Practice question
A person faces a prosecution for an independently defined fraud offense arising from a financial transaction. The only constitutional defense is that the transaction also created a debt. Does Section 20 automatically immunize the alleged fraud?
- Yes, every financial crime becomes a civil-only matter.
- Yes, mentioning a loan erases every penal statute.
- No; the clause distinguishes imprisonment for debt alone from punishment for a separately established offense.
- Yes, if the alleged amount is large.
- No, because every unpaid loan necessarily proves fraud.
Legal references
- 1987 Constitution: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/3/353 Article III, Section 20.
- Lozano v. Martinez, G.R. No. L-63419 et al., December 18, 1986, main decision: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1986/dec1986/gr_l-63419_1986.html
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