3. Civil Liability of Persons Exempt from Criminal Liability

Above 15 but below 18 years old, acting WITHOUT discernment at the time of the commission of the offense

Criminal liability – EXEMPT, but subject to Intervention program

Civil liability – LIABLE

Above 15 but below 18 years old, acting WITH discernment at the time of the commission of the offense

Criminal liability – The child is criminally liable, subject to diversion if qualified under RA 9344, secs. 23–24, as amended by RA 10630; otherwise, the case proceeds under the Act’s rules for children in conflict with the law.

Civil liability – LIABLE

Civil liability

In cases falling within subdivision 4 of Art. 11, the persons for whose benefit the harm has been prevented, shall be civilly liable in proportion to the benefit which they may have received (Art. 101, RPC). The civil liability here is not ex-delicto.

Although as a rule, there is no civil liability in justifying circumstances, it is only in this instance where there is civil liability, but civil liability is borne by the persons benefited.

Chapter 10: Exemptions from Criminal Liability in Crimes against Property

Art. 332. Persons Exempt from Criminal Liability

No criminal, but only civil, liability shall result from the commission of the crime of theft, swindling or malicious mischief committed or caused mutually by the following persons:

• Spouses, ascendants and descendants, or relatives by affinity in the same line;
• The widowed spouse with respect to the property which belonged to the deceased spouse before the same shall have passed into the possession of another; and
• Brothers and sisters and brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, if living together.

The exemption established by this article shall not be applicable to strangers participating in the commission of the crime

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Notes:

• The article does not apply to strangers participating in the commission of the crime.
• There is only civil liability.
• Does not apply to robbery or estafa through falsification; hence, if a son committed estafa through falsification of a commercial document against his father, he is criminally liable for the crime of falsification.

ANTI-FENCING LAW OF 1979 (PD NO. 1612)