Infanticide

Infanticide. — The penalty provided for parricide in Article 246 and for murder in Article 248 shall be imposed upon any person who shall kill any child less than three days of age.

If the crime penalized in this article be committed by the mother of the child for the purpose of concealing her dishonor, she shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods, and if said crime be committed for the same purpose by the maternal grandparents or either of them, the penalty shall be prision mayor. (Art 255, RPC)

INFANTICIDE - the killing of a child less than 3 days old (72 hours)

ELEMENTS:

1.  A child was killed;

2.  The deceased child was less than 3 days old; 

3.  Accused killed said child.

INFANTICIDE, not parricide or murder

If the offender is the father, mother or legitimate ascendant (or even descendant if that is possible), the crime is still infanticide not parricide, because the basis of the crime is not the relationship but the age of the child. But the penalty if that for parricide.

If the offender is a person other than the foregoing, the crime is still infanticide, not murder. But the penalty is for murder.

CONCEALMENT OF DISHONOR

The extenuating circumstance of concealment of dishonor is available only to: 

1. the mother - prision mayor in its medium and maximum

2. the maternal grandparents - reclusion temporal 

•  The delinquent mother must be of good reputation and good morals, in order that concealing dishonor may mitigate her liability.

•  If she is a prostitute, she is not entitled to a lesser penalty.

IF VICTIM IS A FETUS

The fetus must already be viable; otherwise, the crime is not infanticide but abortion. If the fetus had an intra-uterine life of less than 7 months and it was destroyed within 24 hours after its complete separation from the womb, it is still abortion. 

CASES

 

•  In a case wherein an unmarried woman, after giving birth to a live child, immediately and hastily left the house, taking the infant with her and in a nearby place buried the child was held to be guilty because the body was found to have abrasion on both sides of the nose probably caused by pressure exerted by another person. The death might have been due to suffocation. Inasmuch as it was born alive and in a healthy condition, it is not presumed, without some just reason that it died a natural death within the extremely short time that elapsed between its birth and its burial. The facts proven clearly revealed her decided intent to kill the newly born child in order to conceal her dishonor.

•  The accused who killed the newborn baby of his sister-in-law in order to conceal her dishonor, was convicted of infanticide and sentenced to reclusion perpetua

References: 

Leonor D. Boado, Notes and Cases on the Revised Penal Code, 2004 ed.

Luis B. Reyes, The Revised Penal Code, Book II, 2001 ed.