Criminal Law › The Revised Penal Code – Book One › Penalties
1. Classification
LIGHT FELONIES
Those infractions of law for the commission of which the penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 40,000 pesos or both, is provided.
Arbitrary Detention and Unlawful Arrest, Distinguished
| ARBITRARY DETENTION | UNLAWFUL ARREST |
| AS TO THE CLASSIFICATION | |
| Crime against the fundamental law of the State | Crime against liberty |
| AS TO OFFENDER | |
| Public officer | Any person |
| AS TO PURPOSE OF OFFENDER | |
| No intention to bring the offended to a proper authority but merely to detain him | Purpose of arrest is to bring the offended to proper authorities and file a charge against him |
| AS TO THE MANNER OF COMMISSION | |
| Although authorized, detains a person without legal ground | Private person: arrests a person without reasonable ground therefor, and the purpose is to deliver the person arrested to the proper authorities.Public officer: not authorized to arrest and detain a person but does so, or he did not act in his official capacity |
Robbery in a store:
- Art. 299 – if the store is used as a dwelling; or if the store is a dependency of an inhabited house with an interior entrance connected therewith;
- Art. 302 – if the store is not used as a dwelling;
Superior Strength vs. Committed By a Band
| BY A BAND (PAR. 6) | SUPERIOR STRENGTH (PAR. 15) |
| Committed by more than 3 armed malefactors regardless of the comparative strength of the victim/victims. | Taking advantage by the culprits of their collective strength to overpower their relatively weaker victim or victims. |
Taking advantage of superior strength means deliberately using a marked superiority in force to overpower the victim. Employing means that materially weaken the resisting power of the offended party is a distinct aggravating circumstance under the same paragraph (Revised Penal Code, Art. 14(15)).