Article 36

Pardon: Its Effects

CONCEPT
Amnesty- it is an act of the sovereign power granting oblivion or general pardon for a past offense, and is
rarely, if ever exercised in favor of a single individual, and is usually extended in behalf of certain classes
of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted.
Pardon- it is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws, which
exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts for the crime he has
committed.
- Pardon must be given after final judgment, otherwise, there will be violation of the Doctrine of Separation
of Powers.

Kinds of Pardon

Absolute Pardon

Conditional Pardon

The total extinction of criminal liability of the individual

to whom it is granted without any condition.

The exemption of an individual within certain limits

or conditions from the punishment which the law
inflicts for the offense he had committed resulting
in the partial extinction of his criminal liability.

It restores to the individual his civil and political rights

and remits the penalty imposed for the particular
offense of which he was convicted.

Effects of Pardon by the President:

1. A pardon shall not restore the right to hold public office or the right of suffrage.
Exception: When any or both such rights is/are expressly restored by the terms of the pardon.
2. It shall not exempt the culprit from the payment of the civil liability.

Limitations upon the exercise of the pardoning power:

1. That the power can be exercised only after conviction by final judgment;
Final Judgment- means judgment beyond recall.
Judgment becomes final:
a. After the lapse of the period for perfecting an appeal;
b. When the sentence has been partly or totally satisfied or served,
or
c. The defendant has expressly waived in writing his right to appeal
(Sec. 7, Rule 16, Rules of Court).

2. That such power does not extend to cases of impeachment;

3. No pardon, amnesty, parole or suspension of sentence for violation of election laws rules and
regulations shall be granted by the President without the favourable recommendation of the
COMELEC.
General Rule: When the principal penalty is remitted by pardon, only the effect of that principal
penalty is extinguished, but not the accessory penalties attached to it.
Exception: When an absolute pardon is granted after the term of imprisonment has expired, it
removes what is left of the consequences of conviction.

As to the crime
covered
As to the effect
on civil liability
As to
extinguishment of
criminal liability

When granted
To whom granted

As to whether it
can be
conditional

Pardon by the Chief Executive (Art. 36)

Pardon by the Offended Party (Art. 23)

Can extend to any crime, unless otherwise

provided by or subject to conditions in the
Constitution or the laws.
Cannot affect the civil liability ex delicto of the
offender.

Applies only to crimes against chastity under the

RPC and marital rape.

Extinguishes criminal liability.

Does not extinguish criminal liability.

Can be extended only after conviction by final

judgment of the accused.
To any or all of the accused.

May be absolute or conditional.

PARDON
Includes any crime and is exercised individually by the
President.
Exercised when the person is already convicted.
Merely looks forward and relieves the offender from the
consequences of an offense which he has been convicted;
it does not work for the restoration of the rights to hold
public office, or the right of suffrage, unless such rights are
expressly restored by means of pardon.
Does not alter the fact that the accused is a recidivist as it
produces only the extinction of the personal effects of the
penalty.
Does not extinguish the civil liability of the offender.
Being a private act by the president, it must be pleaded
and proved by the person pardoned.

The offended party can waive the civil liability.

Although lasciviousness by the valid marriage of

the victim and the offender, and in adultery and
concubinage, by the express or implied pardon by
the offended spouses.
Can be validly granted only before the institution
of the criminal action.
In
seduction,
abduction
and
acts
of
lasciviousness, it benefits the co-principals,
accomplices and accessories.
In adultery, and concubinage, must include both
offenders.
Cannot validly be made subject to a condition.

AMNESTY

A blanket pardon to classes of persons or communities

who may be guilty of political offenses.
May be exercised even before trial or investigation is had.
Looks backward and abolishes and puts into oblivion the
offense itself, it so overlooks and obliterates the offense
with which he is charged that the person released by
amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he had
committed no offense.
Makes an ex-convict no longer a recidivist, because it
obliterates the last vestige of the crime.
Does not extinguish the civil liability of the offender.

Being a Proclamation of the Chief Executive with the

concurrence of Congress; it is a public act of which the

courts should take judicial notice.

Extinction of criminal liability does not automatically extinguish civil liability (Petralba v.
Sandiganbayan, GR No. 81337, August 16, 1991).

Death of the offended party will not extinguish the criminal liability of the accused even in private
offenses.

Civil liability is extinguished only when death occurs before final judgment.

Effect of death of the accused pending appeal of his conviction:

General Rule: Death of the accused pending appeal of his conviction extinguishes his criminal liability as
well as the civil liability based solely on the offense committed.
Exception: Civil liability arising from sources other than the crime committed survives and may be
pursued in a separate civil action.
Sources of civil liability other than crime are law, contracts, quasi-contracts and quasi-delicts (People v.
Bayotas, GR No. 152007, Septemeber 2, 1994).

Parole- is the suspension of the sentence of a convict, after serving the minimum term of the
indeterminate penalty, without being granted a pardon, prescribing the terms upon which the sentence
shall be suspended.
CONDITIONAL PARDON

PAROLE

May be given at any time after final judgment; is granted

by the Chief Executive under the provisions of the
Administrative Code.

May be given after the prisoner has served the

minimum penalty; is granted by the Board of
Pardons and Parole under the provision of the
Indeterminate Sentence Law.

For violation of the conditional pardon, the convict

may be ordered re-arrested or re-incarcerated by
the Chief Executive, or may be prosecuted under
Art. 159 of the Code.

For violation of the terms of the parole, the convict

cannot be prosecuted. Under Art. 159 of the RPC,
he can be re-arrested and re-incarcerated to serve
the unserved portion of his original penalty.

Article 23
Effect of Pardon by the Offended Party
General Rule: Pardon by the offended party does not extinguish the criminal liability of the offender.

Reason: A crime committed is an offense against the State. Only the Chief Executive can pardon the
offenders.
NOTE: In criminal cases, the intervention of the aggrieved
parties is limited to being witnesses for the prosecution.

Compromise does not extinguish criminal liability.

Exception: Pardon by the offended party will bar criminal prosecution in the following crimes:
1. Adultery and Concubinage (Art. 344, RPC).
- EXPRESS or IMPLIED pardon must be given by offended party to both offenders.
- Pardon must be given prior to institution of criminal action.
2. Seduction, Abduction, Acts of Lasciviousness
- EXPRESS pardon given by offended party or her parents or grandparents or guardian.
3. Rape
- The subsequent valid marriage between the offender and the offended party shall extinguish
criminal liability or the penalty imposed.