19/12/2023
TITLE 3: Article 148-152: Criminal Law II Review Notes - Revised Penal Code .
Chapter Four
ASSAULT UPON, AND RESISTANCE AND DISOBEDIENCE TO, PERSONS IN AUTHORITY AND THEIRAGENTS Art. 148. Direct assaults.
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Any person or persons who, without a public uprising, shall employ forceor intimidation for the attainment of any of the purpose enumerated in defining the crimes ofrebellion and sedition, or shall attack, employ force, or seriously intimidate or resist any person inauthority or any of his agents, while engaged in the performance of official duties, or on occasion ofsuch performance, shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periodsand a fine not exceeding P1,000 pesos, when the assault is committed with a weapon or when theoffender is a public officer or employee, or when the offender lays hands upon a person in authority.If none of these circumstances be present, the penalty of prision correccional in its minimum periodand a fine not exceeding P500 pesos shall be imposed.
DIRECT ASSAULT TO AMBASSADOR OR MINISTER PENALTY
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Violation of the law of nations-
Not more than three years imprisonment-
Fine not exceeding 200 pesos
DIRECT ASSAULT VS ORDINARY ASSAULT
DIRECT ASSAULT
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crimes against public order (triable under RTC)ORDINARY ASSAULT
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crimes against persons
TWO WAYS OF COMMITTING DIRECT ASSAULTS
1)
without public uprising, by employing force or intimidation for the attainment of any of the
purposes enumerated in defining the crimes of rebellion and sedition2)
without public uprising, by attacking, by employing force, or by seriously intimidating orseriously resisting any person in authority or any of his agents, while engaged in theperformance of official duties, or on the occasion of such performance
ELEMENTS OF THE FIRST FORM OF DIRECT ASSAULT
1.
Offender employs force or intimidation2.
The aim of the offender is to attain any of the purposes of the crime of rebellion and any of theobjects of the crime of sedition3.
There is no public uprising
The first part of Article 148 does not require that the offended party in the
first form of direct assault
is a person in authority or his agent. If the aim of the offender is to attain an object of sedition, the offended party may be a private individual or person belonging to a social class.
CRIMINAL LAW II (Article 148-152)
ELEMENTS OF THE SECOND FORM OF DIRECT ASSAULT
1)
The offender (a) makes an attack, (b) employs force, (c) makes a serious intimidation or (d)makes a serious resistance2)
The person assaulted is a person in authority or his agent3)
At the time of the assault the person in authority or his agent (a) is engaged in the actualperformance of official duties, or that he is assaulted, (b) by reason of the past performance ofofficial duties4)
The offender knows that the one he is assaulting is a person in authority or his agent in theexercise of his duties5)
There is no public uprisingATTACK
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includes any offensive or antagonistic movement or action of any kind
If the offended party is only an agent of a person in authority, the force employed must be of a seriouscharacter as to indicate determination to defy the law and its representatives at all hazards.Where the force employed on the agent of a person in authority is of a serious character, includingdetermination to defy the law and its representative, the crime committed is direct assault.The force employed need not be serious when the offended party is a person in authority. Laying handsupon a person in authority while in the performance of his official duties constitutes direct assault.The intimidation or resistance must be serious whether the offended party is an agent only or he is a person in authority.The resistance must be active since it must be grave to be considered direct assault.
PASSIVE RESISTANCE
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when the one who is placed under arrest throws himself on the ground and theresistance makes it necessary to raise him up or drag him along to jail.
When the constitutive element of direct assault is intimidation, it must be serious whether the offended party is an agent only or he is a person in authority.The intimidation must produce its effect immediately, for if the threats be some future evil, the act wouldnot be an assault. Article 148,
the second part
, protects only public officers who are either persons in authority or theiragents. Not every public officer is at the same time a person in authority or an agent of authority.
PERSON IN AUTHORITY
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any person directly vested with jurisdiction, whether as an individual or as member of some court or governmental corporation, board, or commission, shall be deemed a personin authority. A barangay captain and a barangay chairman shall also be deemed a person in authority.
The powers and duties vested in him by law should be determined.
DIRECTLY VESTED WITH JURISDICTION
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the power or authority to govern and execute the laws
CRIMINAL LAW II (Article 148-152)
Reyes, 2012, Arellano University School of Law aiza ebina/2014
Examples of Persons in Authority
1)
Division Superintendent of Schools2)
President of Sanitary Division3)
Teachers and Professors4)
Provincial Treasurer5)
Director of Posts6)
MayorAGENT OF A PERSON IN AUTHORITY
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one who, by direct provision of law or by election or byappointment by competent authority, is charged with the maintenance of public order and theprotection and security of life and property, such as a barrio policeman and barangay leader, and anyperson who comes to the aid of persons in authority.
Examples of Agents of Person in Authority
1)
Policeman2)
Municipal Treasurer (deputy ex oficio of the provincial treasurer)3)
Postmaster (agent of Director of Posts)4)
Rural Policeman (appointed by the Mayor)5)
Sheriff6)
Agents of the BIR7)
Malacanang confidential agent8)
Barangay Chief Tanod
Functions of the person in authority or his agent must be clearly shown in the information.The third requisite of the second form of direct assault requires that at the time such assault orintimidation or resistance is made, the person in authority or his agent (1) is engaged in the actual performance of his official duty or (2) at least that the assault or intimidation is done by reason of the past performance of said duty.When the persons in authority or their agents descended to private matters which are private in nature,an attack made by one against the other is not direct assault.The scope of the respective powers of public officers and their agents is fixed. If they go beyond it andthey violate any recognized rights of the citizens, then the latter may resist the invasion, especially whenit is clear and manifest. The resistance must be coextensive with the excess and should not be greaterthan what is necessary to repel the aggression.When a person in authority or his agent is the one who provokes and attacks another person, the latter isentitled to defend himself and cannot be held liable for assault or resistance nor for physical injuries,because he acts in legitimate defense.
PERSON IN AUTHORITY OR HIS AGENT WHEN NOT IN THE PERFORMANCE OF OFFICIAL DUTIES
1)
When person in authority or his agent exceeds his power or acts without authority
2)
When agent of authority makes unnecessary use of force or violence to make him respected, hegoes beyond the limits of his powers.
He then acts as a private person.
3)
When both offender and offended party, who are both persons in authority or their agents,descend to matters which are private in nature
If the person in authority or his agent is attacked in any of these instances, the crime committed is only
physical injuries or homicide
, as the case may be. An assault upon a person in authority may be committed by another person in authority as Article 148
makes it an aggravating circumstance when the offender is a “public officer or employee.”
There can be no assault upon or disobedience to one authority by another when they both contend in theexercise of their respective duties. When there is an actual conflict of jurisdiction, there is no rebellionagainst the principle of authority, but an endeavor to enforce the authority which each of the disputantsrepresent.The accused assaulting must have knowledge that that offended party was a person in authority or hisagent in the exercise of his duties, because the accused must have the intention to offend, injure orassault the offended party as a person in authority agent of authority. The defendant must have theintention to defy the authorities.Direct assault is characterized by the spirit of aggression directed against the authorities or their agents,hence the circumstance of disregard of respect due the offended party on account of his rank may beconsidered inherent therein.Direct assault is also committed when the person in authority or his agent is attacked or seriously
intimidated “on occasion or such performance.”
OCCASION OF SUCH PERFORMANCE
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the impelling motive of the attack is the performance of official
duty. The words “on occasion” signify “because” or “by reason” of the past performance of official duty,
even if at the very time of the assault no official duty was being discharged. Hence, it is not necessarythat the person in authority or his agent is in the actual performance of his official duty when attackedor seriously intimidated as regards to this clause.Evidence or motive of the offender is important in direct assault when the person in authority or hisagent who is attacked or seriously intimidated is not in the actual performance of his official duty. It isdirect assault when the motive of the offender in assaulting the person in authority was the
performance of the latter’s official duties done befor
e the assault. Otherwise, it would only be physicalinjuries. But when a person in authority or his agent in in the actual performance of his official duty, themotive of the offender is immaterial.
WITHOUT PUBLIC UPRISING
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No public uprising in the second form of direct assault-
If there is public or tumultuous uprising, the crime may be sedition
KINDS OF DIRECT ASSAULT IN THE SECOND FORM
1)
Simple assault2)
Qualified assault
QUALIFIED ASSAULT
1)
Assault is committed with a weapon2)
Offender is a public officer or employee3)
Offender lays hands upon a person in authorityWEAPON
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objects with which some physical injury may be inflictedSLIGHT PHYSICAL INJURY
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absorbed in direct assault
COMPLEX CRIMES
1)
Direct assault with murder or homicide2)
Direct assault with serious or less serious physical injuries------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Art. 149. Indirect assaults.
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The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium periodsand a fine not exceeding P500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall make use of force orintimidation upon any person coming to the aid of the authorities or their agents on occasion of thecommission of any of the crimes defined in the next preceding article.ELEMENTS
1)
A person in authority or his agent is the victim of any of the firms of direct assault defined inArticle 1482)
A person comes to the aid of such authority or his agent3)
Offender makes use of force or intimidation upon such person coming to the aid of the authorityor his agent
Indirect assault can be committed only when a direct assault is also committed.The offended party in indirect assaults may be private persons.
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Art. 150. Disobedience to summons issued by the National Assembly, its committees orsubcommittees, by the Constitutional Commissions, its committees, subcommittees or divisions.
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The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from two hundred to one thousand pesos, or both suchfine and imprisonment shall be imposed upon any person who, having been duly summoned to attendas a witness before the National Assembly, (Congress), its special or standing committees andsubcommittees, the Constitutional Commissions and its committees, subcommittees, or divisions, orbefore any commission or committee chairman or member authorized to summon witnesses, refuses
