Introduction to

PHILIPPINE
CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM
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What Comes First, The Law Or The
Crime?
Law is that which is laid down,
ordained, or established. A rule or
method according to which
phenomena or actions co-exist or
follow each other. (Black’s Law
Dictionary)
Law – the system of rules
which a particular country or
community recognizes as regulating
the actions of its members and which
it may enforce by the imposition of
penalties.
What Comes First, The Law Or The Crime?
Most of the laws are penal in nature.
Penal laws are those acts of the legislature
which prohibit certain acts and establish
penalties for their violations; or those that
define crimes, treat of their nature, and provide
for their punishment. (Lacson v. Exec. Secretary,
G.R. No. 128096, January 1999)

Looking at the definition of the penal law

above, crime exists because of the law that
prohibits it. As the Theory of Logomacy states,
nullum crimen null poena sine lege or there is
no crime if there is no law punishing it
Definition of terms:

Criminal
- (Criminological point of view) a person who committed a crime.
- (Legal Point of view) a person who has been found guilty by final judgment by
court of competent jurisdiction.

Justice – can be described in two basic principles:

(a) giving what is due to others, and
(b) treating equals equally and unequal unequally according to their inequality.

System - refers to a process, procedure or scheme which is to be undertaken in order

to achieve certain ends.

Criminal justice - is the study of various governmental agencies which are responsible
in processing law violators.
The Different Nomenclatures Given To The person Who Is Being Processed Under The
criminal Justice System:
Offender - the principal character to the CJS.
Felon - one who committed a felony.
Suspect - one who is implicated to the commission of a crime (subject
for investigation).
Respondent - person who is a subject of preliminary investigation or
inquest proceeding.
Accused - person charged of an offense in court and facing trial.
Appellant - one who filed an appeal.
Criminal - one who is found guilty by final judgment by a competent court.
Petitioner - one who files an application for Probation, Parole or Pardon
Concepts of Crime, Law, And Justice
The 1987 Philippine Constitution created the three
great powers of the government, where one of the basic
repercussions is the separation of powers.
They are also considered to be the branches of the
government. These are the following:
1.Legislative branch – consist of a Senate and a
House of the Representatives. Power to create laws lies in
this branch.
2.Executive branch – composed of the Office of the
President. The President has the power to create
Presidential Decrees during Martial law, Executive orders,
Proclamation numbers, and Administrative Orders that
have power and effect of laws.
3.Judicial branch – power to check and balance the
constitutionality of the laws created
 The scope of Criminal Justice System is anchored on the violation of laws that are criminal
in nature. It could be a violation of public or municipal law or a special penal laws. The Revised
Penal Code (RPC) or Act no. 3815 is considered to be the public or municipal law in the Philippines.
The code is called Revised Penal Code because it was a revision of the Old Penal Code of
Spanish text. The revision is intended to incorporate and takes into consideration the existing
conditions, the special penal laws, and the rulings laid down by the Supreme Court.
The committee that revised the Code was created by Administrative Order no. 94 of the
Department of Justice, dated October 18, 1927, composed of Anacleto Diaz, as Chairman, Quintin
Paredes, Guillermo Guevara, Alex Reyes, and Mariano H. de Joya as members. The RPC, as enacted
by the Philippine Legislature, was approved on December 8, 1930 and took effect on January 1,
1932.
 Criminal Law is that branch or
division of law which defines crimes,
treats of their nature, and provides for
their punishment. (12Cye.129)
Sources of Philippines Criminal law:
1. The RPC (Act no. 3815) and its
amendment;
2. Special Penal laws passed by the
Philippine Commission, Philippine
Assembly, Philippine Legislature,
National Assembly, the Congress of the
Philippines, and the Batasang Pambansa;
and
3. Penal Presidential Decrees issued
during Martial law.
 The everyday life of every
Filipino naturally revolves around our
criminal justice system. Living a
normal life means abiding by the
laws, rules and regulations, and at
the same time enjoying the rights
and protection afforded to as citizen
of our democratic country, by the
Constitution.

Accordingly, a person who

goes beyond the bounds of the law is
expected to face the consequences of
his or her action and go through the
process of the Criminal Justice
System.
 The Criminal Justice System in
the Philippines is a modified version
of the American Justice System. The
Philippine Criminal Justice System is
comprised the following pillars: Law
Enforcement, Prosecution, Court,
Correction, and Community.
This is an innovation of the
American Justice System where it only
has three pillars, namely, Law
Enforcement, Court and Correction.
Prosecution and Community pillars
are included in our justice system
because they play a vital role in the
crime prevention and criminal justice
process.
 The criminal justice is
the mechanism intended to
deal with crime that is
detected and reported. It is
expected to do by enforcing
the five pillars with the
application of law producing
results that appropriate
justice

It also covers their

respective functional
relationship as well as the
individual roles in the
administration of justice and
solution of crimes.
 This course includes the
procedures and practices of the
criminal justice system with its
linkages to law enforcement
services, the prosecution,
court, correction and
community.

This course also

incorporates the scientific study
of crimes, criminals, societal
responses to their behavior in
penal and non-penal setting
and the administration of
criminal justice correction
including parole.
Rationale

Studying the Philippine

Criminal Justice System will
arm the students with the
basic knowledge of how the
justice system of our country
resolves. This subject will
encourage the students to
learn by heart the concept
and methods our criminal
justice system as future
members of the Philippine
National Police
PGEN RICARDO C MARQUEZ
An Overview of the Philippine Criminal
Justice System
The Philippines, like any other
country that function under a system of
a democratic society, operates its
criminal justice system apparatus
whereby society identifies, investigate,
accuses, tries, convicts, punishes, and
rehabilitates criminal offenders. Hence,
the Philippines criminal justice system
may be viewed in three challenging
perspectives, such as the following:
Purpose of CJS to deliver justice for
all, by convicting and punishing the guilty
and helping them to stop offending, while
protecting the innocent.
Three challenging perspectives, such as
the following:

First – it asserts the idea of

deterrence, the notion that the threat of
sanctions can be prevent crimes by
creating a fear of punishment for those
who might break the law.
Deterrence is the theory that criminal
penalties do not just punish violators, but
also discourage other people from committing
similar offenses. Many people point to the need
to deter criminal actions after a high-profile
incident in which an offender is seen to have
received a light sentence.
Three challenging perspectives, such as the
following:

Second – it adheres to the principles of

retribution, the idea that the criminal
offenders deserve to suffer for harm they
have done, and their punishment should be
proportionate to the harm inflicted; and

Retributive justice is equal punishment for

equal crime. An example of this is the common
punishment for murderers being capital
punishment (sentenced to death). Retributive
justice: “getting even” Retribution for a crime is
making the criminal suffer or pay an amount
appropriate to the severity of the crime.
Three challenging perspectives, such as
the following:

Third – it support on the notice of

behavioral change, which proposes that
criminal sanction should aim to reform
convicted criminal offenders so that
they will stay away for crime in the
future.
This theory maintains that human
behavior is developed through learning
experiences. The hallmark of behavioral
theory is the notion that people alter or
change their behavior according to the
reactions this behavior elicits in other people
(Bandura, 1978).
Overall Crime Situation

Index crimes
Crime Threats

Crime continues to remain a

significant concern in urban areas of
the Philippines. According to the
Philippine National Police (PNP)
Directorate for Investigation and
Detective Management, theft,
physical, assault, and robbery were
among the most common crimes
reported to local authorities in 2020.
Other common crimes included
pickpocketing, confidence schemes,
and credit card fraud, car jacking,
robberies, and violent assaults also
occurred throughout the country.
Crime Threats

The PNP reported, however,

that the total volume of crime during
the first half of 2020 had dropped, and
that the volume of index and non-
index crimes decreased. The
nationwide crime rate dropped by
21.15% from July 2019 to June 2020
compared to the same period from
2016 to 2018, according to PNP data.
Crimes against persons such as
physical injuries and sexual assault also
decreased.
Terrorism Threats

Terrorist organizations and

criminal gangs continue to operate
throughout the Philippines. Notable
groups include the New People’s
Army (NPA), the Abu Sayyah Group
(ASG), and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
Elements within the two main
insurgent groups, the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),
continue to to pose a security threat.
For more than a decade, terrorists,
insurgents, and criminal actors have
carried out major attacks against
civilians.
Terrorism Threats
Most of these have
occurred in southern and
western Mindanao and on the
islands of Basilan and Sulu
There are multiple
terrorist and militant groups
operating in the Philippines,
including the Abu Sayyaf Group
( ASG ), Islamic State Philippines
(IS-Philippines), the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom
Fighters ( BIFF ), and other
associated groups.
Drug-related Crimes

The production,
trafficking, and consumption of
illegal drugs is an ongoing
concern, and has become a
priority issue for the
government. Although an anti-
drug campaign launched in 2016
has focused primarily on arrests
and enforcement operations,
the government has indicated
that it intends to expand
treatment and rehabilitation
activities.
Drug-related Crimes
Trafficking and abuse of
methamphetamine remains the foremost
drug-related problem, followed by
marijuana and, to a lesser extent, cocaine
and MMDA / ecstacy. Transnational
organized crime groups exploit under-
staffed and under-resourced law
enforcement and a weak judicial system to
establish clandestine drug laboratories
and import wholesale quantities of
methamphetamines to supply the
domestic market. Authorities have raided
meth laboratories throughout the country,
including in major urban centers like
Manila.
Unreported Crime Incidents

Survey manifest that

out of 808 victims, only 262
(32.4%) victims reported the
crimes to the police due to the
reasons that the victims
perceived that the crime was not
serious enough, lack of evidence,
the suspect is unknown or the
witnesses would not cooperate.
On the other hand, the reason of
unreported sexual offenses are
shame or fear of reprisal
The Criminal Justice System in Perspective
The Philippine Criminal Justice System, with all its flaws
and imperfections, is still inherently ill-equiped to handle the
administration of justice and punishment of convict. The following features
provides a perspectives of our criminal justice system:
The investigation and prosecutorial process is still manifesting illegal
methods and corrupt practices that increase the risk of false convictions
and executions. A study of Amnesty International on the country’s Criminal
Justice System reveals that the police officers continue to engage in
illegalities of their, arrest, production of evidences, search and seizures,
torture and intimidation and coercion.
 The judicial process
is overloaded with the huge
volume of cases which create a
relatively high level of corruption and
recklessness in trial that raises the
margin of errors in the administration
of justice.

Under the concept of a

participative criminal justice system
in the Philippines, public and private
agencies as well as citizens, become a
part of the CJS when they participate
and become involved with issues and
activities related to crime prevention.
 Thus, citizen-based crime prevention
groups become part of the CJS within the
framework of their involvement in crime
prevention activities and in the integration of
the convict who shall be released from the
corrections pillar into mainstream of society.
A person's "participation in the
Criminal Justice System (CJS)" refers to their
involvement in any stage of the legal process,
from being a victim reporting a crime to the
police, to being a suspect investigated, a
defendant in court, or a convicted offender
undergoing sentencing and potential
rehabilitation programs; essentially, anyone
who interacts with law enforcement or the
judicial system in relation to a criminal offense
is considered to be participating in the CJS
Criminal Behavior

The birth of a criminal or delinquent

behavior is a product of factors between
man and his environment:

1. Tendencies The criminal

tendencies of a person would come to
develop if the material for committing a
crime is present. If a person possesses a
gun or any deadly weapon, a great
tendency would develop specially in his
position for him to be able to pursue his
intentions and motives in committing a
crime.
Criminal Behavior

2. Situation - The
situation is an environmental
factor that induces or invites an
individual to commit a crime.
If a person is in a situation
wherein he meet face to face the
man who raped and murdered
his wife and daughter, the
situation in itself would speak
and ignite the flaring fire of
revenge and chances are, a crime
out of the product of vengeance
would happen.
Criminal Behavior
3. Resistance - If the person’s emotional,
spiritual, moral, mental and physical or
psychological being are weak most likely he is
prone to commit violations or could not
follow certain social standards or rule
of conduct.
If the person cannot control his being out
of the temptation of his environment, no
doubt that he will commit a wrong.
But if the person is strong and mature
enough in his emotional, spiritual, moral,
mental and physical aspects of his life, most
likely he will be able to control himself and
evade to whatever temptations that would
come in various forms and perspectives
The concept of crime
Crime •
“An act or omission punishable by law” (RPC, Phils)
“An act or omission prohibited by law for the protection of the public,
the violation of which is prosecuted by the state in its own name and
punishable by incarceration.” (Model Penal Code, US)
Elements of Crime
1. An act (actus reus)
2. An unlawful act
3. An intent (mens rea)
4. Attendant circumstances
5. Concurrence of act and intent
6. Causation
What is crime and Criminal?
Crime is an act committed or
omitted in violation of a
public law forbidding or
commanding it.

A criminal is a person who

committed or omitted an act
which is in violation of law
and thereby convicted and
punished for such violation of
law.
What is Law? Why do we have
Laws?

Law is is defined as a rule of

conduct, just and obligatory.
Promulgated by legitimate authority
for common observance and
benefit.
The first and most significant
purpose of law is to maintain order
in society and to regulate human
interactions
Developments of Laws
Early Filipinos had both
forms of written and unwritten
laws.

Unwritten law consists

of those customs, traditions,
practices, usages, and other
maxims of human conduct
that the government has
recognized and enforced.
Developments of Laws
Early Filipinos had both
forms of written and unwritten
laws.
Written laws has been
defined as the system of rules
within a particular country, area
or community, recognized as
binding and enforced by an
authority, that has been collected
and arranged using some system,
often by subject, and written in a
book of such rules, a code; a
statute.
Two known written codes during
the pre-Spanish Era:
Maragtas Code– said to have been
written about 1250 A.D. by Datu
Sumakwel of Panay.
The Maragtas Code is proof of
the advanced civilization of the
Bisayans. The Code of Rajah
Kalantiaw was a supposed legal code
in the epic history Maragtas that is
said to have been written in 1433 by
Datu Kalantiaw, a chief on the island
of Negros in the Philippines.
Two known written codes
during the pre-Spanish Era:
Kalantiao Code– written in
1433 A.D. by Datu Kalantiao
also of Panay.
The Code of Rajah
Kalantiaw was a supposed legal
code in the epic history Maragtas
that is said to have been written in
1433 by Datu Kalantiaw, a chief on
the island of Negros in the
Philippines
The Datu is the head of government unit which
existed prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.
The first proposed constitution was the Liga Filipina
Constitution by Dr. Jose Rizal, followed by the Biak-na-Bato
Constitution which was established on November 1, 1897
by Emilio Aguinaldo, Emilio Trias and others.
When the Spanish
colonizers conquered the Philippines, the
Spanish Codigo Penal was made applicable and extended to
the Philippines by Royal Decree of 1870. This was replaced
with the old Penal Code which was put in place by Spanish
authorities, and took effect in the Philippines on July 14,
1876. This law was effective in the Philippines until the
American colonization of the Philippines. It was only on
December 8, 1930, when it was amended, under Act. No.
3815, with the enactment of the Revised Penal Code of the
Philippines (the “Revised Penal Code”
END OF PRELIMS