In a legal system that promises fairness, the principle of double jeopardy protects individuals from being unjustly accused and prosecuted for the same offense more than once. This is enshrined in Article III, Section 21 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which provides:

“No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same offense. If an act is punished by a law and an ordinance, conviction or acquittal under either shall constitute a bar to another prosecution for the same act.”

With the passage of the Indeterminate Sentence Law, a prison term which consists of a minimum and maximum term called the indeterminate sentence was created. It is intended to favor the accused, particularly, to shorten his term of imprisonment.

Under the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA), a lawyer’s engagement can be terminated by the lawyer, client, or upon death of the lawyer or the client.

Article 20 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) enumerates the accessories who are exempt from criminal liability, particularly those who are such with respect to their spouses, ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural, and adopted brothers and sisters, or relatives by affinity within the same degrees, with the single exception of accessories falling within the provisions of paragraph 1 of the next preceding article.
However the aforesaid accessories who are exempted under Article 20 can still be held liable as principals for obstruction of justice under Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1829 or “Penalizing Obstruction Of Apprehension And Prosecution Of Criminal Offenders”.

Section 1 of the PD No. 1829 provides for the acts that may be considered as obstruction of justice.

The Supreme Court promulgated the Rules on Expedited Procedures in the First Level Courts to address the need to recalibrate, reconcile, and harmonize the coverage of the 1991 Revised Rule on Summary Procedure and 2016 Revised Rules on Small Claims Cases to efficiently attain their objectives. The new Rules enumerate the cases covered by these procedures.

Seeking to eradicate the scourge of long-drawn protracted litigations, and address case congestion and delays in court, the Court en banc promulgated A.M. No. 12-8-8-SC or the Judicial Affidavit Rule on September 4, 2012.

A contract of suretyship is an agreement whereby a party, called the surety, guarantees the performance by another party of an obligation or undertaking in favor of another party.

Under a normal contract of guarantee, the guarantor binds himself to the creditor to fulfill the obligation of the principal debtor in case the latter should fail to do so. However, the guarantor cannot be compelled to pay the creditor unless the latter has exhausted all the property of the debtor and resorted to all the legal remedies against the debtor.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Regulatory Issuance No. 2, Series of 2023, amended the Guidelines for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP Guidelines). Accordingly, all covered transactions must be reported to the AMLC within five (5) working days. Additionally, suspicious transactions, including attempted transactions, must be promptly filed to the AMLC by the next working day following their occurrence.

Sexual intercourse is not necessary to establish that the recruitment was for the purpose of sexual exploitation and prostitution under the Anti-Trafficking Act.