Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Group 5
Virata Dan Christian
Elpa Eduardo
Gonzalez Joselito
Lagsa Edgar
• What is an executive clemency ?
• Clemency simply means leniency or mercy. A power given to a public official, such
as a governor or the president, to in some way lower or moderate the harshness of punishment
imposed upon a prisoner. Clemency is considered to be an act of grace. It is based on the policy
of fairness, justice, and forgiveness. It is not a right but rather a privilege, and one who is granted
clemency does nor have the crime forgotten, as in amnesty, but its forgiven and treated more
leniently for the criminal acts.
• Executive clemency is the power of a president in state convictions, to pardon a
person convicted of a crime, commute the sentence (shorten it often to time already served), or
reduce it from death to another lesser sentence. There are many reason for exercising this
power, including real doubts about the guilt of the party apparent excessive sentence,
humanitarian concerns such as illness of an aged inmate, to clear the record of someone who
has demonstrated rehabilitation or public service, or because the party is a political or personal
friend of the governor.
• It is an executive function and not a function of the judiciary. It is also non-delegable
power and it can only be exercised by the president of the Philippines personally. ( Villena vs.
Secretary of the interior , 67 phil. 452, 453)
• The president extends executive clemency for administrative penalties. The constitution
makes no distinction with regard to the extent of the pardoning power except with respect to
impeachment. ( Llamas vs. Orbos , G.R No. 99031 , Oct 15, 1991)
• The Plenary Power of the President to Grant Executyive Clemency
• Executive Power under Section 1 of Article VII, 1987 Philippine Constitution is defined as
the power to enforce and administer the laws, which means carrying them into practical operation
and enforcing their due observance. The president shall ensure that laws are faithfully executed.
(Sec 17,Art VII, 1987 Philippine Constitution)
• Another mandated power of the president under the 1987 Philippine Constitution is the
Pardoning power. Pardon is the act of grace by the Chief Executive exempting the individual on
whom it is betsowed from punishment which the law inflicts for a crime he has committed Pardon
may be granted only after conviction by final judgment.
• Section 19 Except in cases of impeachment, or as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the
President may grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, and remit fines and forfeitures, after
conviction by final judgement.
• He shall also the power to grant amnesty with the cocurrence of a majority of all Members of the
Congress.”
• Limitations on the Execise of the Power to Grant Pardon
• 1. It cannot be granted in cases of impeachment.
• Impeachment has been defined as a method of national inquest into the conduct of public
men.
• 2. It cannot granted in cases of violation of election laws without the favorable recommendation
of the Commission on Elections.
• 3. It can only be granted after conviction by final judgment.
• The second limitation is based on the constitutional provision under Article IX(C) (5). The
commission on elections. Sec 5 Provides:
• “Section 5. No pardon, amnesty, parole, or suspension of sentence for violation of election laws,
rules, and regulations shall be granted by the President without the favorable recommendation of
the Commission.”
Causes Of Total Extinction of Criminal Liability Under Article 89
of the Revised Penal Code (RPC)
1. DEATH CONVICT – death convict extinguishes criminal liability at any stage of the criminal
proceeding: civil liability is likewise extingguished if death occurs before final judgment. If death
occurs, there will be nobody to serve the penalty for the crime. The death of the convict, whether
before or after final judgment, extinguishes criminal liability, because one of the juridical
conditions of penalty is that it is personal.
What are the Effects of Death of the Accused?
A. Death of the offender before or during trial.
If death occurs before or during the trial, the criminal case must be dismissed. This is so
because of the preservation of the constitutional rights of the deceased accused who would not be
anymore in a position to defent himself. Further, it would be useless to proceed because the ends of
criminal justice (Retribution and rehabilitation) could not anymore be served. There would be no
convict upon whom the personal penal consequences of the offense could be imposed, neither is
there a culprit who needs rehabilitation. (Domondon, Primus Pre-Bar Review Division, 2009 Wrap-up
Review Notes in Crminal Law, p.97)
B. Death of accused Pending appeal.
The death of the accused pending the appeal of his conviction will extinguish his criminal
liability as well as his civil liability arising from the criime committed. However civil liability arising
from sources other tahn the crime committed survivesand may be pursued in a separate civil action.
Sources of civil liability other than crime are law, contracts, quasi-contracts, and quasi-delicts.
(People vs. Bayotas, G.R No. 152007, September 2, 1994)
C. While death pending appeal extinguishes criminal liability, the Supreme Court may still
review the case.
The accused death pending appeal of his conviction result to automatic dismissal of the
charges. The Supreme Court may however review the case and if the accused is found innocent,
shall render the appropriate judgment, belated though it may be to vindicate his sullied honor and
redeem his memory from an undeserved accusation.
• 2. SERVICE OF THE SENTECE – after the convict served his sentence, his criminal liability is
automatically extinguished. However, service of sentece does not extinguish his civil liability.
• Crime is a debt incurred by the offender as a consequence of his wrongful act and the
penalty is but the amount of his debt when payment is made, the debt is extinguished.
• 3. Amnesty - is granted by proclamation of the chief executive with the concurrence of
congress. It is a public act of which the courts should take judicial notice. Criminal action or
liability is totally extinguished by amnesty, completely extinguishing the penalty and its effect
Amnesty is an act of the sovereign power granting oblivion a general pardon for a fast
offense, and is rarely, if ever, exercised in favor of a single individual, it is usually exerted in behalf of
certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted.
4. Absolute pardon - looks forward and relieves the offender from the consequences of an offense
of which he has been convicted. An absolute pardon not only blots out the crime committed but also
removes all disabilities resulting from the conviction.
• 5. Prescription of penalty- is the loss or waiver of the state of its right to punish the convict. In
other words, prescription of penalty is the loss or forfeiture of the right of the government to
execute the final sentence after the lapse of a certain time
• Prescription of penalty occurs when the convict escapes from detention or evades the
service of his sentence. Evasion of service of sentence is a condition precedent to the running of
the period. The tolling of period of prescription of penalty occurs when he commits another crime,
or is captured or goes to another country with which the Philippines has no extradition treaty.
• Prescriptive period Means the period within which a specified action must be filed.
• Special Time Allowance for Loyalty of Prisoner refers to the deduction of 1/5 of the period of
the sentence of a prisoner who, having evaded the service of his sentence during the calamity or
catastrophe mentioned in Art.1 158 of the RPC gives himself up to the authorities within 48hours
folloiwng the issuance of the proclamation by the president announcing the passing away of the
calamity or catastrophe. Art 98 RPC.
• Who may grant Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA)?
• The Director of Prisons may grant GCTA to an inmate who displays good behavior
and who has no record to breach of discipline or violation of prison rules and regulations.
• Whenever lawfully justified, the Director of Prison shall grant allowances for good
conduct. Such allowances once granted shall not be revoked. Art 99 RPC,
• Revocation/Restoration of GCTA
• GCTA once granted shall not be revoked without just case. The GCTA, which an inmate is
deprived of because of misconduct, may be restored at the discretion of the Director upon the
recommendation of the Superintendent.
• 4. PAROLE – release from imprisonment but without full restoration of liberty as parolee is still
in the custody of the law although not in confinement.
• Parole consists in the suspension of the sentence of a convict after serving the minimum
term of the indeterminate penalty, without granting pardon prescribing the terms upon which the
sentence shall be suspended. If the convict fails to observe the conditions of the parole the board
of pardons and parol is authorized to direct his arrest and return to custody and thereafter to
carry out his sentence without deduction of the time that has elapsed between the date of the
parole and the subsequent arrest.
• A pardon is an act of grace proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of
laws which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed from the punishment the law inflicts
for a crime has committed. It is the private though official act of the executive magistrate
delivered to the indiviudal for whose benefit is is intended and not communicated officially to the
court. A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not
complete without acceptance it may then be rejected by the person to whom is is tendered and if
it be rejected we have discovered no power in a court to enforce it on him.
• 2. REPRIEVE – the execution of the sentence is stayed or postponed. (people vs Vera, 65 phil. 56
110 (1937)
• A reprieve is a withdrawal or withholding of punishment for a time after conviction and sentece
and is in the nature of a stay of execution. It postpones the execution of a sentence to a day cetain.
Usually, it is granted to a prisoner to afford him an opportunity to procure some amelioration of the
sentence imposed.
• Reprieve is also another prerogative exercised by the President of the Philippines. Generally it
is applied to death sentences already affirmed by the Supreme Court. But it can also be invoked in
other cases that have become final. In death sentences, the date of execution of the death convict
is held in abeyance for a certain period to enable the Chief Executive to temporarily stay execution
of sentence.
• A president usually resorts to this resolve all his doubts and reservations and want to really
establish that the convict truly deserves to be executed. The President may not want to be
conscience-striken if later it is found out that the executed convict did not deserve to die. Reprieve
is also being widely exercised by the President on almost all death convicts because of strong
pressure from various lobby groups.
• A reprieve deffers froma pardon in that the former extablishes a temporary delay in the
enforcement of the snetence impose by the court, without changing the sentence of forgiving the
crime while a reprieve might be issued for the execution of prisoner to give time to the prisoner to
prove his or her onnocence.
• 3. PAROLE – Refers to the conditional release of an offender from a correctional institution after
he has served the minimum of his prison sentence. The person subject of parole is released from
imprisonment but his liberty is not fully restored because the parolee is still considered in custody
of the law although he is not in confinement.
• Parole is the palnned release and community supervision of incarcerated offenders before
actual expiration of their prison sentences. It is usually considered a way of completing a prison
snetence in the community and it not be the same as a pardon the paroled offender can be
legally recalled to serve the remainder of his or her sentence in an institution if the parole
authorities deem the offenders adjustment inadequate or if while on parole the offender commits
another crime.
• 4. AMNESTY – is an act of grace given with the concurrence of congress it is usually extended
to groups of persons who committed political offenses. It abolished the offense itself.
• 5. COMMUTATION – mitigates or reduces the penalty itself. Commutation is a remission of a
part of the punishment; a substitution of a less penalty for the one originally imposed.
• In criminal law, commutation is the substitution of a lesser punishment for a greater one.
Commutation of Sentence is the change in the sentence of the court made by the President
which consists in reducing the penalty imposed upon the offender.
• Commutation of sentece refers to the reduction of the duration of a prison sentence. It is
another prerogative of the President as provided under the Constitution. It is an act of clemency
by which a heavier or longer sentence is reduce to a lighter or shorter tem. Example a death
sentence of life imprisonment is reduced to a shortter sentece. Commutation does not forgive the
offender but merely reduces the penalty of life imprisonment or death sentece for a term of years.
• A commuutation of sentence amounts to a reduction of the penalty originally imposed.
Commutation of sentence may take place even without the grantee’s consent under the revised
penal code, as amended by republic act no. 7659 (death penalty) providing for the re-imposition
of the death penalty commutation of the penalty of death to reclusion perpetua is provided in
cases when a convict is below eighteen 18years of age at the time of the commission of the
crime or over 70 years of age or when the required majority vote is not obtained for the
imposition of or affirmance of an imposed death penalty by the supreme court En Banc.
• Commutation of sentence also benefits inmates sentenced to a fixed or determinate sentence,
which renders him or her ineligible for parole. Commutation of sentence changes the original
fixed sentence to a lesser inderteminate sentence, which will then enable the beneficiary to be
released on parole. Commutation is also appropriate to convicts sentenced to several counts.
• - The Board shall submit all relevant documents to the office of the President along with its
resolution recommending the grant of executive clemency, including the following documents.
• 1) A summary in matrix form of the following information about the prisoner.
• a. Name
• b. crime for which convicted
• c. Penalty imposed
• d. Actual the spent in prison (not including Good conduct time allowance)
• 2) if recommended for commutation
• a. Recommended commuted term
• b. Time to be served without commutation
• c. Time to be served with commutation
• 3) Statement whether;
• a. Convicted (prior to or subsequent to conviction of crime of which executive clemency is
sought) for Kidnap for Ransom or any drug-related offense; and
• c. Previously granted executive clemency.
• 4) the prisoners carpeta, prison record, and mittimus or commitment order;
• 5) copy of notice of publication of names of those being considered for executive clemency
pursuant to section 11.
• Note; the office of the President shall not act upon any recommendation for executive clemency
form the board unless all supporting documents enumerated above have been submitted ( Sec
19 Amended Guidelines for Recommending Executive Clemency)
• THANK YOU !!