Perceptions of law practitioners in the crimes of estafa and theft

• Main Author: Abaquita, Gideon Florante A., Jr.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2009
• Subjects: Theft—Law and legislation—Philippines; Swindlers and swindling—Philippines; Criminal Law
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6932
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Revised Penal Code was enacted during the early 1930s. The mode of punishment in theft and estafa, economic grades, were based on the value of money during those times. These days, the value of money has inflated through the years, yet the law remains the same. One thing is clear—the value of Php5.00 during the 1930s is not the value of Php5.00 today. To be imprisoned for an amount disproportional to the value envisioned during the 1930s reeks of injustice. The study questions the proportionality of the current grades of penalties vis-à-vis the term of imprisonment, jail conditions, and opportunity loss. The study goes through the legal interpretation of penalty proportionality of the Philippines, United States, Canada, Israel, and Europe in search of an equation between penalty and proportionality with economic grades. It further dives into the basis of penalties, guidelines, and conditions that Philippine inmates are subjected to. The study employs the use of a survey on legal practitioners in ascribing penalty proportionality. The conclusion of the study suggests a different range of economic grades, which are substantially higher than the current economic grades in the Revised Penal Code. The implication of the study is a need for Congress to revisit the decades-old Revised Penal Code, provide a far more expensive and exhaustive study, and implement better economic grades than what is currently provided so that justice may be served to the community, the victims, and even the convicts.