Under Article 2230 of the Civil Code,
exemplary damages may be granted if at least one aggravating circumstance
attended the commission of the crime. The aggravating circumstance need not be specifically alleged in the
information, and can be either a qualifying or attendant circumstance. As
expounded in People v. Catubig (G.R. No. 137842, August 23, 2001):
The term "aggravating circumstances" used by the Civil Code, the law
not having specified otherwise, is to be understood in its
broad or generic sense. The
commission of an offense has a
two-pronged effect, one on the
public as it breaches the social
order and the other upon the
private victim as it causes personal
sufferings, each of which is addressed by, respectively, the prescription of
heavier punishment for the accused and by an award of additional damages to
the victim. The increase of the penalty or a shift to a graver felony
underscores the exacerbation of the offense by the attendance of aggravating
circumstances, whether ordinary or qualifying, in its commission. Unlike the
criminal liability which is basically a State concern, the award of damages,
however, is likewise, if not primarily, intended for the offended party who
suffers thereby. It would make little sense for an award of exemplary damages
to be due the private offended party when the aggravating circumstance is
ordinary but to be withheld when it is qualifying. Withal, the ordinary or
qualifying nature of an aggravating circumstance is a distinction that should
only be of consequence to the criminal, rather than to the civil, liability of
the offender. In fine, relative to the civil aspect of the case, an
aggravating circumstance, whether ordinary or qualifying, should entitle the
offended party to an award of exemplary damages within the unbridled meaning
of Article 2230 of the Civil Code.
