Art. 13. Mitigating circumstances.

— The following are mitigating circumstances:

1. Those mentioned in the preceding chapter, when all the requisites necessary to justify the act or
to exempt from criminal liability in the respective cases are not attendant.

2. That the offender is under eighteen years of age or over seventy years. In the case of the minor,
he shall be proceeded against in accordance with the provisions of Article 80.*
A child or offender above 15 years but below 18 years old shall be exempt from
criminal liability unless he or she has acted with discernment. He or she entitled only to the
benefits provided under Article 68 of RPC under RA No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and
welfare Act of 2006. BUT IF THE OFFENDER WHOSE AGE IS ABOVE 15 YEARS OLD
BUT BELOW 18 YEARS OLD HE OR SHE SHALL UNDERGO DIVERSION
PROGRAMS PROVIDED UNDER CHAPTER 2 OF RA. NO. 9344. ("Diversion Program"
refers to the program that the child in conflict with the law is required to undergo after he/she
is found responsible for an offense without resorting to formal court proceedings.)

3. That the offender had no intention to commit so grave a wrong as that committed.
This circumstance can be taken into account only when the facts proven, show that
there is a notable and evident disproportion between the means employed to execute the
criminal act and its consequences.

ILLUSTRATION: A and B are live in partner. One day they quarreled about
something, then suddenly out of nowhere A hardly punched B in his breast causing the break
of her lung cage resulting to the death of B. A had no intention to kill B but because of she
loves her so much.

ARTICLE 13 PARAGRAPH 3 IS NOT APPLICABLE WHEN THE

OFFENDER EMPLOYED BRUTE FORCE: E.g. A tried to sexually abuse B who is a six
year old child but the child cried for help so A covered her mouth and choked her until A
found that B is dead.

4. That sufficient provocation or threat on the part of the offended party immediately preceded the
act.
Provocation – any unjust or improper conduct or act of the offended party, capable
of exciting, inciting or irritating anyone.
Requisites:
1. Provocation must be sufficient;
2. Must originate from the offended party; and
3. That provocation must be immediate to the act.

ILLUSTRATION: A bullied B by kicking and punching him and upon this instance
B saw a metal stick and B started to strike B with the metal stick that resulted to the death of
A. So, B is liable to the death of A but with mitigating circumstance due to provocation.

5. That the act was committed in the immediate vindication of a grave offense to the one
committing the felony (delito), his spouse, ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural or adopted
brothers or sisters, or relatives by affinity within the same degrees.
Requisites:
1. That there be a grave offense done to the one committing the felony, his spouse,
descendants, ascendants, legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or sisters, or
relatives by affinity within the same degrees.
2. That felony is committed in vindication of such grave offense. A lapse of time is
allowed between the vindication and doing of the grave offense.

Illustration: A who had son named B, and on the had D had a son named C. In
rumble in the barangay of B, C suddenly stabbed B to death. A who is the father of B got
information that C killed B and after that A finds C and killed him. The grave offense of
homicide has a mitigating circumstance which is found in Article 13 Par. 5.

Difference between provocation and vindication: Provocation – Offended partly

directly the offend the offender and the offense need not to be grave while Vindication the
 offense is grave and may be committed also against the offenders relatives mentioned in this
paragraph.

6. That of having acted upon an impulse so powerful as naturally to have produced passion or
obfuscation.
The paragraph requires that; 1) accused acted upon an impulse and 2) impulse
must be so powerful that it naturally produced passion or obfuscation.
Requisites of the mitigating circumstance of passion or obfuscation:
1. That there be an act, both unlawful and sufficient to produce such condition of
mind; and
2. That said act which produced the obfuscation was not far removed from the
commission of the crime by a considerable length of time, during perpetrator
might recover his normal equanimity.

Rules for the application of this paragraph:

Passion or obfuscation may constitute a mitigating circumstance only when
the same arose from lawful sentiments.
For this reason, even if there is passion or obfuscation on the part of the
offender, there is no mitigating circumstance when:
1. The act is committed on a spirit of lawlessness; or
2. The act is committed in a spirit of revenge

Illustration: X and Y became married partner for about 10 years. Y cannot give his
husband X a child because she was infertile, due to this X finds another woman that can gave
him a child. Y got this information that X is having a sexual intercourse with another woman
and upon getting home due to anger Y stabbed X to death. The mitigating circumstance of
passion and obfuscation is found because Y upon getting married with X suddenly abandoned
her due to the said problem.

7. That the offender had voluntarily surrendered himself to a person in authority or his agents, or
that he had voluntarily confessed his guilt before the court prior to the presentation of the
evidence for the prosecution.
Mitigating circumstances are provided in this paragraph:
1. Voluntary surrender to a person in authority or his agents.
2. Voluntary confession of guilt before the court prior to the presentation of
evidence for the prosecution.

When is surrender voluntary?

1. Because he acknowledges his guilt; or
2. Because he wishes to save them the trouble and expenses necessarily incurred in
his search and capture.

Requisites of Plea of Guilty to be mitigating

1. That the offender spontaneously confessed his guilt:
2. That the confession of guilt was made in open court, that is before the competent
court that is to try the case: and
3. That the confession was made prior to the presentation of evidence for the
prosecution.

8. That the offender is deaf and dumb, blind, or otherwise suffering some physical defect which
thus restricts his means of action, defense, or communication with his fellow beings.
Considers the fact that that one suffering from physical defect, which restricts one’s
means action, defense, or communication with one’s fellow beings, does not have complete
freedom of action and therefore there is diminution of that element of voluntariness.

Illustration: A deaf was accused of robbing the house of B. Since he is deaf he is

entitled with mitigating circumstances under Art. 13 Paragraph 8

9. Such illness of the offender as would diminish the exercise of the will-power of the offender
without however depriving him of consciousness of his acts.
 Requisites:
1. That the illness of the offender must diminish the exercise of his will-power.
2. That such illness should not deprive the offender of consciousness of his act.

Illustration: A had an illness called dementia praecox, during this attack he has no
control with the acts that he did. During the crime it was proved that A suffered from
dementia praecox according to an opinion from a doctor. Due to this the accused was
acquitted with the crime. (Exempting Circumstance)

10. And, finally, any other circumstances of a similar nature and analogous to those above-
mentioned.
Outraged feeling of owner of animal taken for ransom analogous to vindication
of a grave offense.
The accused is entitled to the mitigating circumstance of analogous to, if not
the same as, vindication of a grave offense committed by the deceased where the
latter took away the carabao of the accused and held it for ransom, and thereafter
failed to fulfill his promise to pay its value after the carabao had died.

AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES: are those which, if attendant in the commission of crime, serve to
increase penalty without, however, exceeding the maximum of the penalty provided by law for the offense.
Basis: Based on the greater perversity (the quality of being contrary to accepted standards or practices)
of the offender manifested in the commission of felony as shown by:
1. The motivating power itself:
2. Place of commission:
3. The means and ways employed:
4. The time: and
5. The personal circumstances of the offender, or of the offended party.

Kinds of Aggravating Circumstances:

1. Generic — Those that can generally apply to all crimes.
Example — Dwelling, nighttime, or recidivism.
In Art. 14, the circumstances in paragraphs Nos. 1, 2, 3 (dwelling), 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14,
18, 19, and 20, except "by means of motor vehicles," are generic aggravating circumstances.

2. Specific — Those that apply only to particular crimes.

Example — Ignominy in crimes against chastity or cruelty and treachery in crimes against
persons.
In Art. 14, the circumstances in paragraphs Nos. 3 (except dwelling), 15,16,17 and 21
are specific aggravating circumstances.

3. Qualifying — Those that change the nature of the crime.

Example — Alevosia (treachery) or evident premeditation qualifies the killing of a person to
murder.
Art. 248 enumerates the qualifying aggravating circumstances which qualify the killing of
person to murder.

4. Inherent — Those that must of necessity accompany the commission of the crime. (Art. 62, par. 2)
Example — Evident premeditation is inherent in robbery, theft, estafa, adultery and
concubinage.

Aggravating circumstances which do not have the effect of increasing the penalty.
1. Aggravating circumstances (a) which in themselves constitute a crime specially punishable by law, or
(b) which are included by the law in denning a crime and prescribing the penalty therefor shall not be
taken into account for the purpose of increasing the penalty. (Art. 62, par. 1)
2. The same rule shall apply with respect to any aggravating circumstance inherent in the crime to such a
degree that it must of necessity accompany the commission thereof. (Art. 62, par. 2)
Aggravating circumstances which are personal to the offenders.
Aggravating circumstances which arise: (a) from the moral attributes of the offender, or (b) from his
private relations with the offended party, or (c) from any other personal cause, shall only serve to aggravate the
liability of the principals, accomplices, and accessories as to whom such circumstances are attendant. (Art. 62,
par. 3)

Aggravating circumstances which depend for their application upon the knowledge of the offenders.
The circumstances which consist of (1) in the material execution of the act, or (2) in the means
employed to accomplish it, shall serve to aggravate the liability of those persons only who had knowledge of
them at the time of the execution of the act or their cooperation therein. (Art. 62, par. 4)

Aggravating circumstances not presumed.

An aggravating circumstance should be proved as fully as the crime itself in order to increase the penalty.
(People vs. Barrios, No. L-34785, July 30,1979,92 SCRA 189,196, citing People vs. Marcina, 77 SCRA 238,
246; People vs. Almario, G.R. No. 69374, March 16, 1989, 171 SCRA 291, 302)