Liberal construction of criminal laws
Penal or criminal laws are strictly construed against the state and liberally in favor of the accused. If the language of the law were ambiguous, the court will lean more strongly in favor of the defendant than it would if the statute were remedial, as a means of effecting substantial justice. (People vs. Bon, G.R. No. 166401, 30 October 2006)
If the language of the law were ambiguous, the court will lean more strongly in favor of the defendant than it would if the statute were remedial, as a means of effecting substantial justice. The law is tender in favor of the rights of an individual. It is this philosophy of caution before the State may deprive a person of life or liberty that animates one of the most fundamental principles in our Bill of Rights, that every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Resort to the aforementioned principles in statutory construction would not have been necessary had Rep. Act No. 9346 ineluctably stated that the repeal of all laws imposing the death penalty did not engender the corresponding modification of penalties other than death, dependent as these are on "death" as a measure under the graduated scale of penalties under Article 71. Admittedly, if this were indeed the intent of Congress, and such intent were unequivocally expressed in Rep. Act No. 9346, the resulting inequities and inconsistencies we had earlier pointed out would have remained. If that were to be the case, we would have acknowledged, perhaps tacitly, that such inequities and inconsistencies fell part of the legislative intent. It does not speak well of a Congress to be deliberately inconsistent with, or ignorant of its own prior enactments. Yet ultimately, Section 1 of Rep. Act No. 9346 is not expressive of such rash or injudicious notions, as it is susceptible to a reading that would harmonize its effects with the precepts and practices that pervade our general penal laws, and in a manner that does not defy the clear will of Congress.
Resort to the aforementioned principles in statutory construction would not have been necessary had Rep. Act No. 9346 ineluctably stated that the repeal of all laws imposing the death penalty did not engender the corresponding modification of penalties other than death, dependent as these are on "death" as a measure under the graduated scale of penalties under Article 71. Admittedly, if this were indeed the intent of Congress, and such intent were unequivocally expressed in Rep. Act No. 9346, the resulting inequities and inconsistencies we had earlier pointed out would have remained. If that were to be the case, we would have acknowledged, perhaps tacitly, that such inequities and inconsistencies fell part of the legislative intent. It does not speak well of a Congress to be deliberately inconsistent with, or ignorant of its own prior enactments. Yet ultimately, Section 1 of Rep. Act No. 9346 is not expressive of such rash or injudicious notions, as it is susceptible to a reading that would harmonize its effects with the precepts and practices that pervade our general penal laws, and in a manner that does not defy the clear will of Congress.
