.
The defendant claimed in his appeal that the lower court erred in holding that he
was guilty of the crime of theft as disclosed by the facts appearing of record

Issue: Whether or Not the act of the defendant is frustrated theft

Held: No, the crime cannot properly be classified as frustrated. The defendant has
performed all of the acts of execution necessary for the accomplishment of the crime
of theft. He has taken possession of the belt and this already constitutes the crime of
theft. ―The act of making use of the thing having been frustrated, which, however
does not go to make the elements of the consummated crime‖ (Decision of Supreme
Court of Spain)
Note: The ponente referred to the decision of Supreme Court of Spain in its
decision. It illustrated several situations that constitute consummated theft.-

Valenzuela v. People
Lessons Applicable: frustrated or consummated theft

Laws Applicable: Art. 6

FACTS:
May 19, 1994 4:30 pm: Aristotel Valenzuela and Jovy Calderon were sighted
outside the Super Sale Club, a supermarket within the ShoeMart (SM) complex along
North EDSA, by Lorenzo Lago, a security guard who was then manning his post at the
open parking area of the supermarket. Lago saw Valenzuela, who was wearing an ID
with the mark “Receiving Dispatching Unit (RDU)” who hauled a push cart with cases
of detergent of “Tide” brand and unloaded them in an open parking space, where
Calderon was waiting. He then returned inside the supermarket and emerged 5
minutes after with more cartons of Tide Ultramatic and again unloaded these boxes
to the same area in the open parking space. Thereafter, he left the parking area and
haled a taxi. He boarded the cab and directed it towards the parking space where
Calderon was waiting. Calderon loaded the cartons of Tide Ultramatic inside the taxi,
then boarded the vehicle. As Lago watched, he proceeded to stop the taxi as it was
leaving the open parking area and asked Valenzuela for a receipt of the merchandise
but Valenzuela and Calderon reacted by fleeing on foot. Lago fired a warning shot to
alert his fellow security guards. Valenzuela and Calderon were apprehended at the
scene and the stolen merchandise recovered worth P12, 090.
• Valenzuela, Calderon and 4 other persons were first brought to the SM security
office before they were transferred to the Baler Station II of the Philippine National
Police but only Valenzuela and Calderon were charged with theft by the Assistant City
Prosecutor.
• They pleaded not guilty.
• Calderon’s Alibi: On the afternoon of the incident, he was at the Super Sale Club to
withdraw from his ATM account, accompanied by his neighbor, Leoncio Rosulada. As
the queue for the ATM was long, he and Rosulada decided to buy snacks inside the
supermarket. While they were eating, they heard the gunshot fired by Lago, so they
went out to check what was transpiring and when they did, they were suddenly
grabbed by a security guard
• Valenzuela’s Alibi: He is employed as a “bundler” of GMS Marketing and assigned
at the supermarket. He and his cousin, a Gregorio Valenzuela, had been at the
parking lot, walking beside the nearby BLISS complex and headed to ride a tricycle
going to Pag-asa, when they saw the security guard Lago fire a shot causing everyone
to start running. Then they were apprehended by Lago.
• RTC: guilty of consummated theft
• CA: Confirmed RTC and rejected his contention that it should only be frustrated
theft since at the time he was apprehended, he was never placed in a position to
freely dispose of the articles stolen.

ISSUE: W/N Valenzuela should be guilty of consummated theft.

HELD: YES. Petition is DENIED

Article 6 defines those three stages, namely the consummated, frustrated and
attempted felonies.
A felony is consummated “when all the elements necessary for its execution and
accomplishment are present.”
It is frustrated “when the offender performs all the acts of execution which would
produce the felony as a consequence but which, nevertheless, do not produce it by
reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator.”
It is attempted “when the offender commences the commission of a felony directly
by overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which should produce
the felony by reason of some cause or accident other than his own spontaneous
desistance.”
Each felony under the Revised Penal Code has a:
subjective phase - portion of the acts constituting the crime included between the
act which begins the commission of the crime and the last act performed by the
offender which, with prior acts, should result in the consummated crime
 if the offender never passes the subjective phase of the offense, the crime is
merely attempted
objective phase - After that point of subjective phase has been breached
subjective phase is completely passed in case of frustrated crimes
The determination of whether a crime is frustrated or consummated necessitates an
initial concession that all of the acts of execution have been performed by the
offender
The determination of whether the felony was “produced” after all the acts of
execution had been performed hinges on the particular statutory definition of the
felony.
“actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea” - ordinarily, evil intent must unite with an
unlawful act for there to be a crime or there can be no crime when the criminal mind
is wanting
In crimes mala in se, mens rea has been defined before as “a guilty mind, a guilty or
wrongful purpose or criminal intent” and “essential for criminal liability.”
Statutory definition of our mala in se crimes must be able to supply what the mens
rea of the crime is and overt acts that constitute the crime.

Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code (Elements of Theft):

1. that there be taking of personal property - only one operative act of execution by
the actor involved in theft
2. Property belongs to another
3. Taking be done with intent to gain - descriptive circumstances
4. Taking be done without the consent of the owner - descriptive circumstances
5. taking be accomplished without the use of violence against or intimidation of
persons or force upon things - descriptive circumstances
Abandoned cases:
U.S. v. Adiao: failed to get the merchandise out of the Custom House -
consummated theft
Diño: Military Police inspected the truck at the check point and found 3 boxes of
army rifles - frustrated theft
Flores: guards discovered that the “empty” sea van had actually contained other
merchandise as well - consummated theft
Empelis v. IAC: Fled the scene, dropping the coconuts they had seized - frustrated
qualified theft because petitioners were not able to perform all the acts of execution
which should have produced the felony as a consequence
cannot attribute weight because definition is attempted.
The ability of the actor “to freely dispose of the articles stolen, even if it were only
momentary.”
We are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the taking by the petitioner was
completed in this case. With intent to gain, he acquired physical possession of the
stolen cases of detergent for a considerable period of time that he was able to drop
these off at a spot in the parking lot, and long enough to load these onto a taxicab.
Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code, theft cannot have a frustrated stage. Theft
can only be attempted (no unlawful taking) or consummated (there is unlawful
taking).