COMPLEX CRIMES 9.

Unintentional Abortion
10. Disturbance of proceeding
SIDENOTE: 11. Forcible Abduction
Pro Reo Doctrine 12. Interruption of religious worship
Whenever a penal law is to be construed or 13. Giving assistance to suicide
applied and the law admits of two 14. Falsification of Legislative
interpretations documents
–one lenient to the offender and one strict to 15. Flight to enemy’s country
the offender 16. Direct Assault
–that interpretation which is lenient or 17. Serious Physical Injuries
favorable to the offender will be adopted
Light Felonies – are those infractions of law
Grave Felonies – are those in which the law in which the penalty is arresto menor or a fine
attaches a capital punishment or a penalty not exceeding 200 pesos or both
which is afflictive in any of its periods 1. Vagrancy
1. Rape 2. Light threats
2. Treason 3. Light coercions
3. Infanticide 4. Betting in sports contest
4. Parricide 5. Illegal cockfighting
5. Murder 6. Alteration of Boundary Marks
6. Homicide 7. Prostitution
7. Mutilation 8. Alarms and scandals
8. Destructive Arson 9. Gambling
9. Qualified Bribery 10. Malicious mischief (if such value
10. Intentional Abortion does not exceed 200 pesos)
11. Qualified Piracy 11. Intriguing against honor
12. Robbery with homicide 12. Using false certificates
13. Kidnapping and serious illegal 13. Slight physical injury
detention 14. Slander by deed (if it is not serious in
14. Kidnapping and failure to return nature)
minor 15. Theft (the value of thing stolen is not
15. Counterfeiting the great seal of the over 5 pesos, and the offender acted
Government of the Philippine Island under the impulse of hunger, poverty)

Less Grave Felonies – are those in which the Important Notes:

penalties in their maximum period are  constitute only one crime in the eyes
correctional of the law as well as in the conscience
1. Sedition of the offender
2. Slavery  singularity of criminal impulse
3. Arbitrary detention  2 Kinds of Complex Crimes
4. Violation of Domicile 1. Compound crime (delito
5. Direct Bribery compuesto)
6. Disloyalty of public officers or 2. Complex crime proper (delito
employees complejo)
7. Espionage
8. Grave Scandal
 COMPOUND CRIME
Pama)
Requisites:
1. That only a single act is performed by
the offender.
2. That the single act produces (1) two
or more grave felonies, or (2) one or
more grave and one or more less
grave felonies, or (3) two or more less
grave felonies.
**Note: Light felonies produced by
the same act should be treated and
punished as separate offenses or may
be absorbed by the grave felony.
1. Several light felonies
resulting from one single
act — not complex
2. When the crime is
committed by force or
violence, slight physical
injuries are absorbed.
**Note: But when the acts are wholly
different, not only in themselves, but also
because they are directed against two
different persons, as when one fires his
revolver twice in succession, killing one
person and wounding another (U.S. vs.
Ferrer, 1 Phil. 56), or when two persons are
killed one after the other, by different acts,
although these two killings were the result of
a single criminal impulse (People vs.
Alfindo, 47 Phil. 1), the different acts must be
considered as distinct crimes.
Examples:
1. The single act of Pama in firing a
shot, the same bullet causing the
death of two persons who were
standing on the same line of the
direction of the bullet. (People vs.
Pama, C.A., 44 O.G. 3339)
**Note: (As cited by the SC in People vs
1. People vs Pama: best exemplified by
the first of the two cases is where one
shot from a gun results in the death of
two or more persons. Jurisprudence
teaches that, in this factual setting, the
complex crime defined in the first
part of Article 48 finds application.
2. People vs. Balotol: A similar rule
obtains where one stabbed another
and the weapon pierced the latter's
body through and wounded another.
The first died instantaneously; the
second, seven days later. This Court
convicted the assailant of double
murder.
3. People vs Largo: So where a person
plants a bomb in an airplane and the
bomb explodes, with the result that a
number of persons are killed, that
single act again produces a complex
crime.
4. People vs Pardo: when various
victims expire from separate shots,
such acts constitute separate and
distinct crimes
5. When in obedience to an order
several accused simultaneously shot
many persons, without evidence how
many each killed, there is only a
single offense, there being a single
criminal impulse.
(the ruling in the Lawas case applies
only when there is no evidence at all
to show the number of persons killed
by each of several defendants)
6. 'when, for the attainment of a single
purpose (underscoring supplied)
which constitutes an offense, various
acts are executed, such acts must be
considered only as one offense,' a
complex crime (People vs. Penas, 66
Phil. 682, 687)
7. The "single-criminal-impulse,"
"same motive" or the "single-
 purpose" theory has no legal basis, for
Article 48 speaks of "a single act."
However, the theory is acceptable
when it is not certain who among the
accused killed or injured each of the
several victims.
8. There is no complex crime of arson
with homicide under Art. 48.
Reason: Art. 320
9. Applicable to crimes through
negligence
Reason: Art. 9
10. Theft of firearm and illegal
possession of same firearm do not
form a complex crime — they are two
distinct crimes.
Reason: Art. 48 speaks of two or
more grave or less grave felonies
resulting from a single act, which
excludes crimes punishable by
special laws, like the law punishing
illegal possession of firearms.
COMPLEX CRIME PROPER
(does not exist when the two crimes are
punished under different statutes.)
Requisites:
1. That at least two offenses are
committed.
Examples:
a. Falsification of a public document
by an accountable officer
(altering the duplicate of the
cedulas already issued to other
persons by erasing the names
originally written thereon and
writing in their places new names)
is an offense which is necessary to
commit malversation (collecting
P2.00 from each of them and
misappropriating the amount),
which is another offense. (People
vs. Barbas, 60 Phil. 241, 243)
b. Simple seduction by means of
usurpation of official functions.
(U.S. vs. Hernandez, 29 Phil. 109)
(The crime of usurpation of
official function (Art. 177) was a
necessary means for committing
the crime of simple seduction.
(Art. 338)
c. Abduction as a necessary means
for committing rape (The crime of
forcible abduction (taking a
woman against her will with lewd
designs — Art. 342) was a
necessary means for committing
the crime of rape (having sexual
intercourse with a woman by
using force, etc. — Art. 266-A,
People vs. Manguiat)
2. That one or some of the offenses must
be necessary to commit the other.
**Note:
a. The phrase "necessary means"
does not mean "indispensable
means."
3. That both or all the offenses must be
punished under the same statute.
Important Notes:
1. When in the definition of a felony one
offense is a means to commit the
other, there is no complex crime.
2. Subsequent acts of intercourse, after
forcible abduction with rape, are
separate acts of rape.
Reason: when the first act of rape
was committed in the truck, the
crime of forcible abduction was
already consummated so that each
of the succeeding rapes
committed in the house cannot
legally be considered as still
connected with the abduction.
The crimes committed are one (1)
 forcible abduction with rape and
sixteen (16) separate rapes.
(People vs. Bohos, No. L-40995,
June 25, 1980, 98 SCRA 353,
364) and even while the first act
of rape was being the crime of
forcible abduction was already
consummated, so that each of the
three succeeding rapes cannot be
complexed with forcible
abduction. (People vs. Jose, No.
L-28232, Feb. 6, 1971, 37 SCRA
450, 475)
3. No complex crime when trespass to
dwelling is a direct means to commit
a grave offense. (People vs.
Abedosa, 53 Phil. 788, 791)
Reason: The trespass to dwelling
will be considered as the
aggravating circumstance of
unlawful entry under par. 18, or of
breaking a part of the dwelling
under par. 19, of Art. 14
4. No complex crime, when one offense
is committed to conceal the other.
5. When the offender had in his
possession the funds which he
misappropriated, the falsification of a
public or official document involving
said funds is a separate offense.
**Note: But when the offender
had to falsify a public or official
document to obtain possession of
the funds which he
misappropriated, the falsification
is a necessary means to commit
the malversation.
6. No complex crime where one of the
offense is penalized by a special law.
7. Illegal possession of firearm is not a
necessary means to commit homicide.
Reason: homicide and illegal
possession of firearm are punished
under different statutes.
8. Illegal possession of firearm, when
considered a special aggravating
circumstance.
Reason: the use of an unlicensed
firearm in murder or homicide is now
considered ered, not as a separate
crime, but merely a special
aggravating circumstance. (People
vs. Castillo, G.R. Nos. 131592-93,
February 15, 2000)
9. Illegal possession of firearm absorbed
in rebellion.
10. When two or more crimes are
committed but (1) not by a single act,
or (2) one is not a necessary means for
committing the other, there is no
complex crime.
11. There is no complex crime of
rebellion with murder, arson, robbery,
or other common crimes.
Reason: Murder, arson and robbery
are mere ingredients of the crime of
rebellion, as means "necessary" for
the perpetration of the offense.
(Enrile vs. Salazar, G.R. No. 92163,
June 5, 1990, 186 SCRA 217, 229)
Such common offenses are absorbed
or inherent in the crime of rebellion.
(People vs. Hernandez, 99 Phil. 515)
But a rebel who, for some
independent or personal motives,
commits murder or other common
offenses in addition to rebellion, may
be prosecuted for and convicted of
such common offenses. (People vs.
Geronimo, 100 Phil. 90, 99)
12. When two crimes produced by a
single act are respectively within the
 exclusive jurisdiction of two courts of
different jurisdiction, the court of
higher jurisdiction shall try the
complex crime.
**Note: an accused should not be
harassed with various prosecutions
based on the same act by splitting the
same into various charges. (People vs.
Lizardo, No. L-22471, Dec.
11,1967,21 SCRA 1225, 1227,
reiterating People vs. Silva, No. L-
15974, Jan. 30, 1962, 4 SCRA 95)
13. Art. 48 is intended to favor the culprit.
Reason: when two or more crimes
are the result of a single act, the
offender is deemed less perverse than
when he commits said crimes through
separate and distinct acts. (People vs.
Hernandez, 99 Phil. 515, 542-543)
**Note: If a person fired a shot and
killed two persons with the same shot,
were it not for Art. 48, he would be
sentenced to reclusion temporal for
each homicide. But under Art. 48, he
shall be sentenced to the maximum
period of one reclusion temporal
only. Reclusion temporal has a
duration of 12 years and 1 day to 20
years.
14. The penalty for complex crime is the
penalty for the most serious crime, the
same to be applied in its maximum
period.
**Note:
a. If the different crimes resulting
from one single act are punished
with the same penalty, the penalty
for any one of them shall be
imposed, the same to be applied in
the maximum period.
b. But when one of the offenses, as a
means to commit the other, was
committed by one of the accused
by reckless imprudence, that
accused who committed the
offense by reckless imprudence is
liable for his act only.
c. When the homicide, physical
injuries, and the burning of a
house are the result of one single
act of negligence, there is only
one penalty, but there are three
civil liabilities.
15. When the penalty for one of the
crimes resulting from a single act is
beyond the jurisdiction of the
municipal court, there should be
additional penalty for the other.
**Note: if there is only damage to
property, the amount fixed therein
shall be imposed, but if there are
also physical injuries, there
should be an additional penalty
for the latter. (Angeles vs. Jose,
96 Phil. 151, 152)
16. When two felonies constituting a
complex crime are punishable by
imprisonment and fine, respectively,
only the penalty of imprisonment
should be imposed.
17. Art. 48 applies only to cases where
the Code does not provide a definite
specific penalty for a complex crime.
18. One information should be filed when
a complex crime is committed.
**Note: But if four crimes of murder
and a frustrated murder resulted from
the firing of several shots at five
victims, the crimes are not complex.
Five informations should be filed.
(People vs. Pineda, G.R. No. L-
26222, July 21,1967, 20 SCRA 748,
 750, 754) In case of conviction, five
penalties shall be imposed.
19. When a complex crime is charged and
one offense is not proven, the accused
can be convicted of the other.
20. Art. 48 does not apply when the law
provides one single penalty for
special complex crimes.
**Note: robbery with homicide (Art.
294, par. 1), robbery with rape (Art.
294, par. 2), or kidnapping with
serious physical injuries (Art. 267,
par. 3), or kidnapping with murder or
homicide (Art. 267, last par.), or rape
with homicide (Art. 335), Art. 48
does not apply because the Revised
Penal Code provides for one single
penalty for each of those special
complex crimes.
21. Where the person kidnapped is killed
in the course of the detention,
regardless of whether the killing was
purposely sought or was merely an
afterthought, the kidnapping and
murder or homicide can no longer be
complexed under Art. 48, nor be
treated as separate crimes, but shall be
punished as a special complex crime
under the last paragraph of Art. 267,
as amended by R.A. No. 7659.
(People vs. Ramos, 297 SCRA 618,
citing Parulan vs. Rodas)
PLURALITY OF CRIMES
DEFINITION: successive execution by thE
same individual of different criminal acts
upon any of which no conviction has yet been
declared.
Kinds of Plurality of Crimes
1. formal or ideal plurality
**Note: one criminal liability in this
kind of plurality
2. real or material plurality
**Note: there are different crimes in
law as well as in the conscience of the
offender. In such cases, the offender
shall be punished for each and every
offense that he committed.
Important Notes:
1. In recidivism, there must be
conviction by final judgment of the
first or prior offense; in plurality of
crimes, there is no conviction of any
of the crimes committed.
2. A person committing multiple crimes
is punished with ONE penalty in the
following cases:
 When the offender commits
any of the complex crimes
defined in Art. 48 of the Code.
 When the law specifically
fixes a single penalty for two
or more offenses committed.
Examples:
Robbery with homicide (Art.
294); Kidnapping with
serious physical injuries. (Art.
267, par. 3)
 When the offender commits
continued crimes.
3. Continued Crime – a single crime,
consisting of a series of acts but all
arising from one criminal resolution.
4. Continuing Offense – continuous,
unlawful act or series of acts set on
foot by a single impulse and operated
by an unintermittent force, however
long a time it may occupy. (22 C.J.S.,
52)
 **Note: Although there is a series of
acts, there is only one crime
committed. Hence, only one penalty
shall be imposed.

5. The series of acts born of a single

criminal impulse may be perpetrated
during a long period of time.
6. A continued crime is not a complex
crime

Reason: because the offender in

continued or continuous crime does
not perform a single act, but a series
of acts, and one offense is not a
necessary means for committing the
other and not being a complex crime,
the penalty for continued crime is not
to be imposed in the maximum
period.

7. Transitory Crime – “moving crime”

and different from continued in
criminal procedure to determine
venue
8. Distinguish real or material plurality
from continued crime

Ans: while in real or material

plurality, each act performed by the
offender constitutes a separate crime,
because each act is generated by a
criminal impulse; in continued crime,
the different acts constitute only one
crime because all of the acts
performed arise from one criminal
resolution.