Daily Serving of Legal Matters

What is a crime of treason? How it may be committed? Could it be committed anytime? A simple definition of treason is an act betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government . (www.goggle.com) taken from  wallstreetrebel.com Article 114 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines provides that: "Any Filipino citizen who levies war against the Philippines or adheres to her enemies, giving them aid or comfort within the Philippines or elsewhere, shall be punished by reclusion perpetua to death and shall pay a fine not to exceed 100,000 pesos. No persons shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses at least to the same overt act or on confession of the accused in open court. Likewise, an alien, residing in the Philippines, who commits acts of treason as defined in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be punished by reclusion temporal to death and shall pay a fine not to...

This post is a reply to the query thrown by one of my followers on whether or not the crime committed in violation of anti-fencing law prescribes.  Yes, all crimes have prescriptions.  But the period of prescription may vary depending on the degree of its imposable penalties. Article 90 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines states the prescription of crimes.  Thus: Crimes punishable by DEATH, RECLUSION PERPETUA or RECLUSION TEMPORAL shall prescribe in TWENTY YEARS. Crimes punishable by other AFFLICTIVE PENALTIES shall FIFTEEN YEARS. Those punishable by a CORRECTIONAL PENALTY shall prescribe in TEN YEARS; with the exception of those punishable by ARRESTO MAYOR, which shall prescribe in FIVE YEARS. The crime of libel or other similar offenses shall prescribe in ONE YEAR. The offenses of oral defamation and slander by deed shall prescribe in SIX MONTHS. Light offenses prescribe in TWO MONTHS. When the penalty fixed by law is a compound one, the highest penalty shall b...

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...

For the information of the readers, we have a law penalizing the cattle rustling.  This law is known as Presidential Decree Number 533 or otherwise known as the Anti-Cattle Rustling Law of 1974. Photo courtesy of bing images. Based on the said law, cattle rustling is defined as the taking away by any means, methods or scheme, WITHOUT THE CONSENT of the owner/raiser, of any of the animals considered as large cattle whether or not for profit or gain, or whether committed with or without violence against or intimidation of any person or force upon things.  It includes the killing of large cattle, or taking its meat or hides without the consent of the owner/raiser. Thus if the taking away or the killing of any of the large cattle is with the consent of the owner/raiser, there is no cattle rustling to speak of. As provided in this law, large cattle shall include the COW, CARABAO, HORSE, MULE, ASS, or other domesticated member of the bovine family. What is the ...

Before you buy a secondhand item or goods, you have to make it sure that the same came from a legitimate source, otherwise, you might be indicted with the crime violating an Anti-Fencing Law of 1979.  It is common for us that we buy secondhand items or goods impulsively especially gadgets that are sold at a very low price.  Before you know it, you are buying gadgets which are relatively "GSM" or "GALING SA MAGNANAKAW" and you might see yourself defending in court. Secondhand goods sold in the market.  Courtesy of bing images.   As defined in Presidential Decree No. 1612 or otherwise known as the Anti-Fencing Law of 1979, fencing is the act of any person who, with intent to gain for himself or for another, shall buy, receive, possess, keep, acquire, conceal, sell or dispose of, or shall buy and sell, or in any other manner deal in any article, item, object or anything of value which he knows, or should be known to him, to have been derived from the pr...

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...

The Revised Penal Code defines who are brigands.  As defined in Article 306 of the said code, as quoted below: "When more than three armed persons form a band or robbers for the purpose of committing robbery in the highway, or kidnapping persons for the purpose of extortion or to obtain ransom, for any other purpose to be attained by means of force and violence, they shall be deemed highway robbers or brigands." A picture of brigands taken from bing images. Based on the above-mentioned definition of brigands, they are at least four criminals who are armed persons for the purpose of committing: 1.  Robbery in the highway; or 2.  Kidnapping persons for the purpose of extortion or to obtain ransom; or 3.  For any other purpose to be attained by means of force and violence. The crime committed by these brigands or highway robbers is known as brigandage. The penalty to be imposed to brigands is prision mayor in its medium period to reclus...