23.

If in the commission of direct assault with multiple attempted homicide the accused used an unlicensed firearm, can the accused by convicted separately of the offenses of (a) illegal possession of firearms under PD 1866, as amended by RA 8294, and (b) direct assault with attempted homicide? NO. RA 8294 provides that possession and use of an unlicensed firearm shall be punishable as a separate offense only if no other crime is committed. So if an unlicensed firearm is used in the commission of any other crime, there can be no separate offense of simple illegal possession of firearms. Incidentally, the law also provides that if homicide or murder is committed with the use of an unlicensed firearm, such use of an unlicensed firearm shall be considered as an aggravating circumstance. Since direct assault with multiple attempted homicide was committed in this case, the accused cannot be separately convicted of illegal possession of firearms, and neither can the use of the unlicensed firearm be appreciated as an aggravating circumstance because the offense committed was direct assault with attempted homicide and not plain homicide or murder as provided in RA 8294. Penal laws are construed liberally in favor of the accused. In this case, the plain meaning of RA 8294s simple language is most favorable to the accused. Verily, no other interpretation is justified, for the language of the new law demonstrates the legislative intent to favor the accused. While it is true that this interpretation effectively exonerates the accused of illegal possession of an unlicensed firearm, an offense which normally carries a penalty heavier than that for direct assault. While the penalty for the first is prision mayor, for the second it is only prision correccional. Indeed, the accused may evade conviction for illegal possession of firearms by using such weapons in committing an even lighter offense, like alarm and scandal or slight physical injuries, both of which are punishable by arresto menor. This consequence, however, necessarily arises from the language of RA 8294, whose wisdom is not subject to judicial review. Any perception that the result reached here appears unwise should be addressed to Congress. Indeed, the courts have no discretion to give statutes a new meaning detached from the manifest intendment and language of the legislature. Judicial power is constitutionally confined only to applying the law and jurisprudence to the proven facts. (PEOPLE vs. LADJAALAM, G.R. Nos. 136149-51. September 19, 2000) 24. Distinctions between Public Officer, Person in Authority, and Agent of a Person in Authority The following are the distinctions b/n Public Officer, Person in Authority, and Agent of a Person in Authority: A person in authority is one directly vested with jurisdiction, whether as an individual or as a member of some court or government corporation, board or commission. The following are persons in authority: municipal mayor, division superintendent of schools, public and private school teachers, teacher-nurse, president of sanitary division, provincial fiscal, justice of the peace, municipal councilor, barrio captain and barangay chairman. An agent of a person in authority is one who, by direct provision of law or by appointment by competent authority, is charged with the maintenance of public order and the protection and security of life and property. The following are agents of persons in authority: barrio councilman, barrio policeman, barangay leader, any person who comes to the aid of persons in authority, sheriff, postmaster, agents of BIR, municipal treasurer, policemen. A public officer is any person who takes part in the performance of public functions in the government of the Philippine islands and shall perform in any of its branches public duties as an employee, agent or subordinate official, of any rank or class. 25. Cases on direct assault, qualified direct assault, and indirect assault. People v Beltran 138 SCRA 521No need to directly know the mayor or person in authority in order to be charged with direct assault. People v Dollantes 151 SCRA 592 26. Distinctions between Direct Assault and Resistance The following are the distinctions between Direct Assault and Resistance (a) In direct assault, the pia or his agent must be engaged in the performance of official duties or that he is assaulted by reason thereof; but in resistance, the pia or his agent must be in actual performance of his duties.

(b) Direct assault (second form) is committed in four ways: (i) by attacking; (ii) by employing force; (iii) by seriously intimidating; and (iv)by seriously resisting a pia or his agent; resistance or serious disobedience is committed only by resisting or seriously disobeying a pia or his agent. (c) In both direct assault by resisting an agent of a pia and resistance against an agent of a pia, there is force employed, but the use of force in resistance is not so serious, as there is no manifest intention to defy the law and the officers enforcing it. 27. CHARIVARI The term charivari includes a medley of discordant voices, a mock serenade of discordant noises made on kettles, tins, horns etc., designed to annoy and insult. 28. Acts considered as Forgery and Falsification. Distinctions: Forgery as used in Art.169 refers to the falsification and counterfeiting of treasury or bank notes or any instruments payable to bearer or order; while falsification is the commission of any of the eight (8) acts mentioned in Art. 171 on legislative, public or official, commercial, or private documents, or wireless, or telegraph messages. (see p. 197 or p. 208 Reyes) 29. A person falsified a private document and used the same to obtain fraudulent gain by means of deceit. Is the charge estafa through falsification proper? There is no complex crime of estafa through falsification of a private document, because the immediate effect of falsification of a private document is the same as that of estafa. The falsification of a private document cannot be said to be a means to commit estafa, because the fraudulent gain obtained through deceit in estafa, in the commission of which a private document was falsified, is nothing more nor less than the very damage caused by the falsification of such document. (p.237 Reyes) 30. RA 9165, also known as Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. Read the acts punishable with focus whether a plea to the lesser offense is allowed. BQ 2005: A person cannot plead guilty to a lower offense as it is prohibited under the law. Section 23 of RA 9165 states that Any person charged under any provision of this Act regardless of the imposable penalty shall not be allowed to avail of the provision on plea-bargaining.. 31. Who is a (1) Financier and (2) Protector/Coddler under R.A. NO. 9165? (1) A Financier is any person who pays for, raises or supplies money for or underwrites any of the illegal activities proscribed under RA 9165. (2) A Protector/Coddler is any person who knowingly or willfully consents to unlawful act provided for in this Act and uses his/her influence, power or position in shielding, harboring, screening or facilitating the escape of any person he or she knows or has reasonable ground to believe or suspects has violated the provisions of this Act in order to prevent the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the violator. 32. Acts punishable in RA 9208 on Human Trafficking It shall be unlawful for any person, natural or juridical to commit an of the following acts (Sec. 4): (a) To recruit, transport, transfer; harbor, provide, or receive a person by any means, including those done under the pretext of domestic or overseas employment or training or apprenticeship, for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage; (b) To introduce or match for money, profit, or material, economic or other consideration, any person or, as provided for under Republic Act No. 6955, any Filipino woman to a foreign national, for marriage for the purpose of acquiring, buying, offering, selling or trading him/her to engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage; (c) To offer or contract marriage, real or simulated, for the purpose of acquiring, buying, offering, selling, or trading them to engage in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor or slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage;

(d) To undertake or organize tours and travel plans consisting of tourism packages or activities for the purpose of utilizing and offering persons for prostitution, pornography or sexual exploitation; (e) To maintain or hire a person to engage in prostitution or pornography; (f) To adopt or facilitate the adoption of persons for the purpose of prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage; (g) To recruit, hire, adopt, transport or abduct a person, by means of threat or use of force, fraud, deceit, violence, coercion, or intimidation for the purpose of removal or sale of organs of said person; and (h) To recruit, transport or adopt a child to engage in armed activities in the Philippines or abroad. 33. Elements of Bribery The following are the elements of Direct Bribery: (1) That the offender be a public officer within the scope of Art 203 (2) That the offender accepts an offer or promise or receives a gift or present by himself or through another (3) That such offer or promise be accepted or gift/present received by the public officer (mere agreement consummates the crime) (i) with a view to committing some crime (delivery of consideration is not necessary) or (ii) in consideration of an execution if an act which does not constitute a crime, but the act must be unjust (delivery of consideration is necessary), or (iii) to refrain from doing something which is his official duty to do (4) That the act which the offender agrees to perform or which he executes be connected with the performance of his official duties. 34. Offenses under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (RA 9160). Memorize the cycle of Money Laundering. (Give at least 12 Predicate Crimes) "Unlawful activity" refers to any act or omission or series or combination thereof involving or having direct relation to the following: (a) kidnapping for ransom under Article 267 of Act No. 3815, otherwise known as the Revised Penal Code, as amended; (b) violation of Sections 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 of Republic Act No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002; (c) graft and corruption under Section 3 paragraphs B, C, E, G, H and I of Republic Act No. 3019, as amended, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; (d) plunder under Republic Act No. 7080, as amended; (e) robbery and extortion under Articles 294, 295, 296, 299, 300, 301 and 302 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended; (f) jueteng and masiao punished as illegal gambling under Presidential Decree No. 1602; (g) piracy on the high seas under the Revised Penal Code, as amended and Presidential Decree No. 532; (h) qualified theft under Article 310 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended; (i) swindling under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended; (j) smuggling under Republic Act Nos. 455 and 1937; (k) offenses related to e-commerce under Republic Act No. 8792, otherwise known as the Electronic

Commerce Act of 2000; (l) hijacking and other violations under Republic Act No. 6235; (m) destructive arson and murder, as defined under the Revised Penal Code, as amended, including those perpetrated by terrorists against non-combatant persons and similar targets; (n) fraudulent practices and other violations under Republic Act No. 8799, otherwise known as the Securities Regulation Code of 2000; and (o) felonies or offenses of a similar nature that are punishable under the penal laws of other countries. (Section 3, Republic Act No. 9160, as amended) The Money Laundering Cycle

Money-laundering is the process that disguises illegal profits without compromising the criminals who wish to benefit from the proceeds. It is a dynamic three-stage process that requires: Placementmoving the funds from direct association with the crime; Layeringdisguising the trail to foil pursuit; and, Integrationmaking the money available to the criminal, once again, with its occupational and geographic origins hidden from view.

35. Effect if a public officer immediately returns the bribe money handed over to him. BQ 2011 MCQ: A public officer who immediately returns the bribe money handed over to him commits no crime. 36. Definition of gross negligence and ill-gotten wealth. (RA 3019) Ill-gotten wealth means any asset, property, business enterprise or material possession of any person within the purview of Section Two (2) hereof, acquired by him directly or indirectly through dummies, nominees, agents, subordinates and/or business associates by any combination or series of the following means or similar schemes. Gross negligence has been so defined as negligence characterized by the want of even slight care, acting or omitting to act in a situation where there is a duty to act, not inadvertently but willfully and intentionally with a conscious indifference to consequences in so far as other persons may be affected. It is the omission of that care which even inattentive and thoughtless men never fail to take on their own property.

37. Punishable acts in the crime of Plunder under the Plunder Law. The following are predicate crimes of plunder as described in Section 1 (d) of RA 7080: 1. Through misappropriation, conversion, misuse, or malversation of public funds or raids on the public treasury; 2. By receiving, directly or indirectly, any commission, gift, share, percentage, kickbacks or any/or entity in connection with any government contract or project or by reason of the office or position of the public officer concerned; 3. By the illegal or fraudulent conveyance or disposition of assets belonging to the National government or any of its subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities or government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries; 4. By obtaining, receiving or accepting directly or indirectly any shares of stock, equity or any other form of interest or participation including the promise of future employment in any business enterprise or undertaking; 5. By establishing agricultural, industrial or commercial monopolies or other combinations and/or implementation of decrees and orders intended to benefit particular persons or special interests; or, 6. By taking undue advantage of official position, authority, relationship, connection or influence to unjustly enrich himself or themselves at the expense and to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines. 38. What is meant by combination and series of overt or criminal acts under the Plunder Law? When the Plunder Law speaks of combination, it is referring to at least two (2) acts falling under different categories of enumeration provided in Sec. 1, par. (d). Example: raids on the public treasury in Sec. 1, par. (d), subpar. (1), and fraudulent conveyance of assets belonging to the National Government under Sec. 1 par. (d), subpar. (3). On the other hand, to constitute a series there must be two (2) or more overt or criminal acts falling under the same category of enumeration found in Sec. 1, par. (d), say, misappropriation, malversation and raids on the public treasury, all of which falls under Sec. 1, par. (d), subpar. (1). Verily, had the legislature intended a technical or distinctive meaning for combination and series, it would have taken greater pains in specially providing for it in the law. (ESTRADA vs. SANDIGANBAYAN, GR No. 148560, November 21, 2001)

http://anti-moneylaunderingjournal.blogspot.com/