Professional Documents
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The elements for the crime of grave coercion are the following:
(1) That a person prevented another from doing
something not prohibited by law, or that he
compelled him to do something against his will, be it
right or wrong;
(2) That the prevention or compulsion be effected by
violence, threats or intimidation; and
(3) That the person that restrained the will and liberty
of another had no authority of law or right to do so,
or, in other words, that the restraint shall not be
made under the authority of law or in the exercise of
any lawful right.4 (Emphasis Supplied)
In applying the abovementioned elements, Bartholomew Kuma
can be charged of GRAVE COERCION under Article 286 of
the RPC since:
(1) Bartholomew Kuma prevented Minister Zoro from
doing something not prohibited by law- which is
administering religious ceremony or religious gathering
and he also compelled the minister to give him his car
keys; (2) the prevention or compulsion of Bartholomew
Kuma was effected by an imminent, immediate and
actual violence, threats and intimidation as shown by his
way of entering the chapel and uproar against the
minister; (3) that Batholomew Kuma is just a private
citizen and he does not have the authority of law to do
the prevention and compulsion.
And lastly, assuming that the defense raise the fact that
Minister Zoro has parked his 2005 Toyota Corolla Altis on the
road almost in front of the chapel and very near the driveway
of Bartolomer Kuma, still, the accused does not have the right
and authority of law to compel the minister to give him his car
keys since the purpose of penalizing coercion is to enforce the
principle that no person may take the law lightly into his
hands.6
III.Bartholomew Kuma can be charged of OTHER LIGHT
THREATS under Article 285 Paragraph 3 of the Revised
Penal Code.
Article 285 Pragraph 3 of the Revised Penal Code provides:
Other light threats
3.
Any person who shall orally threaten to
do another any harm not constituting a
felony. (Emphasis Supplied)
The act of Bartholomew Kuma in forcibly or angrily
charging inside the chapel of In God We Trust accompanied by
his shouting presumably made him a threat not just in the
eyes of the one actually threatened but those who have
witnessed the same. The threat he imposed is his means to
effectively compel the minister to give him the car keys.