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- there is no crime
- no criminal liability; no civil liability (except par. 4)
- the acts are justified (persons are not criminals)
- burden of proof: lies on the accused
1. Self-Defense
Requisites:
a. Unlawful aggression
b. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it
c. Lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself
Aggression
- condition sine qua non to invoke self-defense; indispensible element
- must be offensive and criminal, continuous and non-mutual
- 2 kinds
a. actual a material attack; the aggressor shows wrongful intent by committing the unlawful
aggression; danger must be present (actual danger must be repelled)
Note:
- Insulting words, without physical assault, does not constitute unlawful aggression
- Under the new Civil Code, a person may use force or violence to protect his property (exercise
of a right; not unlawful aggression)
- When aggressor flees, unlawful aggression ceases
Battered Woman
- a woman who is repeatedly subjected to any forceful physical or psychological behavior by a
man in order to coerce her to do something he wants her to do without concern for her rights
- characterized by a cycle of violence (the tension building phase the acute battering syndrome
the loving or non-violent phase)
2. Defense of Relatives
Requisites:
a. Unlawful aggression
b. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it
c. Lack of participation in relatives provocation
3. Defense of Strangers
Requisites:
a. Unlawful aggression
b. Reasonable necessity of the means employed
c. The person defending be not induced by revenge, resentment or other evil motive (actuated by
generous or uninterested motive)
Requisites:
a. The evil sought to be avoided actually exists
b. The injury feared is greater than that done to avoid it
c. There is no other practical and less harmful means of preventing it
The instinct of self-preservation will always make one feel that his own safety is of greater
importance than that of another.
There is a civil liability under this circumstance. The person to whom the benefit is attributed
shall be civilly liable to the person who received the harm or damage. The civil liability shall be
in proportion to the benefit received.
5. Fulfillment of Duty
Requisites:
a. The accused must have acted in the performance of a duty
b. The injury caused or offense should have been the necessary consequence of due performance
of duty
Landmark case: People vs. Felipe Delima (Page 205, 2008 ed. / 46 Phil. 738)
Requisites:
a. An order has been issued by a superior
b. Such order must be for some lawful purpose
c. The means used by the subordinate to carry out said order is lawful
Note:
- The subordinate is not liable for carrying out an illegal order of his superior, if he is not aware
of the illegality of the order and he is not negligent.