CRIMINAL LAW
CRIMES AGAINST LIBERTY
Art 267: KIDNAPPING AND SERIOUS ILLEGAL DETENTION
CRIME PENALTY
Kidnapping or serious illegal detention Reclusion perpetua to death*
Kidnapping or detention for the purpose of Death*
extorting ransom (even if without the
mentioned circumstances)
Victim is killed as consequence of detention, Maximum penalty
raped, or subjected to torture or
dehumanizing acts
ELEMENTS:
1. That the offender is a private individual.
2. That he kidnaps or detains another, or in any other manner deprives the latter of
his liberty.
3. That the act of detention or kidnapping must be illegal.
4. That in the commission of the offense, any of the following circumstances is
present:
a. That the kidnapping r detention lasts for more than three days;
b. That it is committed simulating public authority;
c. That any serious physical injuries are inflicted upon the person kidnapped
or detained or threats to kill him are made; or
d. That the person kidnaped or detained is a minor, female, or a public
officer.
If the offender is a public officer, the crime is arbitrary detention. – public officer must
have a duty under the law to detain a person, such as policeman or constabulary soldier.
Victim: Minor; Accused: One of the parents Penalty: Article 271 – Arresto mayor or
fine not exceeding P300, or both.
Intention to deprived the victim of his liberty for purpose of extorting ransom on the
part of the accused is essential in the crime of kidnapping.
The carrying away of the victim in the crime of kidnapping can either be made forcibly or
fraudulently.
o Voluntarily went with the accused does not remove the element of deprivation
of liberty the victim went with the accused on a false inducement.
Must there be an actual demand for ransom? No. as long as it was committed “for the
purpose of extorting ransom.”
The accused is not liable when there is lack of motive to resort to kidnapping.
Detention or locking up of the victim is essential. – actual confinement or restriction of
the person of the offended party. The alleged victim shall have no freedom to leave the
premises where she was allegedly confined.
It is not necessary that the victim be placed in an enclosure. – depriving him in any
manner of his liberty.
Leaving a child in the house of another, where he had freedom of locomotion but not
freedom to leave it at will, deprives him of liberty.
o Child’s tender age and the fact that he did not know the way back home, he was
then and there in a way deprived of his liberty,
Restraint need not be permanent.
o When a two-year-old child was held and tied to a wooden pillar until his brother
should appear and returned.
The detention must be illegal.
There are cases where it is lawful to detain another.
o The owners of a sugarcane plantation locked up a boy who had stolen some
sugar canes from the plantation, from 9am to 5pm. the detention here is legal
to certain extent, because even a private person can arrest one who commits a
crime in his presence.
Reasons for this decision:
- No injury or disturbance of a right as intended by, or
resulted from, the act of the accused.
- That the act of the accused was to certain extent justified.
Detention is illegal when not ordered by competent authority or not permitted by law.
o Boy was apprehended and detained for 8 hrs, with his hands and feet bound to a
post, without just cause, on suspicion that he was an incendiary illegal
detention.
Essential element of kidnapping
o Deprivation of liberty under any of the four instances enumerated.
o Not necessary that any of the four instances be enumerated when kidnapping
was committed for the purpose of extorting ransom.
Detention for more than three days is not necessary when any of the other
circumstances is present.
Kidnapping of a public offer is covered under this article.
Restraint by robbers not illegal detention.
o When the purpose of the robbers is to prevent the reporting of the victims
(sequestered) the matters to the authorities is not illegal detention. This to delay
or prevent assistance being rendered by the authorities.
The purpose is immaterial when any of the circumstances in the first paragraph of this
article is present.
Special complex crime of kidnapping with murder.
o “Where the person is kidnaped is killed in the course of the detention, regardless
of where the killing was purposely sought or was merely an afterthought, the
kidnapping and homicide or murder can no longer be complex under Article 48,
nor be treated as separate rimes, but shall be punished as a special complex
crime under the last paragraph of Article 267, as amended by RA No. 7659.”
Kidnapping with frustrated murder.
o Medical finding that the gunshot wound sustained by the victim would have
resulted in the death of the victim had it not been for the proper medical
attention given to her.
o The perpetration of the premediated killing, albeit frustrated, was hatched from
the moment the accused and his co-conspirator took the victim in QC until she
was ultimately executed to insure impunity to the perpetrator by eliminating the
only witness.
Where the victim is taken from one place to another solely for the purpose of killing him,
the crime committed is murder.
o Taking of the victim is incidental to the basic purpose to kill, the crime is only
murder.
o It cannot be inferred that the accused’s purpose was to detain the victim, the
subsequent killing of the victim constitutes the crime of murder.
o Not complex crime.
When murder, and not kidnapping
o Controlling: facts recited therein describing the crime charged in relation to penal
law violated in an information.
o If the primary and ultimate purpose of the accused is to kill crime committed:
Murder or homicide Incidental: deprivation of the victim’s liberty (preparatory
act to killing – merged or absorbed)
