Reckless imprudence vis-à-vis
simple negligence. -
Art. 365 of the Revised Penal Code provides that “reckless
imprudence consists in voluntary, but without malice, doing or
falling to do an act from which material damage results by reason of inexcusable
lack of precaution on the part of the person performing of failing to
perform such act, taking into consideration his employment or occupation,
degree of intelligence, physical condition and other circumstances regarding
persons, time and place”.
The same article provides that “simple imprudence
consists in the lack of precaution displayed in those cases in which the
damage impending to be caused is not immediate nor the danger clearly
manifest”.
Penalty for Reckless
imprudence. –
Art. 365 of the Rev. Penal Code (“Imprudence and
negligence”) provides that “any person who, by reckless imprudence,
shall commit any act which, had it been intentional, would constitute a grave
felony, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to
prision correccional in its medium period; if it would have constituted a less
grave felony, the penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum and medium periods
shall be imposed; if it would have constituted a light felony, the penalty of
arresto menor in its maximum period shall be imposed”.
Penalty for Simple
Imprudence or Negligence. –
The aforecited Art. 365 provides that “any person who, by
simple imprudence or negligence, shall commit an act which would otherwise
constitute a grave felony, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its
medium and maximum periods; if it would have constituted a less serious
felony, the penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum period shall be imposed”.
Penalty for Damage
to Property –
Article 365 provides that “when the execution of the act
covered by this article shall have only resulted in damage to the property
of another, the offender shall be punished by a fine ranging from an amount
equal to the value of said damages to three times such value, but which
shall in no case be less than twenty-five pesos”.
Penalty for Light
Felony-
A fine not exceeding two hundred pesos and censure
shall be imposed upon any person who, by simple imprudence or negligence, shall
cause some wrong which, if done maliciously, would have constituted a light
felony.
Exceptions under
Art. 365 -
The provisions of Art. 365 are not be applicable:
1.
“When the penalty provided for the offense is equal
to or lower than those provided in the first two paragraphs of this
article, in which case the court shall impose the penalty next lower in
degree than that which should be imposed in the period which they may deem
proper to apply.
2.
When, by imprudence or negligence and with
violation of the Automobile Law, the death of a person shall be caused,
in which case the defendant shall be punished by prision correccional in its
medium and maximum periods.”
Failure to Lend
Help –
Art. 365 provides that “the penalty next higher in
degree to those provided for in this article shall be imposed upon the
offender who fails to lend on the spot to the injured parties such help as may
be in this hand to give”. (As amended by R.A. 1790, approved June 21,
1957).
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10586
(“Anti-Drunk and Drugged Driving Act of 2013″) –
Punishable Act
–
Sec. 5 of RA 10586 (“Punishable Act”) provides
that “it shall be unlawful for any person to drive a motor vehicle while
under the influence of alcohol, dangerous drugs and/or other similar substances”.
Mandatory Tests
–
Sec. 8 (“Refusal to Subject Oneself to Mandatory Tests”)
of the said provides that “a driver of a motor vehicle who refuses to
undergo the mandatory field sobriety and drug tests under Sections 6, 7 and 15
of this Act shall be penalized by the confiscation and automatic revocation
of his or her driver’s license, in addition to other penalties provided herein
and/or other pertinent laws”.
Penalties under RA
10586 –
The penalties imposed by the said law are contained in
Sec. 12 (“Penalties”) thereof. It provides that “a driver found to have been
driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, dangerous drugs
and/or other similar substances, as provided for under Section 5 of this Act”
shall be penalized as follows:
“(a) If the violation of Section 5 did not result in physical injuries or homicide, the penalty
of three (3) months imprisonment, and a fine ranging from Twenty thousand pesos
(Php20,000.00) to Eighty thousand pesos (Php80,000.00) shall be imposed”;
“(b) If the violation of Section 5 resulted in physical injuries, the penalty provided in Article 263 of the Revised
Penal Code or the penalty provided in the next preceding subparagraph, whichever
is higher, and a fine ranging from One hundred thousand pesos
(Php100,000.00) to Two hundred thousand pesos (Php200,000.00) shall be imposed”;
Notes:
Article 263 (Serious
physical injuries) of the Rev. Penal Code provides that “any person who shall wound, beat, or assault another, shall be guilty of
the crime of serious physical injuries and shall suffer:
1. The penalty of prision mayor, if in consequence of
the physical injuries inflicted, the injured person shall become insane,
imbecile, impotent, or blind;
2. The penalty of prision correccional in its medium
and maximum periods, if in consequence of the physical injuries inflicted, the
person injured shall have lost the use of speech or the power to hear or to
smell, or shall have lost an eye, a hand, a foot, an arm, or a leg or shall
have lost the use of any such member, or shall have become incapacitated for
the work in which he was therefor habitually engaged;
3. The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum
and medium periods, if in consequence of the physical injuries inflicted, the
person injured shall have become deformed, or shall have lost any other part of
his body, or shall have lost the use thereof, or shall have been ill or
incapacitated for the performance of the work in which he as habitually engaged
for a period of more than ninety days;
4. The penalty of arresto mayor in
its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period, if the
physical injuries inflicted shall have caused the illness or incapacity for
labor of the injured person for more than thirty days.
If the offense shall have been committed against any
of the persons enumerated in Article 246, or with attendance of any of the
circumstances mentioned in Article 248, the case covered by subdivision number
1 of this Article shall be punished by reclusion temporal in its medium and
maximum periods; the case covered by subdivision number 2 by prision
correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its minimum period; the
case covered by subdivision number 3 by prision correccional in its medium and maximum
periods; and the case covered by subdivision number 4 by prision correccional
in its minimum and medium periods.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not be
applicable to a parent who shall inflict physical injuries upon his child by
excessive chastisement.”
Article 248 (Murder) of the Rev. Penal Code
provides that “any person who, not
falling within the provisions of Article 246 shall kill another, shall be
guilty of murder and shall be punished by reclusion temporal in its maximum
period to death, if committed with any of the following attendant
circumstances:
1. With treachery, taking advantage of superior
strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense
or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity.
2. In consideration of a price, reward, or promise.
3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion,
shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a street car or
locomotive, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of
any other means involving great waste and ruin.
4. On occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in
the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano,
destructive cyclone, epidemic or other public calamity.
5. With evident premeditation.
6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly
augmenting the suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person
or corpse.”
(c) “If the violation of Section 5 resulted in homicide, the penalty
provided in Article 249 of the
Revised Penal Code and a fine ranging from Three hundred thousand pesos
(Php300,000.00) to Five hundred thousand pesos (Php500,000.00) shall be imposed”;
Notes -
Article 249 (Homicide) of the Rev. Penal Code
provides that “any person who, not
falling within the provisions of Article 246, shall kill another
without the attendance of any of the circumstances enumerated in the next preceding
article, shall be deemed guilty of homicide and be punished by reclusion temporal”.
Article 246. Parricide. - Any
person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or
illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his spouse,
shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished by the penalty of
reclusion perpetua to death.
(d) “The nonprofessional
driver’s license of any person found to have violated Section 5 of this Act
shall also be confiscated and suspended for a period of twelve (12) months
for the first conviction and perpetually revoked for the second conviction.
The professional driver’s
license of any person found to have violated Section 5 of this Act shall also
be confiscated and perpetually revoked for the first conviction. The
perpetual revocation of a driver’s license shall disqualify the person from
being granted any kind of driver’s license thereafter.”
Without Prejudice
to Other Applicable Laws. –
Art. 12 of RA 10586
provides that the “prosecution for any violation of this Act shall be without
prejudice to criminal prosecution for violation of the Revised Penal Code,
Republic Act No. 9165 and other special laws and existing local ordinances,
whenever applicable”. The crime defined under RA 10586, a special law, is
classified as malum prohibitum. The
offender may still be prosecuted under Art. 365, et. seq. of the Rev. Penal
Code, where the offenses defined therein are classified as mala en se.
Direct Criminal
and Civil Liabilities
of the Operator –
Sec. 13 (“Direct Liability of Operator and/or Owner of
the Offending Vehicle”) of RA 10586 provides that “the owner and/or operator
of the vehicle driven by the offender shall be directly and principally held
liable together with the offender for the
fine and the award against the offender for civil damages unless he or
she is able to convincingly prove that he or she has exercised extraordinary
diligence in the selection and supervision of his or her drivers in general
and the offending driver in particular.”
The said section provides that it “shall principally
apply to the owners and/or operators of public utility vehicles and commercial
vehicles such as delivery vans, cargo trucks, container trucks, school and
company buses, hotel transports, cars or vans for rent, taxi cabs, and the like”.
What laws did RA
10586 repeal? –
Sec. 19 (Repealing Clause) of RA 10586 repealed the following laws:
1.
“Subparagraph (f), Section 56, Article 1 of
Republic Act No. 4136, otherwise known as the Land Transportation and Traffic
Code, as amended”;
Note –
Section 56 (Penalty
for violation) of RA 4136 provides that the penalty for “(f) Driving a
motor vehicle while under the influence of liquor or narcotic drug, a fine of
not less than two hundred pesos nor more than five hundred pesos, or
imprisonment of not more than three months, or both, at the discretion of the
Court”.
2.
“Subparagraph (f), Section 5 of Republic Act No.
7924, otherwise known as “An Act Creating the Metropolitan Manila Development
Authority (MMDA), Defining its Powers and Functions, Providing Funds Therefor
and for Other Purposes;”
Note –
Subparagraph
(f), Section 5 of Republic Act No. 7924 provides that among the powers of the MMDA
is to “install and administer a single ticketing system, fix, impose and
collect fines and penalties for all kinds of violations of traffic rules and
regulations, whether moving or non-moving in nature, and confiscate and suspend
or revoke driver's licenses in the enforcement of such traffic laws and
regulations, the provisions of RA 4136, and PD 1605 to the contrary
notwithstanding.”
3.
“Subparagraph (a), Section 36 of Republic Act
No. 9165”; and
Note –
RA
9165, “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act
of 2002". -
“Section
36, Subparagraph
(a) (Authorized Drug
Testing) of RA 9165, or the “Comprehensive Dangerous
Drugs Act of 2002”, provides that “no
driver's license shall be issued or renewed to any person unless he/she
presents a certification that he/she has undergone a mandatory drug test and indicating thereon that he/she is
free from the use of dangerous drugs;”
4.
“All other laws, orders, issuances,
circulars, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with
any provision of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly”.
Atty. Manuel J.
Laserna Jr.
Laserna Cueva-Mercader Law Offices
Las Pinas City, MM, PH
