Crimes against chastity

COMMON PROVISIONS

1) Prosecution of the crimes of adultery, concubinage, seduction, abduction, rape and acts of lasciviousness

The crimes of adultery and concubinage shall not be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the offended spouse. (Article 344, Act No. 3815, Revised Penal Code)

The offended party cannot institute criminal prosecution without including both the guilty parties, if they are both alive, nor, in any case, if he shall have consented or pardoned the offenders. (Paragraph 2, Article 344, Ibid.)

The offenses of seduction, abduction, rape or acts of lasciviousness, shall not be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the offended party or her parents, grandparents, or guardian, nor, in any case, if the offender has been expressly pardoned by the above named persons, as the case may be. (Paragraph 3, Article 344, Ibid.)

In cases of seduction, abduction, acts of lasciviousness and rape, the marriage of the offender with the offended party shall extinguish the criminal action or remit the penalty already imposed upon him. The provisions of this paragraph shall also be applicable to the co-principals, accomplices and accessories after the fact of the above-mentioned crimes. (Paragraph 4, Article 344, Ibid.)

2) Civil liability of persons guilty of crimes against chastity

Person guilty of rape, seduction or abduction, shall also be sentenced:

1. To indemnify the offended woman.

2. To acknowledge the offspring, unless the law should prevent him from so doing.

3. In every case to support the offspring. (Article 345, Ibid.)

The adulterer and the concubine in the case provided for in Articles 333 and 334 may also be sentenced, in the same proceeding or in a separate civil proceeding, to indemnify for damages caused to the offended spouse. (Paragraph 2, Article 345, Ibid.)

3) Liability of ascendants, guardians, teachers, or other persons entrusted with the custody of the offended party

The ascendants, guardians, curators, teachers and any person who, by abuse of authority or confidential relationships, shall cooperate as accomplices in the perpetration of the crimes embraced in chapters, second, third and fourth, of this title, shall be punished as principals. (Article 346, Ibid.)

Teachers or other persons in any other capacity entrusted with the education and guidance of youth, shall also suffer the penalty of temporary special disqualification in its maximum period to perpetual special disqualification. (Paragraph 2, Article 346, Ibid.)

Any person falling within the terms of this article, and any other person guilty of corruption of minors for the benefit of another, shall be punished by special disqualification from filling the office of guardian. (Paragraph 3, Article 346, Ibid.)

CHAPTER 1: ADULTERY AND CONCUBINAGE

1. Adultery

ELEMENTS:

1) The offender is a married woman;

2) She has sexual intercourse with a man not her husband;

3) The man who has carnal knowledge of her knowing her to be married. (Article 333, Act No. 3815, Revised Penal Code)

EVEN IF FMARRIAGE IS SUBSEQUENTLY VOIDED: The accused may still be charged with the crime of adultery, even if the marriage be subsequently declared void. (Ibid.)

NOT A CONTINUING CRIME; EACH ADULTERY, A CRIME: Adultery is a crime of result and not of tendency; it is an instantaneous crime which is consummated and exhausted or completed at the moment of the carnal union. Each sexual intercourse constitutes a crime of adultery. (People v. Zapata, En Banc, G.R. No. L-3047, 16 May 1951)

2. Concubinage

ELEMENTS:

1) The offender has been legally married;

2) The marriage has not been legally dissolved or, in case his or her spouse is absent, the absent spouse could not yet be presumed dead according to the Civil Code;

3) That he contracts a second or subsequent marriage; and,

4) That the second or subsequent marriage has all the essential requisites for validity. (Capili v. People, G.R. No. 183805, 03 July 2013)

EVEN IF FIRST MARRIAGE IS SUBSEQUENTLY VOIDED: The accused may still be charged with the crime of bigamy, even if there is a subsequent declaration of the nullity of the second marriage, so long as the first marriage was still subsisting when the second marriage was celebrated. (Ibid.)

CHAPTER 2: ACTS OF LASCIVIOUSNESS

3. Acts of lasciviousness

ELEMENTS:

1) The offender commits any act of lasciviousness or lewdness;

2) the lascivious act is done under any of the following circumstances:

(a) By using force or intimidation;

(b) When the offended party is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; or,

(c) when the offended party is under twelve (12) years of age; and,

3) The offended party is another person of either sex. (Capueta v. People, G.R. No. 240145, 14 September 2020)

CHAPTER 3: SEDUCTION, CORRUPTION OF MINORS AND WHITE SLAVE TRADE

4. Simple seduction

ELEMENTS:

1) The offender has carnal knowledge of a woman who is above 12 years but under 18 years of age;

2) The woman is of chaste life and good reputation; and,

3) The carnal knowledge is accomplished by means of deceit. (Agcaoili v. People, G.R. No. 194657, 10 September 2014)

DECEIT: The usual form of deceit is an unfulfilled promise of marriage. (Ibid.)

5. Qualified seduction

ELEMENTS:

1) The offended party is a virgin;

2) She must be over 12 and under 18 years of age;

3) The offender has sexual intercourse with her; and,

4) The offender is a person in public authority, priest, house servant, domestic, guardian, teacher, one entrusted with the education or custody of the offended party, or a brother or ascendant of the latter. (Babanto v. Zosa, G.R. No. L-32895, 28 February 1983)

SEDUCTION: Seduction is committed when the offender has carnal knowledge of any of the persons and under the circumstances described herein. (Last paragraph, Article 337, Ibid.)

VIRGINITY: A conviction for the crime of qualified seduction without the allegation of virginity would violate the accused’s right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him. (Babanto v. Zosa, supra.)

a. CONTRASTED WITH OTHER CRIMES

1) Qualified Seduction v. Consented Abduction

(Perez v. CA, G.R. No. L-80838, 29 November 1988)

6. Acts of lasciviousness with the consent of the offended party

ELEMENTS:

1) The offender commits any other acts of lasciviousness; and,

2) It is committed by the same persons and the same circumstances as those provided in Articles 337 and 338.(Article 339, Act No. 3815, Revised Penal Code)

7. Corruption of minors

ELEMENTS:

1) The offender promotes or facilitates the prostitution or corruption of persons underage; and,

2) It is to satisfy the lust of another. (Article 340, Ibid.)

8. White slave trade

ELEMENTS:

1) The offender engages in the business or shall profit by prostitution or shall enlist the services of any other for the purpose of prostitution; and,

2) It is committed in any manner, or under any pretext. (Article 341, Ibid.)

CHAPTER 4: ABDUCTION

9. Forcible abduction

ELEMENTS:

1) The victim is a woman, regardless of age, civil status, or reputation;

2) She is taken against her will; and,

3) The abduction was done with lewd designs. (People v. Villanueva, G.R. No. 230723, 13 February 2019)

a. COMPLEX CRIME

The crime is considered complexed by rape under Article 266-A of the RPC when the abductor has carnal knowledge of the abducted woman and there is (1) force or intimidation; (2) the woman is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; or (3) she is under 12 years of age or demented. (Ibid.)

10. Consented abduction

ELEMENTS:

1) That the offended party is a virgin, and,

2) That she must be over twelve (12) and under eighteen (18) years of age.

3) The taking away of the offended party must be with her consent, after solicitation or cajolery from the offender, and,

4) The taking away of the offended party must be with lewd designs. (Perez v. CA, G.R. No. L-80838, 29 November 1988)