Daily Serving of Legal Matters

On August 08, 2019, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11362 or the "Community Service Act" in lieu of the imprisonment for penalties of arresto menor  and arresto mayor. But it was only on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, that the Supreme Court approved the guidelines in the imposition of community service as a penalty, which promotes restorative justice and jail decongestion.  These guidelines are contained in A.M. No. 20-06-14-SC which was promulgated by the SC En Banc, which would take effect on November 2, 2020 after the required publication. So, by November 2, 2020, this community service for minor offenses shall take effect. What are these minor offenses?    These are the offenses having an imposable penalty of arresto menor and arresto mayor. Arresto menor involves an imprisonment of one (1) day to thirty (30) days while the arresto mayor is an imprisonment of thirty (30) days and one (1) day to six (60) months. What would constitute comm...

Image grabbed from www.google.com Just this morning, someone was bothered because her name was used in dealing with transaction that would have an impact on her person.  If not abated, it would cause damage not only on her properties but on her identity in general. We have a law penalizing using fictitious name and concealing true name.  Accordingly, a penalty shall be imposed upon any person who shall publicly use a fictitious name for the purpose of concealing a crime, evading the execution of a judgement or causing damage. As defined, a fictitious name is an assumed name that differs from an individual's actual name (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fictitious). What is the purpose of using fictitious name?  As provided, the purpose shall be for: 1.  concealing a crime;  2.  evading the executing; or 3.  causing damage. Note that the use of a fictitious name shall be for PUBLIC. What is the penalty ...

It is not uncommon to see persons who have no means of subsistence but beg in the streets, public plazas, within the vicinity of the churches, traffic lights and in some other public places.  Some of them would indulge into selling their reputation or into prostitution in order to survive. As a matter of fact, some of us would consider them as eye sores. An eye sore that our government has continuously adopted measures in order to address this problem.  But, it seems those measures implemented and adopted by the government were inutile as the problem worsens. Actually, the Revised Penal Code provides a penalty for such act. Legally speaking, these people are called VAGRANTS. As defined, vagrants are: 1.  Any person having no apparent means of subsistence, who has the physical ability to work and who neglects to apply himself or herself to some lawful calling; 2.  Any person found loitering about public or semi-public buildings or places or tramping or wandering about...

Wikipedia defines abortion as  the termination of  pregnancy  by the removal or expulsion from the  uterus  of a  fetus  or  embryo  before  viability .   An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is often called a  miscarriage , or it can be purposely  induced . The term  abortion  most commonly refers to the induced abortion of a human pregnancy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion ). This picture is taken from this site  http://www.advocatesoflife.com/graphicabortionimages.htm In the Philippines, abortion is penalized under the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.  It is not legal and therefore any person who promotes this act shall be penalized. Based on the Revised Penal Code, the criminal act of abortion may be termed as INTENTIONAL or UNINTENTIONAL ABORTION. Article 256 of the Revised Penal Code states the penalty for any person committing an intentional abortio...

According to this website  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Duel,  duel is defined as a prearranged combat between two persons, fought with deadly weapons according to an accepted code of procedure, especially to settle a private quarrel. An image of duel taken from bing images. The scene of duel is very common in classic films, both foreign and local films, wherein the antagonist challenges the protagonist to do the duel.  Of course, no matter how skillful the antagonist is, it is the protagonist that would end up as a winner. Duel, as common as it may seem, is prohibited by law.  It is penalized in the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines. According to Article 260 of the Revised Penal Code: "Responsibility of participants in a duel. - The penalty of reclusion temporal shall be imposed upon any person who shall kill his adversary in a duel.    If he shall inflict upon the latter physical injuries only, he shall suffer t...

Allegedly, in the real-life drama and legal battle of Vhong Navarro-Cedric Lee-Deniece Cornejo-Roxanne Acosta Cabanero, the camp of former beauty contestant Roxanne Acosta Cabanero denied that their charge of rape to Vhong Navarro states the specific time and date of its commission. The said denial allegedly has irked Vhong Navarro's, thus it considers the filing of Perjury Case, among others, against Roxanne Acosta Navarro. How does this crime of perjury be committed?  What would be the impossable penalty of this crime? According to the Revised Penal Code, the crime of perjury may be committed by: "Any person who, knowingly making untruthful statements, shall testify under oath, or make an affidavit, upon any material matter before a competent person authorized to administer an oath in cases in which the law so requires." shall testify under oath: If a person shall testify under oath, or, for instance, telling false statements in open court.  He/...