Short answer. Yes, it can. Article 13 of the Revised Penal Code lists voluntary surrender to a person in authority or his agents as a mitigating circumstance. It does not erase the crime, but it pushes the court toward a lighter penalty within the range the law sets for the offence.
What the law says
That the offender had voluntarily surrendered himself to a person in authority or his agents, or that he had voluntarily confessed his guilt before the court prior to the presentation of the evidence for the prosecution.
Revised Penal Code, Article 13 — Mitigating Circumstances. Read the full provision →
Voluntary surrender is a mitigating circumstance
The Code expressly counts giving yourself up in your favour. Among the mitigating circumstances is that the offender had voluntarily surrendered himself to a person in authority or his agents, or that he had voluntarily confessed his guilt before the court prior to the presentation of the evidence for the prosecution. A mitigating circumstance does not clear you or reduce the charge. What it does is affect the penalty: when it stands without a matching aggravating circumstance, the court is directed toward the lower part of the penalty prescribed for the crime. So a genuine surrender can shorten what you serve.
What makes a surrender 'voluntary'
Not every act of being taken in counts. For this circumstance, the surrender must be truly voluntary — an unforced decision to submit yourself to the authorities. The provision requires that you surrender to a person in authority or his agents, meaning someone like a peace officer or a public official with the power to take custody. The spirit of the rule is spontaneity: you spare the State the time, effort and expense of searching for and arresting you. A surrender offered only after capture is already imminent or accomplished lacks that quality.
Surrender or confession — two paths
The same paragraph offers a related route: voluntarily confessing guilt in court prior to the presentation of the evidence for the prosecution. This is a plea of guilt made early, before the prosecution has begun proving its case. Like voluntary surrender, an early and honest confession is treated as a circumstance in your favour at sentencing. The two can each be appreciated for what they are worth, and the common thread is conduct that shows the offender cooperating with, rather than evading, the processes of justice.
A caution on the age provisions
While Article 13 remains the source of the voluntary-surrender rule, be aware that the same article's provisions on the age of the offender no longer state current law. Republic Act No. 9344 (2006), as amended by Republic Act No. 10630 (2013), now governs children in conflict with the law and exempts a child fifteen years old or under from criminal liability. That change does not affect voluntary surrender, which still applies as written, but it is why the age paragraphs of this article must be read subject to that later Act.