By Ade S. Fajardo
Thinking of harming someone without actually doing it does not amount to a crime.
Representative Bong Suntay has advanced this defense of Vice President Sara Duterte when she made threats against the life of the President, the First Lady and the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Suntay said, as translated by media, “You know, there was a time I was in Shangri-La, I saw Anne Curtis, she is really beautiful. You know, a desire inside me welled up. I felt the heat, and I just imagined what could happen but, of course, that is only my imagination. But I think I cannot be charged for what I was able to imagine.”
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Indeed, it is not a crime to only fantasize about killing or bedding someone.
There is no crime, not even an attempted one, if no overt act is made pursuant to the desire to inflict harm.
However, to actually express that desire by saying it out loud, may render one vulnerable to prosecution for grave threats under the Revised Penal Code.
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On November 22, 2024, the Vice President held an online press conference which lasted for almost an hour.
In response to one of the questions raised by her supporters, she categorically said: “‘Wag kang mag-alala sa security ko kasi may kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kanya, ‘‘Pag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, Liza Araneta at si Martin Romualdez.’ No joke. No joke.”
Under Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code, any person who threatens another with the infliction upon the person, honor or property of the latter or of his family of any wrong amounting to a crime is liable for grave threats.
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Assassination or murder is a crime. To threaten another person with such crime, without actually doing it, constitutes a separate offense — that of grave threats.
In such a case, the act of expressing the threat is not constitutionally protected speech. The law itself penalizes the act of making the victim feel intimidated by words or that the accused intended the words to be taken seriously.
To further illustrate, making a bomb joke in an airplane is not protected speech despite one’s intent to be merely funny. Presidential Decree 1727 criminalizes the joke despite the malefactor’s lack of capacity to actually detonate a bomb. The law seeks to prevent panic, disruption and security threats.
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In the same manner, Representative Suntay’s fantasies respecting a particular woman would not amount to an offense had he kept them to himself.
It was the vocal expression of prurience that may court the application of Republic Act No. 11313 or the “Safe Spaces Act” or the “Anti-Bastos Law.”
Offenses under this law are not limited to spoken words.
Catcalling, wolf-whistling and the like are penalized because they amount to “unwanted and uninvited sexual actions or remarks against any person regardless of the motive for committing such action or remarks.”
Voice or gesture can complete the offense./WDJ