Short answer. It can do either. Under Article 15 of the Revised Penal Code, relationship is an alternative circumstance: for some crimes a close family tie to the victim makes the penalty heavier, and for others it makes it lighter. Which way it points depends on the nature and effects of the particular crime.
What the law says
The alternative circumstance of relationship shall be taken into consideration when the offended party is the spouse, ascendant, descendant, legitimate, natural, or adopted brother or sister, or relative by affinity in the same degrees of the offender.
Revised Penal Code, Article 15 — Alternative Circumstances: Relationship, Intoxication And Education. Read the full provision →
Who counts as a relative under Article 15
The article does not treat every family connection as relevant. It lists exactly who qualifies: the spouse, an ascendant (parent, grandparent), a descendant (child, grandchild), a legitimate, natural or adopted brother or sister, and a relative by affinity in the same degrees — that is, in-laws standing in the same positions. A relationship outside this list, such as a cousin, an uncle, or a live-in partner who is not a spouse, is not the relationship the article speaks of. This closed list matters, because it fixes the outer boundary of when the circumstance can be raised at all.
Why it is called an alternative circumstance
Article 15 opens by defining alternative circumstances as those which must be taken into consideration as aggravating or mitigating according to the nature and effects of the crime and the other conditions attending its commission. Relationship is one of the three, alongside intoxication and the offender's degree of instruction and education. Because it is alternative, the same tie can either raise or lower the penalty; the court does not apply a fixed rule but looks at the kind of crime committed and how the family bond figured in it. The tie is a fact the judge weighs, not an automatic multiplier of the punishment.
When kinship raises, and when it lowers, the penalty
As a general pattern, relationship tends to aggravate crimes against persons — those involving violence to the body, such as physical injuries — because the law expects family members to protect, not harm, one another. In crimes against property between certain close relatives, the family tie can instead work in the offender's favour, and in some it exempts him from criminal liability for the property loss altogether, leaving only civil responsibility. So the honest answer to "does relationship raise or lower the penalty?" is that it depends entirely on which crime is charged and where in the Code that crime sits.
What this does not decide
Article 15 only adjusts the penalty for a crime that has already been proven; it neither creates a charge nor supplies a defence on its own. The relationship must be one the article actually lists, and it must be alleged and shown, not assumed. This general information cannot tell you which way the circumstance will cut in a specific case, because that turns on the exact offence, the facts, and how the courts have applied the rule to that offence over time. Anyone whose case involves a crime against a spouse or close relative should get advice on how relationship is treated for that particular charge before relying on it.
Related provisions
- Revised Penal Code, Article 15 — Alternative Circumstances: Relationship, Intoxication And Education