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In Gigantoni vs. PP, the petitioner was not accused of ART. 179 – illegal use of uniform or insignia
usurpation of official functions. He was only indicted for CA 142, AAB RA 6085 – Anti Alias Law
usurpation of authority.
FALSE TESTIMONIES
USURPATION ART. 180 – false testimony against a defendant
ART. 178 – using fictitious name and concealing true ART. 181 – false testimony favorable to the
name (purpose must be to conceal a crime, evade a defendant
judgment or cause public damage) ART. 182 – false testimony in civil cases
FIRST PARAGRAPH ONLY OF 183
If Tomas Cruz changes his name to Tom Cruise
because he wants to be a Hollywood actor, would it be a There is a hearing/trial. If the trial is criminal in nature,
violation of 178? No. Because even if he is using a it’s either we have a violation of 180 or 181. If the false
fictitious name, he was not doing it in order to conceal a testimony favors the victim and against the accused it is
crime or evading a judgment or cause public judgment. a crime that is punished under 180. But if it is in favor of
the accused, then it will be a crime under 181. Whether it
If the person’s real name is Juan Dela Cruz but he is is in favor or not in favor, it is punished under 180/181.
known popularly as Jaguar.
If the case is a civil case, regardless of who it favors, it
Now because Jaguar is very common, he started will be punished under 182.
shedding of that name and went to another place and
adopted now his real name, which is Juan Dela Cruz. What matters is that it is a false testimony regardless of
The purpose was in order to conceal a crime. Is that a who benefited from it.
violation under 178? No. because in one 178 you
must use a fictitious name. he was not using a It is not necessary that the testimony be actually be
fictititous name. it was his real name. considered by the Court in its decision.
What is the act? Must be using a fictitious name ART. 183. FALSE TESTIMONY IN OTHER CASES
Purpose of that act? Purpose must be to evade or AND PERJURY
conceal a crime. The first paragraph talks about false testimony in other
case, meaning not civil, not criminal. What is this kind of
Be conscious of the element because if a crime has hearing? It can be labor, administrative or a case before
several elements and one is missing there is no more the Civil Service or maybe before the PRC.
crime, or it is possible that it is only attempted or that the
crime is another crime. What’s important is testimony is given in those cases as
a witness.
The second paragraph is more popular and it’s called giving the statement swears to the truthfulness and the
perjury. It has no relation to the first paragraph or the veracity of the contents
preceding articles. This is a completely different thing.
This is not about testimony but executing an affidavit, MATERIAL MATTER is the main fact, which is the
which is false. subject
Affidavit is a statement under oath/sworn statement ART. 185 MACHINATIONS IN PUBLIC AUCTIONS
wherein the person giving the statement swears to the There are two acts punished under this article: in
truthfulness and the veracity of the contents. common usage, the term is buy-out.
1. Soliciting any gift or promise as a consideration
When you say something that is not true, when does it from refraining from taking part
become perjury and falsification? Here you have to 2. Attempting to cause bidders to stay away
remember this is not something verbally done. Unlike in Note: in both instances, there must be a public auction
181, 182 & 183 first paragraph, those can be verbally Also punished under other laws such as procurement
done. But here and falsification, these are not verbally law because now under this law, there has to be bidding.
done but in written documents.
In a buy out for example, if there are 5 bidders and the
ELEMENTS OF PERJURY 2nd paragraph of 183: contract is for making a bridge even if there is no river,
1. Accused made a statement under oath or there’s going to be a construction of a bridge so there
executed an affidavit will be contractors, unless they call it that there’s a
a. Falsification – it must not be under oath. negotiated contract meaning there is no other person or
It can be public, notarized, but the one entity capable of doing it. But otherwise, if the work or
executing it doesn’t say that you are the project to be done, if it is not something new or
swearing to its veracity. specialized, there has to be at least 3 bidders. Let’s say
b. Affidavit as a sworn statement - that there are 3 bidders. One bidder will buy-out
“subscribed and sworn to before…” – meaning they will give them money so that they will bid
jurac. If this is a jurac, that means that higher. So if they will bid higher, they will not win. Tuyo-
the document is a sworn statement. on ba, so that the others will not win. There are in fact
c. But if the bottom part contains “before contractors who have very high ratings for purposes of
me personally appeared…”, that portion document pleadings but actually do not have skills or
is called an acknowledgment. You do even the equipment. What they do is they just participate
not swear to it, you jut acknowledged in biddings so that they can make money form buy-outs.
that you were the one who appeared
and executed the document. Nonetheless, there has to be a public auction but there
d. If it is an acknowledgment, it is a public is a special penal law on this.
document wherein any falsehood
constitutes falsification. OFFENSES AGAINST DECENSY AND GOOD
2. It pertains to a material matter CUSTOMS
a. E.g if you say that, I Juan Dela Cruz, 25 ART. 200 – GRAVE SCANDAL – is any highly
years old but actually you are 75 years scandalous act offensive to morals and good customs
old, if it is not connected to the matter, it and committed publicly OR within the knowledge and
will not be perjury. Is there something view of the public
wrong, false? Yes. Will it be perjury? Not necessarily a specific act. To constitute grave
No. for it to be perjury, there must be scandal, what is necessary is the test of an act. So in
the other elements. If it is not grave scandal, it can be any act, same as unjust
material, there is not perjury. vexation, what we are after here is what is the effect.
b. It must be the main fact. If it is not, then Whether or not the act results in a highly scandalous act
it is not material. that is offensive to the morals and public customs. Or an
3. It was made before a competent officer act done, highly scandalous act, which is done within the
4. There is a deliberate assertion of falsehood knowledge or view of the public. so therefore, when a
5. It is required by law couple or maybe more than a couple have sex in the
a. Maghimo lang kag affidavit, I Juan Dela confines of their private houses, that is not per se
Cruz, I am the owner of USC. “Nganong immoral. But it becomes highly scandalous if it is
naghimo man ka?” Wala lang, trip performed in view of the public. Or if it is an act which is
b. Is that perjury? No. because you do not highly offensive. It may not be sexual, but in the context
need it, nobody is requiring you to of Philippine culture. Diba when we say grave scandal
execute that affidavit. You’re not even it’s always sexual, but it may not be. The law does not
transacting it. Is that notarized? Yes, limit itself to scandal which is sexual in nature.
but that alone will not make it perjury.
Note: it applies only when there is no other felony
This is about executing an affidavit where the affidavit committed. It is a catch-all provision
was false; a statement under oath wherein the person
Punishes everything that shocks the audience or the Prostitutes under the RPC requires habituality in
morals. engaging in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct
Can Art. 202, RPC be reconciled with RA 9208, aab
Grave scandal must be directed to the sense of decency RA 10364?
or good customs and NOT on property. Public view is In April 2012, vagrancy was decriminalized
not always necessary as long as the act performed as in
a public place. Now there is another special penal law, which refers to
human trafficking. Here, the crime consists of women
For example if you commit vandalism, that is a crime who are recruited and made to work as commercial sex
against property. But what you drew is something that is workers. Many prostitutes have been recruited maybe
shocking, that will not only be vandalism that would also willingly or unwillingly. They go into the job into the
be grave scandal. commercial sex work. Now according to this law which is
the human trafficking law, the act of recruiting, in order
ART. 201 – IMMORAL DOCTRINES, OBSCENE that the person recruited will be made to work for sexual
PUBLICATIONS AND EXHIBITIONS AND INDECENT or whatever purpose, the recruiter will be criminally
SHOWS liable.
Supplemented by many other special penal laws. By
publication it may be through radio, TV, print or whatever Take a look at Art. 202. Here, the one who is criminally
media. It may even be live exhibitions for example. liable is not the manager, it is the prostitute herself. It’s
not even the customer. So if a customer hires a
Note: mere possession of obscene literature is not prostitute peddled by the bugaw, if the 3 of them will be
punishable. Possession must be coupled with caught, under the RPC, the only one who goes to jail is
publishing, exhibiting and distribution the prostitute. That’s under the revised penal code. The
customer will get away with it.
Under 201, mere possession of the playboy magazine is
not a crime because in order that we have a violation of There used to be a time, not very long ago when the
201 it must be public, published. There must be entrapment operations because how do you commit
distribution or making known to the public. If you just prostitution? You will engage in sexual. How do you
keep it inside your room for your personal consumption, catch, at least in the mind of the police, a person who is
there is no crime. However, we have to relate with the engaging in sexual conduct? According to them, you
special penal law; child pornography. have to participate. So they conduct entrapment
operations wherein somebody will act as the decoy,
However, RA 9775 punishes mere possession of child kumbaga sa drugs pani, pusher buyer, he will participate
porn materials. in the entrapment operations by acting as the customer.
Why? The logic is that they will not go to jail since under
But if you have a magazine of porn stars for example, the RPC only the prostitute is punished.
mere possession is not a crime. But if children, mere
possession is a crime. Here comes the trafficking law, the one who uses a
trafficked person, is now liable. In contrast, the
Mangraid ug dirty bars, mga striptease joint, these fall prostitute, the trafficked person will not be liable.
under 201 but this may not only be the crime committed.
While it is true that we have this law, there are other If the prostitute is a trafficking victim, only the manager,
crimes that are already punished under special penal the bugaw, the pimp and the customer can be held liable
laws. So there may be other penal crimes such as under the human trafficking law. But if the prostitute is
human trafficking. not a trafficking victim, the human trafficking law will not
apply. What will apply is RPC, Art. 2 wherein even the
ART. 202, first paragraph has already been repealed user/customer will not incur criminal liability.
which refers to vagrancy. In 2012, vagrancy has
already been decriminalized. However, paragraph 2 of In prostitution, it is not required that there be sexual
Article 202 has still been retained which refers to intercourse; mere lascivious conduct can be prostitution.
prostitution. For example, karaoke with the GRO or something like
that who engaged not in the usual service like food but
But if you look at the definition of prostitution, you rendering extra services. Although the services are not
will see that only women can commit the crime of sexual, but provided it is already lascivious, that is
prostitution. Men cannot commit the crime. already prostitution.