ARTICLE 3: BILL OF RIGHTS

Rights of the Accused

Ms. Joyce dela Cruz | Department of Social Sciences
 SECTION 12
(1) Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense shall
have the right to be informed of his right to remain silent and to have
competent and independent counsel preferably of his own choice. If the
person cannot afford the service of counsel, he must be provided with one.
(2) No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which
vitiate the free will shall be used against him. Secret detention places,
solitary, incommunicado, or other similar forms of detention are
prohibited.
(3) Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or Section 17
hereof shall be inadmissible in evidence against him.
(4) The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for violations of this
section as well as compensation to and rehabilitation of victims of torture
or similar practices, and families.
“under investigation”
• When a particular suspect is taken in custody by the police
who carry out the process of investigation and interrogation.
• The authorities must ensure that the accused who has already
been arrested or detained (with or without warranted) shall be
protected of his rights.
• The right of silence and to counsel can only be waived if it is
expressed in writing and in the presence of counsel.
 SECTION 13
All persons, except those charged with punishable by reclusion
perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be
bailable by sufficient sureties, or be released on recognizance as may
be provided by law. The right to bail shall not be impaired even when
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended. Excessive
bail shall not be required.
“bail”
• To relieve an accused from imprisonment until his conviction and yet
secure his appearance at the trial.
• The right to bail is granted because in all criminal prosecutions, the
accused is presumed innocent
• May be in the form of cash deposit, property bond, secured from a
surety company, or recognizance.
• A person in hiding or at large cannot invoke this right.
• Not available to persons charges with capital offense, especially if the
evidence against him is strong
• No bail shall be allowed after the judgement has become final, or after
the accused has commenced to serve his sentence
• Except on capital offense, right to bail can still be practice even if the
writ of habeas corpus is suspended.
Considerations on determining the bail
• Nature of the offense
• Penalty which the law attached to it
• The probability of the guilt
• Financial condition of the accused

– Under the discretion of the judge

 SECTION 14
(1) No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due
process of law.
(2) In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent
until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by
himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial,
to meet the witness face to face, and to have compulsory process to
secure the attendance of witness and the production of evidence in his
behalf. However, after arraignment, trial may proceed
notwithstanding the absence of the accused provided that he has been
duly notified and his failure to appear is unjustifiable.
Right to due process of the accused
• Trial before a court having jurisdiction
• Provision of fair and impartial trial
• Provision of all legal means and opportunity to defend himself

• The judgment awarded against him must be within the

authority of a valid law
Presumption of innocence
• No person shall be convicted of a crime except upon confession or
unless his guilt is established by proof beyond reasonable doubt
• Evidence(s) must be strong enough to convince the court that the
accused is clearly and unmistakably guilty, not because he cannot
prove that he is innocent, but because the evidence(s) proved that
the accused is guilty without reasonable doubt
• It is better to acquit a person upon the ground of reasonable doubt
even though he may in reality be guilty, than to inflict
imprisonment on one who may be innocent
• The State is only required to establish a prima facie case after
which the accused is given an opportunity to present evidence to
rebut it
Right to be heard by himself and counsel
• The defendant shall be entitled to be present and defend in
person at every stage of the proceedings, from the arraignment
to the promulgation of judgment
• The accused must personally enter his plea
• After a plea of not guilty, the accused is entitled to 2 days to
prepare for trial unless the court for good cause grants him
further time
• Before arraignment, the court shall inform the accused of his
right to counsel and provide him one if he wishes to
• A hearing is indispensable even if the guilt of the defendant is
very apparent
Right to counsel
• To avoid instances wherein the accused has been convicted not
because he is guilty but because he does not know how to
establish his innocence
Right to be informed of the nature and cause
of accusations against him
• To criminal complaint or information should be sufficiently
clear to a person of ordinary intelligence as to what the charge
is as to enable him to prepare for his defense
• There is a violation of the right where an accused has been
charged with an offense and convicted of another, or where no
arraignment of the accused has taken place
Right to have a speedy, impartial and public
trial
• A trial conducted according to fixed rules, regulations, and
proceedings of law free from vexatious, capricious and
oppressive delays
• A long delay in the judicial process serves as a refuge of the
accused if he is guilty and a continuing injustice for him if he
is innocent
Right to have a speedy, impartial and public
trial
• No man can be a judge of his own case and no man is
permitted to try cases where he has an interest in the outcome
• Every procedure which would offer even only a possible
temptation to the judge to forget the burden of proof required
to convict the defendant, denies to latter due process of law
Right to have a speedy, impartial and public
trial
• It is open to all (i.e., the accused friends and relatives and
others who may be inclined to watch the proceedings in order
to see if justice is intelligently and impartially if administered
• However, there may be occasions to exclude from a trial those
who are inclined to attend from idle or morbid curiosity only,
especially when public morals and decency required it
Right to confrontation of witnesses
• To give the accused an opportunity to cross-examine witness
against him to test their recollection and veracity
• To give the judge an opportunity to see the demeanour and
appearance of witnesses while testifying, in aid of the judge’s
trial of facts
Right to compulsory production of witnesses
and evidence
• Subpoenas are offered to compel the attendance of witnesses
in his favor, including warrant of arrest, if needed
• The accused must provide reasonable and diligent effort to
have the witnesses appear and testify
• The accused can also ask the court to order a person to
produce in court certain evidences and testify with respect to
them
• The accused has also the right to inspect evidences that might
be presented to prove his guilty, provided that it is under the
supervision of the law-investigating authority
Trial in the absence of the accused, provided
that:
• He has been arraigned
• He has been duly notified of the trial
• His failure to appear is unjustifiable
 SECTION 15
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended
except in cases of invasion or rebellion when the public safety
requires it.
Writ of habeas corpus
• An order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, directed to
the person detained another:
1. commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner at a designated time
and place, and
2. to show sufficient cause for holding in custody the individual so detained.

• The writ is the proper remedy of the accused in each and every
case of detention without legal cause or authority

• The privilege of the writ is the further order from the court to
release an individual if it finds his detention without legal cause or
authority
Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus
• The detained person can still be presented in court, but the
official who detained him may ask the court not to continue
the proceedings. Thus, the judge may be prevented to
determine whether or not the person’s detention is authorized
by law
• Can only be done in case of invasion, rebellion or when public
safety requires it
• Suspension is done to hold in preventive imprisonment
pending investigation and trial of persons who plot against or
commit acts that endanger its very existence
 SECTION 16
All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases
before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.
Right to a speedy disposition of cases
• While Section 14 guarantees the right to speedy trial in
criminal cases, Section 16 covers all phases of any case before
judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies from its filing
to its disposition
• All courts (including bodes as NLRC and SEC) have
appropriate time frames in the disposition of cases, which is
based on the last pleading submitted
 SECTION 17
No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
Rationale
• A person would be tempted to commit perjury to defend
himself
• Prevents extortion of confession by duress
• An accused has also the right to silence, implying that his
refusal to testify may not be used as a presumption of guilt or
taken as evidence against him
Conditionalities
• Purely personal and cannot be done by a third person
• Only in cases of:
– testimonial compulsion (i.e., if a person has to admit guilt against his will)
– production of evidence that will compel him to make a statement against
him
– involuntary affixing of signature
• Does not apply:
– to protect a person from presenting facts that may expose him of public
ridicule or disgrace
– If the testimony may subject a person to a liability that does not arise from
any criminal action
– To protect a person from a past criminality, or if the crime has already been
prescribed
 SECTION 18
(1) No person shall be detained solely by reason of his political beliefs
and aspirations.
(2) No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a
punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted.
Right against detention solely be reason of
political beliefs and aspirations
• People can freely speak of what they think is wrong with the
government and its leaders, or seek changes to the government
and its policies which they believe to be necessary or the
removal of public officials unworthy of their trust
Right against involuntary servitude
• Protection against slavery and peonage
• Exceptions:
– When it is imposed as a punishment of a crime where the person has
been duly convicted
– When personal military or civil service so requires
– To injunctions requiring striking of laborers to return to work
– Military and naval enlistment
– When parents of their authority require their children to perform
reasonable amount of work
– When there is a proper exercise of police power
 SECTION 19
(1) Excessive fines shall not be impaired, nor cruel, degrading or
inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall death penalty be
imposed, unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes,
the Congress hereafter provides for it. Any death penalty already
imposed shall be reduced to reclusion perpetua.
(2) The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading
punishment against any prisoner or detainee or the use of substandard
or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman conditions shall be
dealt with by law.
Right against cruel, degrading or inhuman
punishments
• Includes punishments that involve torture of lingering death
and subhuman penal facilities
• Excludes death by hanging and electrocution and banishment
• Punishment is degrading when it brings shame and humiliation
to the victim or exposes him of public ridicule, or lowers his
human dignity
• Gravity of punishment must correlate to the gravity of the
offense
 SECTION 20
No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non-payment of
tax
Debt and poll tax
• Debt refers to civil or contractual debt or one not arising from
a criminal offense. A person may be imprisoned for failure to
pay tax as it is not a debt.
• Poll tax refers to a tax of fixed amount imposed on individuals
residing within a specified territory, whether citizens or not,
without regard to their property or the occupation in which
they may be engaged (i.e., community tax)
 SECTION 21
No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment
for the same offense. If an act is punished by law and an
ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall
constitute a bar to another prosecution of the same act.
Double Jeopardy
• When the person is charged with an offense and the case is
terminated either by acquittal or conviction or in any other
manner without the express consent of the accused, the latter
cannot again be charged with the same or identical offense.
 SECTION 22
No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.
Ex post facto law
• Deprives a person’s protection or defense previously available
• Operates retroactively
– Before passage of the law, the person is innocent; afterwards, the
person is guilty
– Aggravates a crime or makes it greater than when it is committed
– Changes the punishment and inflicts greater punishment what
the law annexed to the crime
– Alters the legal rules of evidence
Bill of Attainder
• Legislative act which inflicts punishment without due trial
• Includes trial by legislature
QUIZ
Which violates the right against double
jeopardy clause?
• A person was charged with murder and was eventually proven not
guilty. On his way home, he drove a car and accidentally hit a
pedestrian who eventually died. He was immediately arrested and
held under custody.

• A person trespassed a house, raped the owner of the house, stabbed

her to death, robbed her properties, then burned her house down. He
was being charged with multiple crimes at the same case.

• A person burned his garbage in an open flame. He was charged in

violation of a city ordinance and the clean air act. Both law
stipulates the prohibition of such action.