Daily Serving of Legal Matters

The following post is a statement of the GPH Peace Panel Chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on the armed encounter in Maguindanao on January 25, 2015 which resulted to the death of more than 40 members of Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police and various armed groups.  It is originally posted in the website of the Official Gazette of the Philippines (www.gov.ph) on January 26, 2015. The author just copied in toto the statement of Chair Coronel-Ferrer. Statement of GPH Peace Panel Chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer:
 On the armed encounter in Maguindanao [Released on January 26, 2015] We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the tragic encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao yesterday, January 25, involving the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police and various armed groups. Based on the reports of our ceasefire mechanisms, all efforts are being exerted to retrieve the casualties and provide safe passage to other SAF personnel who remain in the affected areas. Memb

If you have neighbors in your community doing any of the acts enumerated below, you may file a criminal charge against him/her or them. He/She may have committed the crime of Alarms and Scandals. The Revised Penal Code provides what constitutes the crime of Alarms and Scandals.   Said crime of Alarms and Scandals shall be charged against: 1. Any person who within any town or public place, shall discharge any firearm, rocket, firecracker, or other explosive calculated to cause alarm or danger; 2. Any person who shall instigate or take an active part in any charivari or other disorderly meeting offensive to another or prejudicial to public tranquility; 3. Any person who, while wandering about at night or while engaged in any other nocturnal amusements, shall disturb the public peace; or 4. Any person who, while intoxicated or otherwise, shall cause any disturbance or scandal in public places, provided, that the circumstances of the case shall not make the provisions on tumult and

Do you know your basic rights as an air passenger? If not, this post is for you.  The following set of images would show the summary of the rights of air passengers.  Credit goes to www.gov.ph, the website of the Official Gazette of the Philippines.

Image Credit to www.flashcards.barmaterials.com via Google. I am sure that most of us are already familiar with the term ACCESSORIES TO THE CRIME. I am hoping also that aside from hearing this term very often, we already have a grasp of what it conveys and how could we evade from committing it. The Revised Penal Code or Act Number 3815, as amended, provides a definition of accessories to the crime.  Accordingly, accessories are those who, having knowledge of the commission of the crime, and without participated therein, either as principals or accomplices, take part subsequent to its commission in the manner provided by law. Accessories are not principals nor accomplices to the crime. Accessories take part subsequent to the commission of the crimes in this manners: 1. By profiting themselves or assisting the offender to profit by the effects of the crime; 2. By concealing or destroying the body of the crime, or the effects or instruments thereof, in order to prevent its discovery;

Photo Credit to www.newsinfo.inquirer.net via Google. This post is taken from the website of the House of Representatives of the Philippines (www.congress.gov.ph).  A bill establishing the Philippine Academy for Climate Change Adaptations and Disaster Risk Reduction has been filed in the House of Representatives. Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City) said the objective of climate change body he proposed in House Bill 3987 is to provide students an opportunity to learn from experienced trainers and local communities about both the theory and practice of disasters risk reduction and climate change adaptation. "It will enrich the research activities of the students and increase their practical knowledge of the possibilities and the implementation of the theory at the community level," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said disaster risk reduction is the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through the systematic efforts to analyze and reduce the causal f

I had a client who was separated-in-fact with her husband for 18 years.  In fact, her husband already cohabited with 2 different women. Allegedly, her husband was able to contract another marriage. She was asking on whether their separation for 18 years would be a ground for annulment. To answer the query of my client, we have to examine what has been provided by our laws. In the Family Code of the Philippines, there are instances provided on which the marriages shall be void from the very beginning or the marriages shall be declared annulled.  Only those grounds provide by the Family Code shall be considered and nothing else. In the said Family Code, the following marriages shall be VOID from the beginning: 1. Those contracted by any party below 18 years of age even with the consent of parents or guardian; 2. Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform marriages unless such marriages were contracted with either or both parties believing in good faith that the

Yesterday, a walk-in client, a widower, sought a legal advice about the property he inherited from his parents. He would like to sell said property for his personal consumption. However, his children objected the idea saying that said property is a part of the absolute community property of their parents.  It is true that said property was inherited by the widower after he got married to his wife. According to the Family Code of the Philippines, the community property shall consist of ALL the property owned by the spouses at the time of the celebration of the marriage or acquired thereafter (Article 91). Further, the Family Code provides what are EXCLUDED from the community property. These are the EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY of either spouse.  These are: 1. Property acquired during the marriage by gratuitous title by either spouse, and the fruits as well as the income thereof, if any, unless it is expressly provided by the donor, testator or grantor that they shall form part of the community

Plea Bargaining.  It is a common scenario in criminal court. The accused may interpose a yes-guilty to a lesser offense which is necessarily included in the offense charged. However, it shall be with the consent of the offended party and the prosecutor.  Otherwise, there would be no plea bargaining. As to what stage the accused may be allowed to have a plea bargaining.  As provided in the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, at arraignment, the accused, with the consent of the offended party and the prosecutor, may be allowed by the trial court to plead guilty to a lesser offense which is necessarily included in the offense charged. Further, the same Rules also states that plea bargaining shall also be one of the things considered in the Pre-Trial Conference. In short, a plea bargaining is allowed for as long as the prosecutor has not offered yet any evidence to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. However, in reality, some of the judges, may allow the accused to hav

It is of common knowledge that once a case is filed in court, especially criminal case, against a person, he must be represented with a counsel or a lawyer. To be represented with a counsel is one of the fundamental rights of the accused. There are two types of counsels representing an accused in court.  These are counsel de parte and counsel de oficio. Counsel de parte is the counsel of choice of the accused engaged by him to represent him in court.  It is in line with his constitutional right to have a competent and independent counsel preferably of his own choice. Most often than not, this counsel de parte is a private practitioner and his legal services are not for gratis. However, if the accused cannot afford the services of a counsel, he must be provided with one. This counsel provided by court to defend the accused is known as counsel de oficio. As provided in the Revised Rules of Court of the Philippines, it is a duty of the court to inform the accused of his right to counsel.

In one of the courts here in General Santos City (where I am appearing as a defense lawyer), some of the cases I inherited were tried in absentia. Trial in Absentia in the sense that trials were had in the absence of the accused. Is this not a violation of the right of the accused to be present during trials? “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial, to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence in his behalf.” (Section 14, paragraph 2, Article III, 1987 Philippine Constitution) Due process requires for the accused to be present in all of the stages of the criminal proceeding. “However, after arraignment, trial may proceed notwithstanding the absence of the accused

This image is taken from windows7supportnow.com via Google. Happy New Year! It is the first day of work in 2015. First case I advised this day was all about support. Allegedly, an illegitimate child was abandoned by his father, physically and financially. Photo credit to fanathepurp.co.za via Google. In this regard, my first post this year would be focused on SUPPORT. Questions like support on illegitimate child and the amount of support shall be addressed. The Family Code  of the Philippines, specifically Article 194, provides what comprises support. Thus: “Support comprises everything indispensable for SUSTENANCE, DWELLING, CLOTHING, MEDICAL ATTENDANCE, EDUCATION AND TRANSPORTATION, in keeping with the financial capacity of the family. The education of the person entitled to be supported referred to in the preceding paragraph shall include his schooling or training for some profession, trade or vocation, even beyond the age of majority.  Transportation shall include expenses in going