BOOK TWO
Crimes and Penalties
TITLE ONE
Crimes Against National Security and the Law of Nations
CHAPTER ONE
Crimes Against National Security
SECTION ONE
Treason and Espionage
ARTICLE 114. Treason. — Any person who, owing allegiance to the United States or the Government of the Philippine Islands, not even a foreigner, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort within the Philippine Islands or elsewhere, shall be punished by reclusión perpetua to death and shall pay a fine not to exceed P20,000 pesos.
No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses at least to the same overt act or on confession of the accused in open court.
ARTICLE 115. Conspiracy and Proposal to Commit Treason — Penalty. — The conspiracy or proposal to commit the crime of treason shall be punished respectively, by prisión mayor and a fine not exceeding P10,000 pesos, and prisión correccional and a fine not exceeding P5,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 116. Misprision of Treason. — Every person owing allegiance to the United States or the Government of the Philippine Islands, without being a foreigner, and having knowledge of any conspiracy against them, who conceals or does not disclose and make known the same, as soon as possible to the governor or fiscal of the province, or the mayor or fiscal of the city in which he resides, as the case may be, shall be punished as an accessory to the crime of treason.
ARTICLE 117. Espionage. — The penalty of prisión correccional shall be inflicted upon any person who:
1. Without authority therefor, enter a warship, fort or naval or military establishment or reservation to obtain any information, plans, photographs or other data of a confidential nature relative to the defense of the Philippine Archipelago; or
2. Being in possession, by reason of the public office he holds, of the articles, data or information referred to in the preceding paragraph, discloses their contents to a representative of a foreign nation.
The penalty next higher in degree shall be imposed if the offender be a public officer or employee.
SECTION TWO
Provoking War and Disloyalty in Case of War
ARTICLE 118. Inciting to War or Giving Motives for Reprisals. — The penalty of reclusión temporal shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee, and that of prisión mayor upon any private individual, who, by unlawful or unauthorized acts provokes or gives occasion for a war involving or liable to involve the Philippine Islands or exposes Filipino citizens to reprisals on their persons or property.
ARTICLE 119. Violation of Neutrality. — The penalty of prisión correccional shall be inflicted upon anyone who, on the occasion of a war in which the Government is not involved, violates any regulation issued by competent authority for the purpose of enforcing neutrality.
ARTICLE 120. Correspondence with Hostile Country. — Any person, who in time of war, shall have correspondence with an enemy country or territory occupied by enemy troops shall be punished:
1. By prisión correccional, if the correspondence has been prohibited by the Government;
2. By prisión mayor, if such correspondence be carried on in ciphers or conventional signs; and
3. By reclusión temporal, if notice or information be given thereby which might be useful to the enemy. If the offender intended to aid the enemy by giving such notice or information, he shall suffer the penalty of reclusión temporal to death.
ARTICLE 121. Flight to Enemy’s Country. — The penalty of arresto mayor shall be inflicted upon any person who, owing allegiance to the Government, attempts to flee or go to an enemy country when prohibited by competent authority.
SECTION THREE
Piracy and Mutiny on the High Seas
ARTICLE 122. Piracy in General and Mutiny on the High Seas. — The penalty of reclusión perpetua shall be inflicted upon any person who, on the high seas, shall attack or seize a vessel or, not being a member of its complement nor a passenger, shall seize the whole or part of the cargo of said vessel, its equipment or personal belongings of its complement or passengers.
The same penalty shall be inflicted in case of mutiny on the high seas.
ARTICLE 123. Qualified Piracy. — The penalty of reclusión temporal to death shall be imposed upon those who commit any of the crimes referred to in the preceding article, under any of the following circumstances:
1. Whenever they have seized a vessel by boarding or firing upon the same;
2. Whenever the pirates have abandoned their victims without means of saving themselves; or
3. Whenever the crime is accompanied by murder, homicide, physical injuries, or rape.
TITLE TWO
Crimes Against the Fundamental Laws of the State
CHAPTER ONE
Arbitrary Detention or Expulsion, Violation of Dwelling, Prohibition, Interruption, and Dissolution of Peaceful Meetings and Crimes Against Religious Worship
SECTION ONE
Arbitrary Detention and Expulsion
ARTICLE 124. Arbitrary Detention. — Any public officer or employee who, without legal grounds, detains a person, shall suffer:
1. The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, if the detention has not exceeded three days;
2. The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, if the detention has continued more than three but not more than fifteen days;
3. The penalty of prisión mayor, if the detention has continued for more than fifteen days but not more than six months; and
4. That of reclusión temporal, if the detention shall have exceeded six months.
The commission of a crime, or violent insanity or any other ailment requiring the compulsory confinement of the patient in a hospital, shall be considered legal grounds for the detention of any person.
ARTICLE 125. Delay in the Delivery of Detained Persons to the Proper Judicial Authorities. — The penalties provided in the next preceding article shall be imposed upon the public officer or employee who shall detain any person for some legal ground and shall fail to deliver such person to the proper judicial authorities within the period of one hour.
ARTICLE 126. Delaying Release. — The penalties provided for in article 124 shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who delays for the period of time specified therein the performance of any judicial or executive order for the release of a prisoner or detention prisoner, or unduly delays the service of the notice of such order to said prisoner or the proceedings upon any petition for the liberation of such person.
ARTICLE 127. Expulsion. — The penalty of prisión correccional shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who, not being thereunto authorized by law, shall expel any person from the Philippine Islands or shall compel such person to change his residence.
SECTION TWO
Violation of Domicile
ARTICLE 128. Violation of Domicile. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who, not being authorized by judicial order, shall enter any dwelling against the will of the owner thereof, search papers or other effects found therein without the previous consent of such owner, or, having surreptitiously entered said dwelling, and being required to leave the premises, shall refuse to do so.
If the offense be committed in the night-time, or if any papers or effects not constituting evidence of a crime be not returned immediately after the search made by the offender, the penalty shall be prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods.
ARTICLE 129. Search Warrants Maliciously Obtained and Abuse in the Service of Those Legally Obtained. — In addition to the liability attaching to the offender for the commission of any other offense, the penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall procure a search warrant without just cause, or, having legally procured the same, shall exceed his authority or use unnecessary severity in executing the same.
ARTICLE 130. Searching Domicile Without Witnesses. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon a public officer or employee who, in cases where a search is proper, shall search the domicile, papers or other belongings of any person, in the absence of the latter, any member of his family, or in their default, without the presence of two witnesses residing in the same locality.
SECTION THREE
Prohibition, Interruption, and Dissolution of Peaceful Meetings
ARTICLE 131. Prohibition, Interruption, and Dissolution of Peaceful Meetings. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who, without legal ground, shall prohibit or interrupt the holding of a peaceful meeting, or shall dissolve the same.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon a public officer or employee who shall hinder any person from joining any lawful association or from attending any of its meetings.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall prohibit or hinder any person from addressing, either alone or together with others, any petition to the authorities for the correction of abuses or redress of grievances.
SECTION FOUR
Crimes Against Religious Worship
ARTICLE 132. Interruption of Religious Worship. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall prevent or disturb the ceremonies or manifestations of any religion.
If the crime shall have been committed with violence or threats, the penalty shall be prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods.
ARTICLE 133. Offending the Religious Feelings. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon anyone who, in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony shall perform acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful.
TITLE THREE
Crimes Against Public Order
CHAPTER ONE
Rebellion, Sedition, and Disloyalty
ARTICLE 134. Rebellion or Insurrection. — How Committed. — The crime of rebellion or insurrection is committed by rising publicly and taking arms against the Government for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to said Government or its laws, the territory of the Philippine Islands or any part thereof of any body of land, naval or other armed forces, or of depriving the Chief Executive or the Legislature, wholly or partially, of any of their powers or prerogatives.
ARTICLE 135. Penalty for Rebellion or Insurrection. — Any person who promotes, maintains, or heads a rebellion or insurrection, or who, while holding any public office or employment takes part therein, engaging in war against the forces of the Government, destroying property or committing serious violence, exacting contributions or diverting public funds from the lawful purpose for which they have been appropriated, shall suffer the penalty of prisión mayor and a fine not to exceed 20,000 pesos.
Any person merely participating or executing the commands of others in a rebellion shall suffer the penalty of prisión mayor in its minimum period.
When the rebellion or insurrection shall be under the command of unknown leaders, any person who in fact directed the others, spoke for them, signed receipts and other documents issued in their name, as performed similar acts, on behalf of the rebels shall be deemed the leader of such rebellion.
ARTICLE 136. Conspiracy and Proposal to Commit Rebellion or Insurrection. — The conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection shall be punished, respectively, by prisión correccional in its maximum period and a fine which shall not exceed 5,000 pesos, and by prisión correccional in its medium period and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 137. Disloyalty of Public Officers or Employees. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon public officers or employees who have failed to resist a rebellion by all the means in their power, or shall continue to discharge the duties of their offices under the control of the rebels or shall accept appointment to office under them.
ARTICLE 138. Inciting to Rebellion or Insurrection. — The penalty of prisión mayor in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who, without taking arms or being in open hostility against the Government, shall incite others to the execution of any of the acts specified in article 134 of this Code, by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, banners or other representations tending to the same end.
ARTICLE 139. Sedition — How Committed. — The crime of sedition is committed by persons who rise publicly and tumultuously in order to attain by force any of the following objects:
1. To prevent the promulgation or execution of any law or the holding of any popular election;
2. To prevent the Insular Government, or any provincial or municipal government or any public officer thereof from freely exercising its or his functions, or prevent the execution of any administrative order;
3. To inflict any act of hate or revenge upon the person or property of any public officer or employee;
4. To commit, for any political or social end, any act of hate or revenge against private persons or any social class; and
5. To despoil, for any political or social end, any person, municipality or province, or the Insular Government or the Government of the United States, of all its property or any part thereof.
ARTICLE 140. Penalty for Sedition. — The leader of a sedition shall suffer the penalty of prisión mayor in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 10,000 pesos.
Other persons participating therein shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding 5,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 141. Conspiracy to Commit Sedition. — Persons conspiring to commit the crime of sedition shall be punished by prision correccional in its medium period and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 142. Inciting to Sedition. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, without taking any direct part in the crime of sedition, should incite others to the accomplishment of any of the acts which constitute sedition, by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, cartoons, banners, or other representations tending to the same end.
CHAPTER TWO
Crimes Against Popular Representation
SECTION ONE
Crimes Against Legislative Bodies and Similar Bodies
ARTICLE 143. Acts Tending to Prevent the Meeting of the Legislature and Similar Bodies. — The penalty of prisión correccional or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who by force or fraud prevents the meeting of either of the House of the Legislature or of any provincial board or municipal council.
ARTICLE 144. Disturbance of Proceedings. — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who disturbs the meetings of either of the House of the Legislature or of any provincial board or city or municipal council, or in the presence of any such bodies should behave in such manner as to interrupt its proceedings or to impair the respect due to it.
SECTION TWO
Violation of Parliamentary Immunity
ARTICLE 145. Violation of Parliamentary Immunity. — The penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall use force, intimidation, threats, or fraud to prevent any member of either House of the Legislature from attending the meetings thereof, from expressing his opinions or casting his vote; and the penalty of prisión correccional shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall, while the Legislature is in session, knowingly arrest or search any member thereof, except in case such member has committed a crime punishable under this Code by a penalty higher than prisión mayor.
CHAPTER THREE
Illegal Assemblies and Associations
ARTICLE 146. Illegal Assemblies. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon the organizers or leaders of any meeting attended by armed persons for the purpose of committing any of the crimes punishable under this Code, or of any meeting in which the audience is incited to the commission of the crime of treason, rebellion or insurrection, sedition, or assault upon a person in authority or his agents. Persons merely present at such meeting shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor.
ARTICLE 147. Illegal Associations. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon the founders, directors, and presidents of associations totally or partially organized for the purpose of committing any of the crimes punishable under this Code or for some purpose contrary to public morals. Mere members of said associations shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor.
CHAPTER FOUR
Assault Upon, and Resistance and Disobedience to Persons in Authority and Their Agents
ARTICLE 148. Direct Assaults. — Any person or persons who, without a public uprising, shall employ force or intimidation for the attainment of any of the purposes enumerated in defining the crimes of rebellion and sedition, or shall attack, employ force or seriously intimidate or resist any person in authority or any of his agents, while engaged in the performance of official duties, or on occasion of such performance, shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos, when the assault is committed with a weapon or when the offender is a public officer or employee, or when the offender lays hands upon a person in authority. If none of these circumstances be present, the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 149. Indirect Assaults. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall make use of force or intimidation upon any person coming to the aid of the authorities or their agents on occasion of the commission of any of the crimes defined in the next preceding article.
ARTICLE 150. Disobedience to Summons Issued by a Legislative Body or Committee, and Refusal to Testify Before Same. — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos, or both such fine and imprisonment, shall be imposed upon any person who, having been duly summoned to attend as a witness before either House of the legislature, or before any committee thereof, refuses, without legal excuse, to obey such summons, or being present before any such body or committee, refuses to be sworn or placed under affirmation or to answer any legal inquiry or to produce any books, papers, documents, or records in his possession, when required by them to do so in the exercise of their functions.
ARTICLE 151. Resistance and Disobedience to a Person in Authority or the Agents of Such Person. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who not being included in the provisions of the preceding articles shall resist or seriously disobey any person in authority, or the agents of such person, while engaged in the performance of official duties.
When the disobedience to an agent of a person in authority is not of a serious nature, the penalty of arresto menor or a fine ranging from 10 to 100 pesos shall be imposed upon the offender.
ARTICLE 152. Persons in Authority — Who Shall Be Deemed as Such. — In applying the provisions of the preceding and other articles of this Code, any person directly vested with jurisdiction, whether as an individual or as a member of some court or governmental corporation, board or commission, shall be deemed a person in authority.
CHAPTER FIVE
Public Disorders
ARTICLE 153. Tumults and Other Disturbances of Public Orders — Tumultuous Disturbance or Interruption Liable to Cause Disturbance. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prision correccional in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall cause any serious disturbance in a public place, office, or establishment, or shall interrupt or disturb public performances, functions or gatherings, or peaceful meetings, if the act is not included in the provisions of articles 131 and 132.
The penalty next higher in degree shall be imposed upon persons causing any disturbance or interruption of a tumultuous character.
The disturbance or interruption shall be deemed to be tumultuous if caused by more than three persons who are armed or provided with means of violence.
The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon any person who in any meeting, association, or public place, shall make any outcry tending to incite rebellion or sedition or in such place shall display placards or emblems which provoke a disturbance of the public order.
The penalty of arresto menor and a fine not to exceed 200 pesos shall be imposed upon those persons who in violation of the provisions contained in the last clause of article 85 shall bury with pomp the body of a person who has been legally executed.
ARTICLE 154. Unlawful Use of Means of Publication. — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who by means of printing, lithography, or any other means of publication, shall maliciously publish as news any false news which may endanger the public order or cause damage to the interest or credit of the State;
2. Any person who by the same means, shall encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities or praise, justify or extol any act punished by law;
3. Any person who shall maliciously publish any official resolution or document without proper authority, or before they have been published officially; or
4. Any person who shall print or publish books, pamphlets, periodicals, or leaflets which do not bear the real printer’s name.
ARTICLE 155. Alarms and Scandals. — The penalty of arresto menor or fine not exceeding 200 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who within any town or public place, shall discharge any firearm, rocket, firecracker, or other explosives calculated to cause alarm or danger;
2. Any person who shall instigate or take an active part in any charivari or other disorderly meeting offensive to another or prejudicial to public tranquility;
3. Any person who, while wandering about at night or while engaged in any other nocturnal amusements, shall disturb the public peace; or
4. Any person who, while intoxicated or otherwise, shall cause any disturbance or scandal in public places, provided that the circumstances of the case shall not make the provisions of article 153 applicable.
ARTICLE 156. Delivery of Prisoners from Jail. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who shall remove from any jail or penal establishment any person confined therein or shall help the escape of such person, by means of violence, intimidation, or bribery. If other means are used the penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed.
If the escape of the prisoner shall take place outside of said establishments by taking the guards by surprise, the same penalties shall be imposed in their minimum period.
CHAPTER SIX
Evasion of Service of Sentence
ARTICLE 157. Evasion of Service of Sentence. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon any convict who shall evade service of his sentence by escaping during the term of his imprisonment by reason of final judgment. However, if such evasion or escape shall have taken place by means of unlawful entry, by breaking doors, windows, grates, walls, roofs, or floors, or by using picklocks, false keys, disguise, deceit, violence or intimidation, or through connivance with other convicts or employees of the penal institution, the penalty shall be prisión correccional in its maximum period.
ARTICLE 158. Evasion of Service of Sentence on the Occasion of Disorders, Conflagrations, Earthquakes, or Other Calamities. — A convict who shall evade the service of his sentence, by leaving the penal institution where he shall have been confined, on the occasion of disorder resulting from a conflagration, earthquake, explosion, or similar catastrophe, or during a mutiny in which he has not participated, shall suffer an increase of one-fifth of the time still remaining to be served under the original sentence, which in no case shall exceed six months, if he shall fail to give himself up to the authorities within forty-eight hours following the issuance of a proclamation by the Chief Executive announcing the passing away of such calamity.
Convicts who, under the circumstances mentioned in the preceding paragraph, shall give themselves up to the authorities within the above mentioned period of 48 hours, shall be entitled to the deduction provided in article 98.
ARTICLE 159. Other Cases of Evasion of Service of Sentence. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon the convict who, having been granted conditional pardon by the Chief Executive, shall violate any of the conditions of such pardon. However, if the penalty remitted by the granting of such pardon be higher than six years, the convict shall then suffer the unexpired portion of his original sentence.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Commission of Another Crime During Service of Penalty Imposed for Another Previous Offense
ARTICLE 160. Commission of Another Crime During Service of Penalty Imposed for Another Previous Offense — Penalty. — Besides the provisions of rule 5 of article 62, any person who shall commit a felony after having been convicted by final judgment, before beginning to serve such sentence, or while serving the same, shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty prescribed by law for the new felony.
Any convict of the class referred to in this article, who is not a habitual criminal, shall be pardoned at the age of seventy years if he shall have already served out his original sentence, or when he shall complete it after reaching said age, unless by reason of his conduct or other circumstances he shall not be worthy of such clemency.
TITLE FOUR
Crimes Against Public Interest
CHAPTER ONE
Forgeries
SECTION ONE
Forging the Seal of the Government of the Philippine Islands, the Signature or Stamp of the Chief Executive
ARTICLE 161. Counterfeiting the Great Seal of the Government of the Philippine Islands, Forging the Signature or Stamp of the Chief Executive. — The penalty of reclusión temporal shall be imposed upon any person who shall forge the Great Seal of the Government of the Philippine Islands or the signature or stamp of the Chief Executive.
ARTICLE 162. Using Forged Signature or Counterfeit Seal or Stamp. — The penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall knowingly make use of the counterfeit seal or forged signature or stamp mentioned in the preceding article.
SECTION TWO
Counterfeiting Coins
ARTICLE 163. Making and Importing and Uttering False Coins. — Any person who makes, imports, or utters false coins, in connivance with counterfeiters or importers, shall suffer:
1. Prisión mayor in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not to exceed 10,000 pesos, if the counterfeited coin be gold or silver coin of the United States or of the Philippine Islands.
2. Prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine of not to exceed 2,000 pesos, if the counterfeited coin be any of the minor coinage of the United States or of the Philippine Islands.
3. Prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 1,000 pesos, if the counterfeited coin be currency of a foreign country.
ARTICLE 164. Mutilation of Coins — Importation and Utterance of Mutilated Coins. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 2,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall mutilate coins of the legal currency of the United States or of the Philippine Islands or import or utter mutilated current coins, or in connivance with mutilators or importers.
ARTICLE 165. Selling of False or Mutilated Coin, Without Connivance. — Any person who knowingly, although without the connivance mentioned in the preceding articles, shall possess false or mutilated coin with intent to utter the same, or shall actually utter such coin, shall suffer a penalty lower by one degree than that prescribed in said articles.
SECTION THREE
Forging Treasury or Bank Notes, Obligations and Securities; Importing and Uttering False or Forged Notes, Obligations and Securities
ARTICLE 166. Forging Treasury or Bank Notes or Other Documents Payable to Bearer; Importing, and Uttering Such False or Forged Notes and Documents. — The forging or falsification of treasury or bank notes or certificates or other obligations and securities payable to bearer and the importation and uttering in connivance with forgers or importers of such false or forged obligations or notes, shall be punished as follows:
1. By reclusión temporal in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 10,000 pesos, if the document which has been falsified, counterfeited, or altered is an obligation or security of the United States or of the Philippine Islands.
The word “obligation or security of the United States or of the Philippine Islands” shall be held to mean all bonds, certificates of indebtedness, national bank notes, coupons, United States or Philippine Islands notes, treasury notes, fractional notes, certificates of deposit, bills, checks, or drafts for money, drawn by or upon authorized officers of the United States or of the Philippine Islands, and other representatives of value, of whatever denomination, which have been or may be issued under any act of the Congress of the United States or of the Philippine Legislature.
2. By prisión mayor in its maximum period and a fine not to exceed 5,000 pesos, if the falsified or altered document is a circulating note issued by any banking association duly authorized by law to issue the same.
3. By prisión mayor in its medium period and a fine not to exceed 5,000 pesos, if the falsified or counterfeited document was issued by a foreign government.
4. By prisión mayor in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 2,000 pesos, when the forged or altered document is a circulating note or bill issued by a foreign bank duly authorized therefor.
ARTICLE 167. Counterfeiting, Importing and Uttering Instruments Payable to Bearer. — Any person who shall forge, import or utter, in connivance with the forgers or importers, any instrument payable to order or other document of credit not payable to bearer, shall suffer the penalties of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not exceeding 6,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 168. Illegal Possession and Use of False Treasury or Bank Notes and Other Instruments of Credit. — Unless the act be one of those coming under the provisions of any of the preceding articles, any person who shall knowingly use or have in his possession, with intent to use any of the false or falsified instruments referred to in this section, shall suffer the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed in said articles.
ARTICLE 169. How Forgery is Committed. — The forgery referred to in this section may be committed by any of the following means:
1. By giving to a treasury or bank note or any instrument payable to bearer or to order mentioned therein, the appearance of a true genuine document.
2. By erasing, substituting, counterfeiting or altering by any means the figures, letters, words or signs contained therein.
SECTION FOUR
Falsification of Legislative, Public, Commercial, and Private Documents, and Wireless, Telegraph, and Telephone Messages
ARTICLE 170. Falsification of Legislative Documents. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding 6,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, without proper authority therefor alters any bill, resolution, or ordinance enacted or approved or pending approval by either House of the Legislature or any provincial board or municipal council.
ARTICLE 171. Falsification by Public Officer, Employee or Notary or Ecclesiastic Minister. — The penalty of prisión mayor and a fine not to exceed 5,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any public officer, employee, or notary who, taking advantage of his official position, shall falsify a document by committing any of the following acts:
1. Counterfeiting or imitating any handwriting, signature or rubric;
2. Causing it to appear that persons have participated in any act or proceeding when they did not in fact so participate;
3. Attributing to persons who have participated in an act or proceeding statements other than those in fact made by them;
4. Making untruthful statements in a narration of facts;
5. Altering true dates;
6. Making any alteration or intercalation in a genuine document which changes its meaning;
7. Issuing in authenticated form a document purporting to be a copy of an original document when no such original exists, or including in such copy a statement contrary to, or different from, that of the genuine original; or
8. Intercalating any instrument or note relative to the issuance thereof in a protocol, registry, or official book.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon any ecclesiastical minister who shall commit any of the offenses enumerated in the preceding paragraphs of this article, with respect to any record or document of such character that its falsification may affect the civil status of persons.
ARTICLE 172. Falsification by Private Individuals and Use of Falsified Documents. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine of not more than 5,000 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Any private individual who shall commit any of the falsifications enumerated in the next preceding article in any public or official document or letter of exchange or any other kind of commercial document; and
2. Any person who, to the damage of a third party, or with the intent to cause such damage, shall in any private document commit any of the acts of falsification enumerated in the next preceding article.
Any person who shall knowingly introduce in evidence in any judicial proceeding or to the damage of another or who, with the intent to cause such damage, shall use any of the false documents embraced in the next preceding article or in any of the foregoing subdivisions of this article, shall be punished by the penalty next lower in degree.
ARTICLE 173. Falsification of Wireless, Cable, Telegraph and Telephone Messages, and Use of Said Falsified Messages. — The penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon officer or employee of the Government or of any private corporation or concern engaged in the service of sending or receiving wireless, cable or telephone message who utters a fictitious wireless, telegraph or telephone message of any system or falsifies the same.
Any person who shall use such falsified dispatch to the prejudice of a third party or with the intent of cause such prejudice, shall suffer the penalty next lower in degree.
SECTION FIVE
Falsification of Medical Certificates, Certificates of Merit or Service and the Like
ARTICLE 174. False Medical Certificates, False Certificates of Merit or Service, etc. — The penalties of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Any physician or surgeon who, in connection with the practice of his profession, shall issue a false certificate; and
2. Any public officer who shall issue a false certificate of merit or service, good conduct or similar circumstances.
The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon any private person who shall falsify a certificate falling within the classes mentioned in the two preceding subdivisions.
ARTICLE 175. Using False Certificates. — The penalty of arresto menor shall be imposed upon any one who shall knowingly use any of the false certificates mentioned in the next preceding article.
SECTION SIX
Manufacturing, Importing and Possession of Instruments or Implements Intended for the Commission of Falsification
ARTICLE 176. Manufacturing and Possession of Instruments or Implements for Falsification. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not to exceed 10,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall make or introduce into the Philippine Islands any stamps, dies, marks, or other instruments or implements intended to be used in the commission of the offenses of counterfeiting or falsification mentioned in the preceding sections of this chapter.
Any person who, with the intention of using them, shall have in his possession any of the instruments or implements mentioned in the preceding paragraph, shall suffer the penalty next lower in degree than that provided therein.
CHAPTER TWO
Other Falsities
SECTION ONE
Usurpation of Authority, Rank, Title, and Improper Use of Names, Uniforms and Insignia
ARTICLE 177. Usurpation of Official Functions. — Any person who, under pretense of official position, shall perform any act pertaining to any person in authority or public officer, without being lawfully entitled to do so, shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
ARTICLE 178. Using Fictitious Name and Concealing True Name. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not to exceed 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall publicly use a fictitious name for the purpose of concealing a crime, evading the execution of a judgment or causing damage.
Any person who conceals his true name and other personal circumstances shall be punished by arresto menor or a fine not to exceed 200 pesos.
ARTICLE 179. Illegal Use of Uniforms or Insignia. — The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall publicly and improperly make use of insignia, uniforms or dress pertaining to an office not held by such person or to a class of persons of which he is not a member.
SECTION TWO
False Testimony
ARTICLE 180. False Testimony Against a Defendant. — Any person who shall give false testimony against the defendant in any criminal case shall suffer:
1. The penalty of reclusión temporal, if the defendant in said case shall have been sentenced to death;
2. The penalty of prisión mayor, if the defendant shall have been sentenced to reclusión temporal or perpetua;
3. The penalty of prisión correccional, if the defendant shall have been sentenced to any other afflictive penalty; and
4. The penalty of arresto mayor, if the defendant shall have been sentenced to a correctional penalty or a fine, or shall have been acquitted.
In cases provided in subdivisions 3 and 4 of this article the offender shall further suffer a fine not to exceed 1,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 181. False Testimony Favorable to the Defendant. — Any person who shall give false testimony in favor of the defendant in a criminal case, shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 1,000 pesos, if the prosecution is for a felony punishable by an afflictive penalty, and the penalty of arresto mayor in any other case.
ARTICLE 182. False Testimony in Civil Cases. — Any person found guilty of false testimony in a civil case shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 6,000 pesos, if the amount in controversy shall exceed 5,000 pesos, and the penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed 1,000 pesos, if the amount in controversy shall not exceed said amount or cannot be estimated.
ARTICLE 183. False Testimony in Other Cases and Perjury in Solemn Affirmation. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who, knowingly making untruthful statements and not being included in the provisions of the next preceding articles, shall testify under oath, or make an affidavit, upon any material matter before a competent person authorized to administer an oath in cases in which the law so requires.
Any person who, in case of a solemn affirmation made in lieu of an oath, shall commit any of the falsehoods mentioned in this and the three preceding articles of this section, shall suffer the respective penalties provided therein.
ARTICLE 184. Offering False Testimony in Evidence. — Any person who shall knowingly offer in evidence a false witness or testimony in any judicial or official proceeding, shall be punished as guilty of false testimony and shall suffer the respective penalties provided in this section.
CHAPTER THREE
Frauds
SECTION ONE
Machinations, Monopolies, and Combinations
ARTICLE 185. Machinations in Public Auctions. — Any person who shall solicit any gift or a promise as a consideration for refraining from taking part in any public auction, and any person who shall attempt to cause bidders to stay away from an auction by threats, gifts, promises, or any other artifice, with intent to cause the reduction of the price of the thing auctioned, shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine ranging from 10 to 50 per centum of the value of the thing auctioned.
ARTICLE 186. Monopolies and Combinations in Restraint of Trade. — The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 6,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who shall enter into any contract or agreement or shall take part in any conspiracy or combination in the form of a trust or otherwise, in restraint of trade or commerce or to prevent by artificial means free competition in the market;
2. Any person who shall monopolize any merchandise or object of trade or commerce, or shall combine with any other person or persons to monopolize said merchandise or object in order to alter the price thereof by spreading false rumors or making use of any other artifice to restrain free competition in the market;
3. Any person who, being an importer of any merchandise or object of commerce from any foreign country or from the United States, shall combine in any manner with other persons for the purpose of making transactions prejudicial to lawful commerce, or of increasing the market price in any part of the Philippine Islands of any article or articles imported or intended to be imported into said Islands, or of any article in the manufacture of which an imported article is used.
If the offense mentioned in this article affects any food substance or other article of prime necessity, the penalty shall be that of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, it being sufficient for the imposition thereof that the initial steps have been taken toward carrying out the purposes of the combination.
Any property possessed under any contract or by any combination mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, and being the subject thereof, shall be forfeited to the Government of the Philippine Islands.
Whenever any of the offenses described above is committed by a corporation or association, the president and each one of the directors or managers of said corporation or association, or its agents or representative in the Philippine Islands, in case of a foreign corporation or association, who shall have knowingly permitted or failed to prevent the commission of such offenses, shall be held liable as principals thereof.
SECTION TWO
Frauds in Commerce and Industry
ARTICLE 187. Importation and Disposition of Falsely Marked Articles or Merchandise Made of Gold, Silver, or Other Precious Metals or Their Alloys. — The penalty of prisión correccional or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who shall knowingly import or sell or dispose of any article or merchandise made of gold, silver, or other precious metals, or their alloys, with stamps, brands, or marks, which fail to indicate the actual fineness or quality of said metals or alloys.
Any stamp, brand, label, or mark shall be deemed to fail to indicate the actual fineness of the article on which it is engraved, printed, stamped, labeled or attached, when the test of the article shows that the quality or fineness thereof is less by more than one-half karat, if made of gold, and less by more than four one-thousandth, if made of silver, than what is shown by said stamp, brand, label, or mark. But in case of watch cases and flatware made of gold, the actual fineness of such gold shall not be less by more than three one-thousandth than the fineness indicated by said stamp, brand, label, or mark.
ARTICLE 188. Substituting and Altering Trade-marks and Trade-names. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos or both, shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who shall substitute the name or mark of some other manufacturer for the name or mark of the real manufacturer upon any article of commerce and shall sell the same;
2. Any person who shall sell such articles of commerce or offer the same for sale, knowing that the trade-mark has been fraudulently used in such goods as described in the preceding subdivision; or
3. Any person who, knowing the purposes for which the trade-mark or trade-name of a person is to be used, prints, lithographs, or in any way reproduces such trade-mark or trade-name, or a colorable imitation thereof, for another person, to enable that other person to fraudulently use such trade-mark or trade-name on his own goods.
A trade-name or trade-mark is a word or words, name, emblem, sign, or device used as an advertisement, sign, label, poster or otherwise, for the purpose of enabling the public to distinguish the business of the person who owns and uses said trade-name or trade-mark.
ARTICLE 189. Unfair Competition and Fraudulent Registration of Trade-mark or Trade-name. — The penalty provided in the next preceding article shall be imposed upon any person who, in unfair competition and for the purpose of deceiving or defrauding another of his legitimate trade or the public in general, shall sell his goods giving them the general appearance of goods of another manufacturer or dealer, either in the wrapping of the packages in which they are contained, or the device or words thereon, or in any other feature of their appearance which would be likely to induce the public to believe that the goods offered are those of a manufacturer or dealer other than the actual manufacturer or dealer, or shall give other persons a chance or opportunity to do the same with a like purpose.
The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who, by means of false or fraudulent representations or declarations, orally or in writing, or by other fraudulent means shall procure from the Office of Patents, Copyrights, and trade-marks the registry of a trade-mark, or of himself as the owner of a trade-mark or trade-name, or an entry respecting a trade-mark or trade-name.
TITLE FIVE
Crimes Relative to Opium and Other Prohibited Drugs
ARTICLE 190. Possession, Preparation and Use of Prohibited Drugs, and Maintenance of Opium Dens. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine ranging from 300 to 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Anyone who, unless lawfully authorized shall possess, prepare, administer, or otherwise use any prohibited drug.
“Prohibited drug,” as used herein, includes opium, cocaine, alpha and beta eucaine, their derivatives, and all preparations made from them or any of them.
“Opium” embraces every kind, class, and character of opium, whether crude or prepared; the ashes or refuse of the same; narcotic preparations thereof or therefrom; morphine or alkaloid of opium; preparation in which opium, morphine or alkaloid of opium, enter as an ingredient, and also opium leaves or wrappings of opium leaves, whether prepared or not, for their use.
2. Anyone who shall maintain a dive or resort where any prohibited drug is used in any form, in violation of the law.
ARTICLE 191. Keeper, Watchman and Visitor of Opium Den. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine ranging from 100 to 300 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Anyone who shall act as a keeper or watchman of a dive or resort where any prohibited drug is used in any manner contrary to law; and
2. Any person who, not being included in the provisions of the next preceding article, shall knowingly visit any dive or resort of the character referred to above.
ARTICLE 192. Importation and Sale of Prohibited Drugs. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine ranging from 300 to 10,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall import or bring into the Philippine Islands any prohibited drug.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon any person who shall unlawfully sell or deliver to another any prohibited drug.
ARTICLE 193. Illegal Possession of Opium Pipe or Other Paraphernalia for the Use of Any Prohibited Drug. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, not being authorized by law, shall possess any opium pipe or other paraphernalia for smoking, injecting, administering or using opium or any prohibited drug.
The illegal possession of an opium pipe or other paraphernalia for using any other prohibited drug shall be prima facie evidence that its possessor has used said drug.
ARTICLE 194. Prescribing Opium Unnecessarily for a Patient. — The penalty of prisión correccional or a fine ranging from 300 to 10,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any physician or dentist who shall prescribe opium for any person whose physical condition does not require the use of the same.
TITLE SIX
Crimes Against Public Morals
CHAPTER ONE
Gambling and Betting
ARTICLE 195. What Acts are Punishable in Gambling. — The penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, and, in case of recidivism, the penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 6,000 pesos, shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who, in any manner, shall directly or indirectly take part in any game of monte, jueteng or any other form of lottery, policy, banking or percentage game, dog races or any other game or scheme the result of which depends wholly or chiefly upon chance or hazard; or wherein wagers consisting of money, articles of value or representative of value are made; or in the exploitation or use of any other mechanical invention or contrivance to determine by chance the loser or winner of money or any object or representative of value.
2. Any person who shall knowingly permit any form of gambling referred to in the preceding subdivision to be carried on in any inhabited or uninhabited place or any building, vessel or other means of transportation owned or controlled by him. If the place where gambling is carried on has the reputation of a gambling place or that prohibited gambling is frequently carried on therein, the culprit shall be punished by the penalty provided for in this article in its maximum period.
3. Any person who shall, knowingly and without lawful purpose, have in his possession any lottery list, paper or other matter containing letters, figures, signs or symbols which pertain to or are in any manner used in the game of jueteng or any similar game which has taken place or is about to take place.
ARTICLE 196. Importation, Sale and Possession of Lottery Tickets or Advertisements. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, in the discretion of the court, shall be imposed upon any person who shall import into the Philippine Islands from any foreign place or port any lottery ticket or advertisement or, in connivance with the importer, shall sell or distribute the same.
Any person who shall knowingly and with intent to use them, have in his possession lottery tickets or advertisements, or shall sell or distribute the same without connivance with the importer of the same, shall be punished by arresto menor, or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both, in the discretion of the court.
The possession of any lottery ticket or advertisement shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to sell, distribute or use the same in the Philippine Islands.
ARTICLE 197. Betting in Sports Contests. — The penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who shall bet money or any object or article of value or representative of value upon the result of any boxing or other sports contests.
ARTICLE 198. Illegal Betting on Horse Races. — The penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who, except during the periods allowed by law, shall bet on horse races. The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who, under the same circumstances, shall maintain or employ a totalizer or other device or scheme for betting on horse races or realizing any profit therefrom.
For the purpose of this article, any race held on the same day and at the same place shall be held punishable as a separate offense, and if the same be committed by any partnership, corporation or association, the president and the directors or managers thereof shall be deemed to be principals in the offense if they have consented to or knowingly tolerated its commission.
ARTICLE 199. Illegal Cockfighting. — The penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both, in the discretion of the court, shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who directly or indirectly participates in cockfights, by betting money or other valuable things, or who organizes cockfights at which bets are made, on a day other than those permitted by law.
2. Any person who directly or indirectly participates in cockfights, by betting money or other valuable things, or organizes such cockfights, at a place other than a licensed cockpit.
CHAPTER TWO
Offenses Against Decency and Good Customs
ARTICLE 200. Grave Scandal. — The penalties of arresto mayor and public censure shall be imposed upon any person who shall offend against decency or good customs by any highly scandalous conduct not expressly falling within any other article of this Code.
ARTICLE 201. Immoral Doctrines, Obscene Publications and Exhibitions. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period, or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon:
1. Those who shall publicly expound or proclaim doctrines openly contrary to public morals;
2. The authors of obscene literature, published with their knowledge in any form, and the editors publishing such literature;
3. Those who in theaters, fairs, cinematographs or any other place open to public view, shall exhibit indecent or immoral plays, scenes, acts or shows; and
4. Those who shall sell, give away or exhibit prints, engravings, sculptures or literature which are offensive to morals.
ARTICLE 202. Vagrants and Prostitutes — Penalty. — The following are vagrants:
1. Any person having no apparent means of subsistence, who has the physical ability to work and who neglects to apply himself or herself to some lawful calling;
2. Any person found loitering about public or semi-public buildings or places or tramping or wandering about the country or the streets without visible means of support;
3. Any idle or dissolute person who lodges in houses of ill-fame; ruffians or pimps and those who habitually associate with prostitutes;
4. Any person who, not being included in the provisions of other articles of this Code, shall be found loitering in any inhabited or uninhabited place belonging to another without any lawful or justifiable purpose;
5. Prostitutes.
For the purposes of this article, women who, for money or profit, habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct, are deemed to be prostitutes.
Any person found guilty of any of the offenses covered by this article shall be punished by arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, and in case of recidivism, by arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, in the discretion of the court.
TITLE SEVEN
Crimes Committed by Public Officers
CHAPTER ONE
Preliminary Provisions
ARTICLE 203. Who are Public Officers. — For the purpose of applying the provisions of this and the preceding titles of this book, any person who, by direct provision of the law, popular election or appointment by competent authority, shall take part in the performance of public functions in the Government of the Philippine Islands, or shall perform in said Government or in any of its branches public duties as an employee, agent or subordinate official, of any rank or class, shall be deemed to be a public officer.
CHAPTER TWO
Malfeasance and Misfeasance in Office
SECTION ONE
Dereliction of Duty
ARTICLE 204. Knowingly Rendering Unjust Judgment. — Any judge who shall knowingly render an unjust judgment in any case submitted to him for decision, shall be punished by prisión mayor and perpetual absolute disqualification.
ARTICLE 205. Judgment Rendered Through Negligence. — Any judge who, by reason of inexcusable negligence or ignorance, shall render a manifestly unjust judgment in any case submitted to him for decision shall be punished by arresto mayor and temporary special disqualification.
ARTICLE 206. Unjust Interlocutory Order. — Any judge who shall knowingly render an unjust interlocutory order or decree shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum period and suspension; but if he shall have acted by reason of inexcusable negligence or ignorance and the interlocutory order or decree be manifestly unjust, the penalty shall be suspension.
ARTICLE 207. Malicious Delay in the Administration of Justice. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any judge guilty of malicious delay in the administration of justice.
ARTICLE 208. Prosecution of Offenses; Negligence and Tolerance. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period and suspension shall be imposed upon any public officer, or officer of the law, who, in dereliction of the duties of his office, shall maliciously refrain from instituting prosecution for the punishment of violators of the law, or shall tolerate the commission of offenses.
ARTICLE 209. Betrayal of Trust by an Attorney or Solicitor — Revelation of Secrets. — In addition to the proper administrative action, the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period, or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any attorney-at-law or solicitor (procurador judicial) who, by any malicious breach of professional duty or inexcusable negligence or ignorance, shall prejudice his client, or reveal any of the secrets of the latter learned by him in his professional capacity.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon an attorney-at-law or solicitor (procurador judicial) who, having undertaken the defense of a client or having received confidential information from said client in a case, shall undertake the defense of the opposing party in the same case, without the consent of his first client.
SECTION TWO
Bribery
ARTICLE 210. Direct Bribery. — Any public officer who shall agree to perform an act constituting a crime, in connection with the performance of his official duties, in consideration of any offer, promise, gift or present received by such officer, personally or through the mediation of another, shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine of not less than the value of the gift and not more than three times such value, in addition to the penalty corresponding to the crime agreed upon, if the same shall have been committed.
If the gift was accepted by the officer in consideration of the execution of an act which does not constitute a crime, and the officer executed said act, he shall suffer the same penalty provided in the preceding paragraph; and if said act shall not have been accomplished, the officer shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor in its maximum period and a fine of not less than the value of the gift and not more than twice such value.
If the object for which the gift was received or promised was to make the public officer refrain from doing something which it was his official duty to do, he shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods and a fine of not less than the value of the gift and not more than three times such value.
In addition to the penalties provided in the preceding paragraphs, the culprit shall suffer the penalty of special temporary disqualification.
The provisions contained in the preceding paragraphs shall be made applicable to assessors, arbitrators, appraisal and claim commissioners, experts or any other persons performing public duties.
ARTICLE 211. Indirect Bribery. — The penalties of arresto mayor, suspension in its minimum and medium periods, and public censure shall be imposed upon any public officer who shall accept gifts offered to him by reason of his office.
ARTICLE 212. Corruption of Public Officials. — The same penalties imposed upon the officer corrupted, except those of disqualification and suspension, shall be imposed upon any person who shall have made the offers or promises or given the gifts or presents as described in the preceding articles.
CHAPTER THREE
Frauds and Illegal Exactions and Transactions
ARTICLE 213. Frauds Against the Public Treasury and Similar Offenses. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium period to prisión mayor in its minimum period, or a fine ranging from 200 to 10,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any public officer who:
1. In his official capacity, in dealing with any person with regard to furnishing supplies, the making of contracts, or the adjustment or settlement of accounts relating to public property or funds, shall enter into an agreement with any interested party or speculator or make use of any other scheme, to defraud the Government;
2. Being entrusted with the collection of taxes, licenses, fees and other imposts, shall be guilty of any of the following acts or omissions:
(a) Demanding, directly or indirectly, the payment of sums different from or larger than those authorized by law.
(b) Failing voluntarily to issue a receipt, as provided by law, for any sum of money collected by him officially.
(c) Collecting or receiving, directly or indirectly, by way of payment or otherwise, things or objects of a nature different from that provided by law.
When the culprit is an officer or employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue or the Bureau of Customs, the provisions of the Administrative Code shall be applied.
ARTICLE 214. Other Frauds. — In addition to the penalties prescribed in the provisions of Chapter Six, Title Ten, Book Two, of this Code, the penalty of temporary special disqualification in its maximum period to perpetual special disqualification shall be imposed upon any public officer who, taking advantage of his official position, shall commit any of the frauds or deceits enumerated in said provisions.
ARTICLE 215. Prohibited Transactions. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any appointive public officer who, during his incumbency, shall directly or indirectly become interested in any transaction of exchange or speculation within the territory subject to his jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 216. Possession of Prohibited Interest by a Public Officer. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon a public officer who, directly or indirectly, shall become interested in any contract or business in which it is his official duty to intervene.
This provision is applicable to experts, arbitrators and private accountants who, in like manner, shall take part in any contract or transaction connected with the estate or property in the appraisal, distribution or adjudication of which they shall have acted, and to the guardians and executors with respect to the property belonging to their wards or estate.
CHAPTER FOUR
Malversation of Public Funds or Property
ARTICLE 217. Malversation of Public Funds or Property — Presumption of Malversation. — Any public officer who, by reason of the duties of his office, is accountable for public funds or property, shall appropriate the same, or shall take or misappropriate or shall consent, or through abandonment or negligence, shall permit any other person to take such public funds or property, wholly or partially, or shall otherwise be guilty of the misappropriation or malversation of such funds or property, shall suffer:
1. The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if the amount involved in the misappropriation or malversation does not exceed 200 pesos.
2. The penalty of prisión correccional in its maximum period to prisión mayor in its minimum period, if the amount involved is more than 200 pesos but does not exceed 6,000 pesos.
3. The penalty of prisión mayor in its medium and maximum periods, if the amount involved is more than 6,000 pesos but is less than 12,000 pesos.
4. The penalty of reclusión temporal in its minimum and medium periods, if the amount involved is more than 12,000 pesos but is less than 22,000 pesos. If the amount exceeds the latter, the penalty shall be reclusión temporal in its medium and maximum periods.
In all cases, persons guilty of malversation shall also suffer the penalty of perpetual special disqualification and a fine ranging from one-half to the total value of the funds or property embezzled.
The failure of a public officer to have duly forthcoming any public funds or property with which he is chargeable, upon demand by any duly authorized officer, shall be prima facie evidence that he has put such missing funds or property to personal uses.
ARTICLE 218. Failure of Accountable Officer to Render Accounts. — Any public officer, whether in the service or separated therefrom by resignation or any other cause, who is required by law or regulation to render account to the Insular Auditor, or to a provincial auditor and who fails to do so for a period of two months after such accounts should be rendered, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum period, or by a fine ranging from 200 to 6,000 pesos, or both.
ARTICLE 219. Failure of a Responsible Public Officer to Render Accounts Before Leaving the Country. — Any public officer who unlawfully leaves or attempts to leave the Philippine Islands without securing a certificate from the Insular Auditor showing that his accounts have been finally settled, shall be punished by arresto mayor, or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos, or both.
ARTICLE 220. Illegal Use of Public Funds or Property. — Any public officer who shall apply any public fund or property under his administration to any public use other than that for which such fund or property were appropriated by law or ordinance shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from one-half to the total of the sum misapplied, if by reason of such misapplication, any damage or embarrassment shall have resulted to the public service. In either case, the offender shall also suffer the penalty of temporary special disqualification.
If no damage or embarrassment to the public service has resulted, the penalty shall be a fine from 5 to 50 per cent of the sum misapplied.
ARTICLE 221. Failure to Make Delivery of Public Funds or Property. — Any public officer under obligation to make payment from Government funds in his possession, who shall fail to make such payment, shall be punished by arresto mayor and a fine of from 5 to 25 per cent of the sum which he failed to pay.
This provision shall apply to any public officer who, being ordered by competent authority to deliver any property in his custody or under his administration, shall refuse to make such delivery.
The fine shall be graduated in such case by the value of the thing, provided that it shall not be less than 50 pesos.
ARTICLE 222. Officers Included in the Preceding Provisions. — The provisions of this chapter shall apply to private individuals who, in any capacity whatever, have charge of any Insular, provincial or municipal funds, revenues or property and to any administrator or depository of funds or property attached, seized or deposited by public authority, even if such property belongs to a private individual.
CHAPTER FIVE
Infidelity of Public Officers
SECTION ONE
Infidelity in the Custody of Prisoners
ARTICLE 223. Conniving With or Consenting to Evasion. — Any public officer who shall consent to the escape of a prisoner in his custody or charge, shall be punished:
1. By prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods and temporary special disqualification in its maximum period to perpetual special disqualification, if the fugitive shall have been sentenced by final judgment to any penalty.
2. By prision correccional in its minimum period and temporary special disqualification, in case the fugitive shall not have been finally convicted but only held as a detention prisoner for any crime or violation of law or municipal ordinance.
ARTICLE 224. Evasion Through Negligence. — If the evasion of the prisoner shall have taken place through the negligence of the officer charged with the conveyance or custody of the escaping prisoner, said officer shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period and temporary special disqualification.
ARTICLE 225. Escape of Prisoner Under the Custody of a Person Not a Public Officer. — Any private person to whom the conveyance or custody of a prisoner or person under arrest shall have been confided, who shall commit any of the offenses mentioned in the two preceding articles, shall suffer the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed for the public officer.
SECTION TWO
Infidelity in the Custody of Documents
ARTICLE 226. Removal, Concealment or Destruction of Documents. — Any public officer who shall remove, destroy or conceal documents or papers officially entrusted to him, shall suffer:
1. The penalty of prisión mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos, whenever serious damage shall have been caused thereby to a third party or to the public interest.
2. The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos, whenever the damage caused to a third party or to the public interest shall not have been serious.
In either case, the additional penalty of temporary special disqualification in its maximum period to perpetual special disqualification shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 227. Officer Breaking Seal. — Any public officer charged with the custody of papers or property sealed by proper authority, who shall break the seals or permit them to be broken, shall suffer the penalties of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 228. Opening of Closed Documents. — Any public officer not included in the provisions of the next preceding article who, without proper authority, shall open or shall permit to be opened any closed papers, documents or objects entrusted to his custody, shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos.
SECTION THREE
Revelation of Secrets
ARTICLE 229. Revelation of Secrets by an Officer. — Any public officer who shall reveal any secret known to him by reason of his official capacity, or shall wrongfully deliver papers or copies of papers of which he may have charge and which should not be published, shall suffer the penalties of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, perpetual special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos if the revelation of such secrets or the delivery of such papers shall have caused serious damage to the public interest; otherwise, the penalties of prisión correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 230. Public Officer Revealing Secrets of Private Individual. — Any public officer to whom the secrets of any private individual shall become known by reason of his office who shall reveal such secrets, shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
CHAPTER SIX
Other Offenses or Irregularities by Public Officers
SECTION ONE
Disobedience, Refusal of Assistance and Maltreatment of Prisoners
ARTICLE 231. Open Disobedience. — Any judicial or executive officer who shall openly refuse to execute the judgment, decision or order of any superior authority made within the scope of the jurisdiction of the latter and issued with all the legal formalities, shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 232. Disobedience to Order of Superior Officer, When Said Order Was Suspended by Inferior Officer. — Any public officer who, having for any reason suspended the execution of the orders of his superiors, shall disobey such superiors after the latter have disapproved the suspension, shall suffer the penalties of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and perpetual special disqualification.
ARTICLE 233. Refusal of Assistance. — The penalties of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, perpetual special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos, shall be imposed upon a public officer who, upon demand from competent authority, shall fail to lend his cooperation towards the administration of justice or other public service, if such failure shall result in serious damage to the public interest, or to a third party; otherwise, arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 234. Refusal to Discharge Elective Office. — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who, having been elected by popular election to a public office, shall refuse without legal motive to be sworn in or to discharge the duties of said office.
ARTICLE 235. Maltreatment of Prisoners. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prision correccional in its minimum period, in addition to his liability for the physical injuries or damage caused, shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall overdo himself in the correction or handling of a prisoner or detention prisoner under his charge, by the imposition of punishment not authorized by the regulations, or by inflicting such punishment in a cruel and humiliating manner.
If the purpose of the maltreatment is to extort a confession, or to obtain some information from the prisoner, the offender shall be punished by prision correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos, in addition to his liability for the physical injuries or damage caused.
SECTION TWO
Anticipation, Prolongation and Abandonment of the Duties and Powers of Public Office
ARTICLE 236. Anticipation of Duties of a Public Office. — Any person who shall assume the performance of the duties and powers of any public office or employment without first being sworn in or having given the bond required by law, shall be suspended from such office or employment until he shall have complied with the respective formalities and shall be fined from 200 to 500 pesos.
ARTICLE 237. Prolonging Performance of Duties and Powers. — Any public officer who shall continue to exercise the duties and powers of his office, employment or commission, beyond the period provided by law, regulations or special provisions applicable to the case, shall suffer the penalties of prisión correccional in its minimum period, special temporary disqualification in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos.
ARTICLE 238. Abandonment of Office or Position. — Any public officer who, before the acceptance of his resignation, shall abandon his office to the detriment of the public service shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor.
If such office shall have been abandoned in order to evade the discharge of the duties of preventing, prosecuting or punishing any of the crimes falling within Title One, and Chapter One of Title Three of Book Two of this Code, the offender shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, and by arresto mayor if the purpose of such abandonment is to evade the duty of preventing, prosecuting or punishing any other crime.
SECTION THREE
Usurpation of Powers and Unlawful Appointments
ARTICLE 239. Usurpation of Legislative Powers. — The penalties of prisión correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos, shall be imposed upon any public officer who shall encroach upon the powers of the legislative branch of the Government, either by making general rules or regulations beyond the scope of his authority, or by attempting to repeal a law or suspending the execution thereof.
ARTICLE 240. Usurpation of Executive Functions. — Any judge who shall so assume any power pertaining to the executive authorities, or shall obstruct the latter in the lawful exercise of their powers, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period.
ARTICLE 241. Usurpation of Judicial Functions. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any officer of the executive branch of the Government who shall assume judicial powers or shall obstruct the execution of any order or decision rendered by any judge within his jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 242. Disobeying Request for Disqualification. — Any public officer who, before the question of jurisdiction is decided, shall continue any proceeding after having been lawfully required to refrain from so doing, shall be punished by arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos.
ARTICLE 243. Orders or Requests by Executive Officers to Any Judicial Authority. — Any executive officer who shall address any order or suggestion to any judicial authority with respect to any case or business coming within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of justice shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos.
ARTICLE 244. Unlawful Appointments. — Any public officer who shall knowingly nominate or appoint to any public office any person lacking the legal qualifications therefor, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
SECTION FOUR
Abuses Against Chastity
ARTICLE 245. Abuses Against Chastity — Penalties. — The penalties of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods and temporary special disqualification shall be imposed:
1. Upon any public officer who shall solicit or make immoral or indecent advances to a woman interested in matters pending before such officer for decision, or with respect to which he is required to submit a report to or consult with a superior officer;
2. Any warden or other public officer directly charged with the care and custody of prisoners or persons under arrest who shall solicit or make immoral or indecent advances to a woman under his custody.
If the person solicited be the wife, daughter, sister or relative within the same degree by affinity of any person in the custody of such warden or officer, the penalties shall be prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and temporary special disqualification.
TITLE EIGHT
Crimes Against Persons
CHAPTER ONE
Destruction of Life
SECTION ONE
Parricide, Murder, Homicide
ARTICLE 246. Parricide. — Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished by the penalty of reclusión perpetua to death.
ARTICLE 247. Death or Physical Injuries Inflicted Under Exceptional Circumstances. — Any legally married person who, having surprised his spouse in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another person, shall kill any of them or both of them in the act or immediately thereafter, or shall inflict upon them any serious physical injury, shall suffer the penalty of destierro.
If he shall inflict upon them physical injuries of any other kind, he shall be exempt from punishment.
These rules shall be applicable, under the same circumstances, to parents with respect to their daughters under eighteen years of age, and their seducers, while the daughters are living with their parents.
Any person who shall promote or facilitate the prostitution of his wife or daughter, or shall otherwise have consented to the infidelity of the other spouse shall not be entitled to the benefits of this article.
ARTICLE 248. Murder. — Any person who, not falling within the provisions of article 246 shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished by reclusión temporal in its maximum period to death, if committed with any of the following attendant circumstances:
1. With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity.
2. In consideration of a price, reward or promise.
3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a street car or locomotive, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin.
4. On occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any other public calamity.
5. With evident premeditation.
6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.
ARTICLE 249. Homicide. — Any person who, not falling within the provisions of article 246 shall kill another without the attendance of any of the circumstances enumerated in the next preceding article, shall be deemed guilty of homicide and be punished by reclusion temporal.
ARTICLE 250. Penalty for Frustrated Parricide, Murder or Homicide. — The courts, in view of the facts of the case, may impose upon the person guilty of the frustrated crime of parricide, murder or homicide, defined and penalized in the preceding articles, a penalty lower by one degree than that which should be imposed under the provision of article 50.
The courts, considering the facts of the case, may likewise reduce by one degree the penalty which under article 51 should be imposed for an attempt to commit any of such crimes.
ARTICLE 251. Death Caused in a Tumultuous Affray. — When, while several persons, not composing groups organized for the common purpose of assaulting and attacking each other reciprocally, quarrel and assault each other in a confused and tumultuous manner, and in the course of the affray someone is killed, and it cannot be ascertained who actually killed the deceased, but the person or persons who inflicted serious physical injuries can be identified, such person or persons shall be punished by prisión mayor.
If it cannot be determined who inflicted the serious physical injuries on the deceased, the penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon all those who shall have used violence upon the person of the victim.
ARTICLE 252. Physical Injuries Inflicted in a Tumultuous Affray. — When in a tumultuous affray as referred to in the preceding article, only serious physical injuries are inflicted upon the participants thereof and the person responsible therefor cannot be identified, all those who appear to have used violence upon the person of the offended party shall suffer the penalty next lower in degree than that provided for the physical injuries so inflicted.
When the physical injuries inflicted are of a less serious nature and the person responsible therefor cannot be identified, all those who appear to have used any violence upon the person of the offended party shall be punished by arresto from five to fifteen days.
ARTICLE 253. Giving Assistance to Suicide. — Any person who shall assist another to commit suicide shall suffer the penalty of prisión mayor; if such person lends his assistance to another to the extent of doing the killing himself, he shall suffer the penalty of reclusión temporal. However, if the suicide is not consummated, the penalty of arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 254. Discharge of Firearms. — Any person who shall shoot at another with any firearm shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, unless the facts of the case are such that the act can be held to constitute frustrated or attempted parricide, murder, homicide or any other crime for which a higher penalty is prescribed by any of the articles of this Code.
SECTION TWO
Infanticide and Abortion
ARTICLE 255. 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 prisión 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 prisión mayor.
ARTICLE 256. Intentional Abortion. — Any person who shall intentionally cause an abortion shall suffer:
1. The penalty of reclusión temporal, if he shall use any violence upon the person of the pregnant woman.
2. The penalty of prisión mayor if, without using violence, he shall act without the consent of the woman.
3. The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, if the woman shall have consented.
ARTICLE 257. Unintentional Abortion. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium period shall be imposed upon any person who shall cause an abortion by violence, but unintentionally.
ARTICLE 258. Abortion Practiced by the Woman Herself or by Her Parents. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon a woman who shall practice an abortion upon herself or shall consent that any other person should do so.
Any woman who shall commit this offense to conceal her dishonor, shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
If this crime be committed by the parents of the pregnant woman or either of them, and they act with the consent of said woman for the purpose of concealing her dishonor, the offenders shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods.
ARTICLE 259. Abortion Practiced by a Physician or Midwife and Dispensing of Abortives. — The penalties provided in article 256 shall be imposed in its maximum period, respectively, upon any physician or midwife who, taking advantage of their scientific knowledge or skill, shall cause an abortion or assist in causing the same.
Any pharmacist who, without the proper prescription from a physician, shall dispense any abortive shall suffer arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
SECTION THREE
Duel
ARTICLE 260. Responsibility of Participants in a Duel. — The penalty of reclusión temporal shall be imposed upon any person who shall kill his adversary in a duel.
If he shall inflict upon the latter physical injuries only, he shall suffer the penalty provided therefor, according to their nature.
In any other case, the combatants shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor, although no physical injuries have been inflicted.
The seconds shall in all events be punished as accomplices.
ARTICLE 261. Challenging to a Duel. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who shall challenge another, or incite another to give or accept a challenge to a duel, or shall scoff at or decry another publicly for having refused to accept a challenge to fight a duel.
CHAPTER TWO
Physical Injuries
ARTICLE 262. Mutilation. — The penalty of reclusión temporal to reclusión perpetua shall be imposed upon any person who shall intentionally mutilate another by depriving him, either totally or partially, of some essential organ for reproduction.
Any other intentional mutilation shall be punished by prisión mayor in its medium and maximum periods.
ARTICLE 263. Serious Physical Injuries. — Any person who shall wound, beat, or assault another, shall be guilty of the crime of serious physical injuries and shall suffer:
1. The penalty of prisión mayor, if in consequence of the physical injuries inflicted, the injured person shall become insane, imbecile, impotent, or blind;
2. The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, if in consequence of the physical injuries inflicted, the person injured shall have lost the use of speech or the power to hear or to smell, or shall have lost an eye, a hand, a foot, an arm, or a leg or shall have lost the use of any such member, or shall have become incapacitated for the work in which he was theretofore habitually engaged;
3. The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if in consequence of the physical injuries inflicted, the person injured shall have become deformed, or shall have lost any other part of his body, or shall have lost the use thereof, or shall have been ill or incapacitated for the performance of the work in which he was habitually engaged for a period of more than ninety days;
4. The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, if the physical injuries inflicted shall have caused the illness or incapacity for labor of the injured person for more than thirty days.
If the offense shall have been committed against any of the persons enumerated in article 246, or with attendance of any of the circumstances mentioned in article 248, the case covered by subdivision number 1 of this article shall be punished by reclusión temporal in its medium and maximum periods; the case covered by subdivision number 2 by prisión correccional in its maximum period to prisión mayor in its minimum period; the case covered by subdivision number 3 by prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods; and the case covered by subdivision number 4 by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not be applicable to a parent who shall inflict physical injuries upon his child by excessive chastisement.
ARTICLE 264. Administering Injurious Substances or Beverages. — The penalties established by the next preceding article shall be applicable in the respective cases to any person who, without intent to kill, shall inflict upon another any serious physical injury, by knowingly administering to him any injurious substances or beverages or by taking advantage of his weakness of mind or credulity.
ARTICLE 265. Less Serious Physical Injuries. — Any person who shall inflict upon another physical injuries not described in the preceding articles, but which shall incapacitate the offended party for labor for ten days or more, or shall require medical attendance for the same period, shall be guilty of less serious physical injuries and shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor.
Whenever less serious physical injuries shall have been inflicted with the manifest intent to insult or offend the injured person, or under circumstances adding ignominy to the offense, in addition to the penalty of arresto mayor, a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed.
Any less serious physical injuries inflicted upon the offender’s parents, ascendants, guardians, curators, teachers, or persons of rank, or persons in authority, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, provided that, in the case of persons in authority, the deed does not constitute the crime of assault upon such persons.
ARTICLE 266. Slight Physical Injuries and Maltreatment. — The crime of slight physical injuries shall be punished:
1. By arresto menor when the offender has inflicted physical injuries which shall incapacitate the offended party for labor from one to nine days, or shall require medical attendance during the same period.
2. By arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos and censure when the offender has caused physical injuries which do not prevent the offended party from engaging in his habitual work nor require medical attendance.
3. By arresto menor in its minimum period or a fine not exceeding 50 pesos when the offender shall ill-treat another by deed without causing any injury.
TITLE NINE
Crimes Against Personal Liberty and Security
CHAPTER ONE
Crimes Against Liberty
SECTION ONE
Illegal Detention
ARTICLE 267. Serious Illegal Detention. — Any private individual who shall kidnap or detain another, or in any other manner deprive him of his liberty, shall suffer the penalty of reclusión temporal:
1. If the locking up or detention shall have lasted more than twenty days.
2. If it shall have been committed simulating public authority.
3. If any serious physical injuries shall have been inflicted upon the person locked up or detained, or if threats to kill him shall have been made.
ARTICLE 268. Slight Illegal Detention. — The penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed upon any private individual who shall commit the crimes described in the next preceding article without the attendance of any of the circumstances enumerated therein.
The same penalty shall be incurred by anyone who shall furnish the place for the perpetration of the crime.
If the offender shall voluntarily release the person so locked up or detained within three days from the commencement of the detention, without having attained the purpose intended, and before the institution of criminal proceedings against him, the penalty shall be prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos.
ARTICLE 269. Unlawful Arrest. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, in any case other than those authorized by law, or without reasonable ground therefor, shall arrest or detain another for the purpose of delivering him to the proper authorities.
SECTION TWO
Kidnapping of Minors
ARTICLE 270. Kidnapping and Failure to Return a Minor. — The penalty of reclusión temporal shall be imposed upon:
1. Anyone who shall kidnap a child under seven years for the purpose of permanently separating said child from his parents or guardians or the persons charged with his custody.
2. Any person who, being entrusted with the custody of a minor person, shall deliberately fail to restore the latter to his parents or guardians.
ARTICLE 271. Inducing a Minor to Abandon his Home. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon anyone who shall induce a person under age but over seven years to abandon the home of his parents or guardians or the persons entrusted with his custody.
If the person committing any of the crimes covered by the two preceding articles shall be the father or the mother of the minor, the penalty shall be arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both.
SECTION THREE
Slavery and Servitude
ARTICLE 272. Slavery. — The penalty of prisión mayor and a fine of not exceeding 10,000 pesos shall be imposed upon anyone who shall purchase, sell, kidnap or detain a human being for the purpose of enslaving him.
If the crime be committed for the purpose of assigning the offended party to some immoral traffic, the penalty shall be imposed in its maximum period.
ARTICLE 273. Exploitation of Child Labor. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon anyone who, under the pretext of reimbursing himself of a debt incurred by an ascendant, guardian or person entrusted with the custody of a minor, shall, against the latter’s will, retain him in his service.
ARTICLE 274. Services Rendered Under Compulsion in Payment of Debts. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who, in order to require or enforce the payment of a debt, shall compel the debtor to work for him, against his will, as household servant or farm laborer.
CHAPTER TWO
Crimes Against Security
SECTION ONE
Abandonment of Helpless Persons and Exploitation of Minors
ARTICLE 275. Abandonment of Persons in Danger and Abandonment of One’s Own Victim. — The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon:
1. Anyone who shall fail to render assistance to any person whom he shall find in an uninhabited place wounded or in danger of dying, when he can render such assistance without detriment to himself, unless such omission shall constitute a more serious offense.
2. Anyone who shall fail to help or render assistance to another whom he has accidentally wounded or injured.
3. Anyone who, having found an abandoned child under seven years of age, shall fail to deliver said child to the authorities or to his family, or shall fail to take him to a safe place.
ARTICLE 276. Abandoning a Minor. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon anyone who shall abandon a child under seven years of age, the custody of which is incumbent upon him.
When the death of the minor shall result from such abandonment, the culprit shall be punished by prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods; but if the life of the minor shall have been in danger only, the penalty shall be prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
The provisions contained in the two preceding paragraphs shall not prevent the imposition of the penalty provided for the act committed, when the same shall constitute a more serious offense.
ARTICLE 277. Abandonment of Minor by Person Entrusted with his Custody; Indifference of Parents. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon anyone who, having charge of the rearing or education of a minor, shall deliver said minor to a public institution or other persons, without the consent of the one who entrusted such child to his care or in the absence of the latter, without the consent of the proper authorities.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon the parents who shall neglect their children by not giving them the education which their station in life require and financial condition permit.
ARTICLE 278. Exploitation of Minors. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who shall cause any boy or girl under sixteen years of age to perform any dangerous feat of balancing, physical strength or contortion.
2. Any person who, being an acrobat, gymnast, rope-walker, diver, wild-animal tamer or circus manager or engaged in a similar calling, shall employ in exhibitions of these kinds of children under sixteen years of age who are not his children or descendants.
3. Any person engaged in any of the callings enumerated in the next preceding paragraph who shall employ any descendant of his under twelve years of age in such dangerous exhibitions.
4. Any ascendant, guardian, teacher or person entrusted in any capacity with the care of a child under sixteen years of age, who shall deliver such child gratuitously to any person following any of the callings enumerated in paragraph 2 hereof, or to any habitual vagrant or beggar.
If the delivery shall have been made in consideration of any price, compensation, or promise, the penalty shall in every case be imposed in its maximum period.
In either case, the guardian or curator convicted shall also be removed from office as guardian or curator; and in the case of the parents of the child, they may be deprived, temporarily or perpetually, in the discretion of the court, of their parental authority.
5. Any person who shall induce any child under sixteen years of age to abandon the home of its ascendants, guardians, curators or teachers to follow any person engaged in any of the callings mentioned in paragraph 2 hereof, or to accompany any habitual vagrant or beggar.
ARTICLE 279. Additional Penalties for Other Offenses. — The imposition of the penalties prescribed in the preceding articles, shall not prevent the imposition upon the same person of the penalty provided for any other felonies defined and punished by this Code.
SECTION TWO
Trespass to Dwelling
ARTICLE 280. Qualified Trespass to Dwelling. — Any private person who shall enter the dwelling of another against the latter’s will, shall be punished by arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
If the offense be committed by means of violence or intimidation, the penalty shall be prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
The provisions of this article shall not be applicable to any person who shall enter another’s dwelling for the purpose of preventing some serious harm to himself, the occupants of the dwelling or a third person, nor shall it be applicable to any person who shall enter a dwelling for the purpose of rendering some service to humanity or justice, nor to anyone who shall enter cafés, taverns, inns and other public houses, while the same are open.
ARTICLE 281. Other Forms of Trespass. — The penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who shall enter the closed premises or the fenced estate of another, while either of them are uninhabited, if the prohibition to enter be manifest and the trespasser has not secured the permission of the owner or the caretaker thereof.
SECTION THREE
Threats and Coercion
ARTICLE 282. Grave Threats. — Any person who shall threaten another with the infliction upon the person, honor or property of the latter or of his family of any wrong amounting to a crime, shall suffer:
1. The penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the crime he threatened to commit, if the offender shall have made the threat demanding money or imposing any other condition, even though not unlawful, and said offender shall have attained his purpose. If the offender shall not have attained his purpose, the penalty lower by two degrees shall be imposed.
If the threat be made in writing or through a middleman, the penalty shall be imposed in its maximum period.
2. The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos, if the threat shall not have been made subject to a condition.
ARTICLE 283. Light Threats. — A threat to commit a wrong not constituting a crime, made in the manner expressed in subdivision 1 of the next preceding article, shall be punished by arresto mayor.
ARTICLE 284. Bond for Good Behavior. — In all cases falling within the two next preceding articles, the person making the threats may also be required to give bail not to molest the person threatened, or if he shall fail to give such bail, he shall be sentenced to destierro.
ARTICLE 285. Other Light Threats. — The penalty of arresto menor in its minimum period or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who, without being included in the provisions of the next preceding article, shall threaten another with a weapon, or draw such weapon in a quarrel, unless it be in lawful self-defense.
2. Any person who, in the heat of anger, shall orally threaten another with some harm not constituting a crime, and who by subsequent acts shows that he did not persist in the idea involved in his threat, provided that the circumstances of the offense shall not bring it within the provisions of article 282 of this Code.
3. Any person who shall orally threaten to do another any harm not constituting a felony.
ARTICLE 286. Grave Coercions. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, without authority of law, shall, by means of violence, prevent another from doing something not prohibited by law, or compel him to do something against his will, whether it be right or wrong.
If the coercion be committed for the purpose of compelling another to perform any religious act or to prevent him from so doing, the penalty next higher in degree shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 287. Light Coercions. — Any person who, by means of violence, shall seize anything belonging to his debtor for the purpose of applying the same to the payment of the debt, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum period and a fine equivalent to the value of the thing, but in no case less than 75 pesos.
Any other coercions or unjust vexations shall be punished by arresto menor or a fine ranging from 5 to 200 pesos, or both.
ARTICLE 288. Other Similar Coercions — (Compulsory Purchase of Merchandise and Payment of Wages by Means of Tokens). — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 500 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person, agent or officer of any association or corporation who shall force or compel, directly or indirectly, or shall knowingly permit any laborer or employee employed by him or by such firm or corporation to be forced or compelled, to purchase merchandise or commodities of any kind.
The same penalties shall be imposed upon any person who shall pay the wages due a laborer or employee employed by him, by means of tokens or objects other than the legal tender currency of the Philippine Islands, unless expressly requested by the laborer or employee.
ARTICLE 289. Formation, Maintenance and Prohibition of Combination of Capital or Labor Through Violence or Threats. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 300 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, for the purpose of organizing, maintaining or preventing coalitions of capital or labor, strike of laborers or lock-out of employees, shall employ violence or threats in such a degree as to compel or force the laborers or employers in the free and legal exercise of their industry or work, if the act shall not constitute a more serious offense in accordance with the provisions of this Code.
CHAPTER THREE
Discovery and Revelation of Secrets
ARTICLE 290. Discovering Secrets Through Seizure of Correspondence. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any private individual who in order to discover secrets of another, shall seize his papers or letters and reveal the contents thereof.
If the offender shall not reveal such secrets, the penalty shall be arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos.
This provision shall not be applicable to parents, guardians, or persons entrusted with the custody of minors with respect to the papers or letters of the children or minors placed under their care or custody, nor to spouses with respect to the papers or letters of either of them.
ARTICLE 291. Revealing Secrets With Abuse of Office. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any manager, employee, or servant who, in such capacity, shall learn the secrets of his principal or master and shall reveal such secrets.
ARTICLE 292. Revelation of Industrial Secrets. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon the person in charge, employee or workman of any manufacturing or industrial establishment who, to the prejudice of the owner thereof, shall reveal the secrets of the industry of the latter.
TITLE TEN
Crimes Against Property
CHAPTER ONE
Robbery in General
ARTICLE 293. Who are Guilty of Robbery. — Any person who, with intent to gain, shall take any personal property belonging to another, by means of violence against or intimidation of any person, or using force upon anything, shall be guilty of robbery.
SECTION ONE
Robbery with Violence Against or Intimidation of Persons
ARTICLE 294. Robbery with Violence Against or Intimidation of Persons — Penalties. — Any person guilty of robbery with the use of violence against or intimidation of any person shall suffer:
1. The penalty of reclusión perpetua to death, when by reason or on occasion of the robbery, the crime of homicide shall have been committed.
2. The penalty of reclusión temporal in its medium period to reclusión perpetua, when the robbery shall have been accompanied by rape or intentional mutilation, or if by reason or on occasion of such robbery, any of the physical injuries penalized in subdivision 1 of article 263 shall have been inflicted, or the person robbed shall have been held for ransom or deprived of his liberty for more than one day.
3. The penalty of reclusión temporal, when by reason or on occasion of the robbery, any of the physical injuries penalized in subdivision 2 of the article mentioned in the next preceding paragraph, shall have been inflicted.
4. The penalty of prisión mayor in its medium period to reclusión temporal in its medium period, if the violence or intimidation employed in the commission of the robbery shall have been carried to a degree clearly unnecessary for the commission of the crime, or when in the course of its execution, the offender shall have inflicted upon any person not responsible for its commission any of the physical injuries covered by subdivisions 3 and 4 of said Article 263.
5. The penalty of prisión correccional to prisión mayor in its medium period in other cases.
ARTICLE 295. Robbery with Physical Injuries, Committed in an Uninhabited Place and by a Band. — If the offenses mentioned in subdivisions 3, 4, and 5 of the next preceding article shall have been committed in an uninhabited place and by a band, or by attacking a moving train, street car, motor vehicle or airship, or by entering the passenger’s compartments in a train or, in any manner, taking the passengers thereof by surprise in the respective conveyances, the offender shall be punished by the maximum period of the proper penalties.
In the same cases, the penalty next higher in degree shall be imposed upon the leader of the band.
ARTICLE 296. Definition of a Band and Penalty Incurred by the Members Thereof . — When more than three armed malefactors take part in the commission of a robbery, it shall be deemed to have been committed by a band (cuadrilla).
Any member of a band who is present at the commission of a robbery in an uninhabited place and by a band, shall be punished as principal of any of the assaults committed by the band, unless it be shown that he attempted to prevent the same.
ARTICLE 297. Attempted and Frustrated Robbery Committed Under Certain Circumstances. — When by reason or on occasion of an attempted or frustrated robbery a homicide is committed the person guilty of such offenses shall be punished by reclusión temporal in its maximum period to reclusión perpetua, unless the homicide committed shall deserve a higher penalty under the provisions of this Code.
ARTICLE 298. Execution of deeds by means of violence or intimidation. — Any person who, with intent to defraud another, by means of violence or intimidation, shall compel him to sign, execute or deliver any public instrument or document, shall be held guilty of robbery and punished by the penalties respectively prescribed in this Chapter.
SECTION TWO
Robbery by the Use of Force Upon Things
ARTICLE 299. Robbery in an Inhabited House or Public Building or Edifice Devoted to Worship. — Any armed person who shall commit robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to religious worship, shall be punished by prisión mayor in its medium period to reclusión temporal in its minimum period, if the value of the property taken shall exceed 250 pesos, and if —
(a) The malefactors shall enter the house or building in which the robbery was committed, by any of the following means:
1. Through an opening not intended for entrance or egress;
2. By breaking any wall, roof, or floor or breaking any door or window;
3. By using false keys, picklocks or similar tools;
4. By using any fictitious name or pretending the exercise of public authority;
or if —
(b) The robbery be committed under any of the following circumstances:
1. By the breaking of doors, wardrobes, chests, or any other kind of locked or sealed furniture or receptacle;
2. By taking such furniture or objects away to be broken or forced open outside the place of the robbery.
When the offenders do not carry arms, and the value of the property taken exceeds 250 pesos, the penalty next lower in degree shall be imposed.
The same rule shall be applied when the offenders are armed, but the value of the property taken does not exceed 250 pesos.
When said offenders do not carry arms and the value of the property taken does not exceed 250 pesos, they shall suffer the penalty prescribed in the two next preceding paragraphs, in its minimum period.
If the robbery be committed in one of the dependencies of an inhabited house, public building, or building dedicated to religious worship, the penalties next lower in degree than those prescribed in this article shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 300. Robbery in an Uninhabited Place and by a Band. — The robbery mentioned in the next preceding article, if committed in an uninhabited place and by a band, shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty provided therefor.
ARTICLE 301. What is an Inhabited House, Public Building or Building Dedicated to Religious Worship and Their Dependencies. — Inhabited house means any shelter, ship or vessel constituting the dwelling of one or more persons, even though the inhabitants thereof shall temporarily be absent therefrom when the robbery is committed.
All interior courts, corrals, warehouses, granaries, barns, coach-houses, stables or other departments or inclosed places contiguous to the building or edifice, having an interior entrance connected therewith, and which form part of the whole, shall be deemed dependencies of an inhabited house, public building or building dedicated to religious worship.
Orchards and other lands used for cultivation or production are not included in the terms of the next preceding paragraph, even if closed, contiguous to the building and having direct connection therewith.
The term “public building” includes every building owned by the Government or belonging to a private person but used or rented by the Government, although temporarily unoccupied by the same.
ARTICLE 302. Robbery in an Uninhabited Place or in a Private Building. — Any robbery committed in an uninhabited place or in a building other than those mentioned in the first paragraph of article 299, if the value of the property taken exceeds 250 pesos, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods provided that any of the following circumstances is present:
1. If the entrance has been effected through any opening not intended for entrance or egress.
2. If any wall, roof, floor or outside door or window has been broken.
3. If the entrance has been effected through the use of false keys, picklocks or other similar tools.
4. If any door, wardrobe, chest, or any sealed or closed furniture or receptacle has been broken.
5. If any closed or sealed receptacle, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, has been removed, even if the same be broken open elsewhere.
When the value of the property taken does not exceed 250 pesos, the penalty next lower in degree shall be imposed.
In the cases specified in articles 294, 295, 297, 299, 300, and 302 of this Code, when the property taken is large cattle, the offender shall suffer the penalties next higher in degree than those provided in said articles.
ARTICLE 303. Robbery of Cereals, Fruits, or Firewood in an Uninhabited Place or Private Building. — In the cases enumerated in articles 299 and 302, when the robbery consists in the taking of cereals, fruits, or firewood, the culprit shall suffer the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed in said articles.
ARTICLE 304. Possession of Picklocks or Similar Tools. — Any person who shall without lawful cause have in his possession picklocks or similar tools especially adapted to the commission of the crime of robbery, shall be punished by arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon any person who shall make such tools. If the offender be a locksmith, he shall suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods.
ARTICLE 305. False Keys. — The term “false keys” shall be deemed to include:
1. The tools mentioned in the next preceding articles.
2. Genuine keys stolen from the owner.
3. Any keys other than those intended by the owner for use in the lock forcibly opened by the offender.
CHAPTER TWO
Brigandage
ARTICLE 306. Who are Brigands — Penalty. — When three or more armed persons form a band of robbers for the purpose of committing robbery in the highway, or kidnapping persons for the purpose of extortion or to obtain ransom, for any other purpose to be attained by means of force and violence, they shall be deemed highway robbers or brigands.
Persons found guilty of this offense shall be punished by prisión mayor in its medium period to reclusión temporal in its minimum period if the act or acts committed by them are not punishable by higher penalties, in which case, they shall suffer such higher penalties.
ARTICLE 307. Aiding and Abetting a Band of Brigands. — Any person knowingly and in any manner aiding, abetting or protecting a band of brigands as described in the next preceding article, or giving them information of the movements of the police or other peace officers of the Government or of the forces of the United States Army, when the latter are acting in aid of the Government, or acquiring or receiving the property taken by such brigands, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its medium period to prisión mayor in its minimum period.
It shall be presumed that the person performing any of the acts provided in this article has performed them knowingly, unless the contrary is proven.
CHAPTER THREE
Theft
ARTICLE 308. Who are Liable for Theft. — Theft is committed by any person who, with intent to gain but without violence against or intimidation of persons nor force upon things, shall take personal property of another without the latter’s consent.
Theft is likewise committed by:
1. Any person who, having found lost property, shall fail to deliver the same to the local authorities or to its owner;
2. Any person who, after having maliciously damaged the property of another, shall remove or make use of the fruits or object of the damage caused by him; and
3. Any person who shall enter an enclosed estate or a field where trespass is forbidden or which belongs to another and without the consent of its owner, shall hunt or fish upon the same or shall gather fruits, cereals, or other forest or farm products.
ARTICLE 309. Penalties. — Any person guilty of theft shall be punished by:
1. The penalty of prisión mayor in its minimum and medium periods, if the value of the thing stolen is more than 12,000 pesos but does not exceed 22,000 pesos; but if the value of the thing stolen exceeds the latter amount, the penalty shall be the maximum period of the one prescribed in this paragraph, and one year for each additional ten thousand pesos, but the total of the penalty which may be imposed shall not exceed twenty years. In such cases, and in connection with the accessory penalties which may be imposed and for the purpose of the other provisions of this Code, the penalty shall be termed prisión mayor or reclusión temporal, as the case may be.
2. The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, if the value of the thing stolen is more than 6,000 pesos but does not exceed 12,000 pesos.
3. The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if the value of the property stolen is more than 200 pesos but does not exceed 6,000 pesos.
4. Arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, if the value of the property stolen is over 50 pesos but does not exceed 200 pesos.
5. Arresto mayor to its full extent, if such value is over 5 pesos but does not exceed 50 pesos.
6. Arresto mayor in its minimum and medium periods, if such value does not exceed 5 pesos.
7. Arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, if the theft is committed under the circumstances enumerated in paragraph 3 of the next preceding article and the value of the thing stolen does not exceed 5 pesos. If such value exceeds said amount, the provisions of any of the five preceding subdivisions shall be made applicable.
8. Arresto menor in its minimum period or a fine not exceeding 50 pesos, when the value of the thing stolen is not over 5 pesos, and the offender shall have acted under the impulse of hunger, poverty, or the difficulty of earning a livelihood for the support of himself or his family.
ARTICLE 310. Qualified Theft. — The crime of theft shall be punished by the penalties next higher in degree than those respectively specified in the next preceding article, if committed by a domestic servant, or with grave abuse of confidence, or if the property stolen is large cattle or consists of coconuts, or fish taken from a fishpond or fishery.
ARTICLE 311. Theft of the Property of the National Library and National Museum. — If the property stolen be any property of the National Library or of the National Museum, the penalty shall be arresto mayor or a fine ranging from 200 to 500 pesos, or both, unless a higher penalty should be provided under other provisions of this Code, in which case, the offender shall be punished by such higher penalty.
CHAPTER FOUR
Usurpation
ARTICLE 312. Occupation of Real Property or Usurpation of Real Rights in Property. — Any person who, by means of violence against or intimidation of persons, shall take possession of any real property or shall usurp any real rights in property belonging to another, in addition to the penalty incurred for the acts of violence executed by him, shall be punished by a fine of from 50 to 100 per centum of the gain which he shall have obtained, but not less than 75 pesos.
If the value of the gain cannot be ascertained, a fine of from 200 to 500 pesos shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 313. Altering Boundaries or Landmarks. — Any person who shall alter the boundary marks or monuments of towns, provinces, or estates, or any other marks intended to designate the boundaries of the same, shall be punished by arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 100 pesos, or both.
CHAPTER FIVE
Culpable Insolvency
ARTICLE 314. Fraudulent Insolvency. — Any person who shall abscond with his property to the prejudice of his creditors, shall suffer the penalty of prisión mayor, if he be a merchant, and the penalty of prisión correccional in its maximum period to prisión mayor in its medium period, if he be not a merchant.
CHAPTER SIX
Swindling and Other Deceits
ARTICLE 315. Swindling (Estafa). — Any person who shall defraud another by any of the means mentioned hereinbelow shall be punished by:
1st. The penalty of prisión correccional in its maximum period to prisión mayor in its minimum period, if the amount of the fraud is over 12,000 pesos but does not exceed 22,000 pesos, and if such amount exceeds the latter sum, the penalty provided in this paragraph shall be imposed in its maximum period, adding one year for each additional 10,000 pesos; but the total penalty which may be imposed shall not exceed twenty years. In such cases, and in connection with the accessory penalties which may be imposed and for the purpose of the other provisions of this Code, the penalty shall be termed prisión mayor or reclusión temporal, as the case may be.
2nd. The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if the amount of the fraud is over 6,000 pesos but does not exceed 12,000 pesos.
3rd. The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, if such amount is over 200 pesos but does not exceed 6,000 pesos; and
4th. By arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods, if such amount does not exceed 200 pesos, provided that in the four cases mentioned, the fraud be committed by any of the following means:
1. With unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence, namely:
(a) By altering the substance, quantity, or quality of anything of value which the offender shall deliver by virtue of an obligation to do so, even though such obligation be based on an immoral or illegal consideration.
(b) By misappropriating or converting, to the prejudice of another, money, goods, or any other personal property received by the offender in trust or on commission, or for administration, or under any other obligation involving the duty to make delivery of or to return the same, even though such obligation be totally or partially guaranteed by a bond; or by denying having received such money, goods, or other property.
(c) By taking undue advantage of the signature of the offended party in blank, and by writing any document above such signature in blank, to the prejudice of the offended party or any third person.
2. By means of any of the following false pretenses or fraudulent acts executed prior to or simultaneously with the commission of the fraud:
(a) By using fictitious name, or falsely pretending to possess power, influence, qualifications, property, credit, agency, business or imaginary transactions, or by means of other similar deceits.
(b) By altering the quality, fineness or weight of anything pertaining to his art or business.
(c) By pretending to have bribed any Government employee, without prejudice to the action for calumny which the offended party may deem proper to bring against the offender. In this case, the offender shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty.
(d) By post-dating a check, or issuing such check in payment of an obligation, the offender knowing that at the time he had no funds in the bank, or the funds deposited by him in the bank were not sufficient to cover the amount of the check, and without informing the payee of such circumstances.
3. Through any of the following fraudulent means:
(a) By inducing another, by means of deceit, to sign any document.
(b) By resorting to some fraudulent practice to insure success in a gambling game.
(c) By removing, concealing or destroying, in whole or in part, any court record, office files, document or any other papers.
ARTICLE 316. Other Forms of Swindling. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum and medium periods and a fine of not less than the value of the damage caused and not more than three times such value, shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who, pretending to be the owner of any real property, shall convey, sell, encumber or mortgage the same.
2. Any person who, knowing that real property is encumbered, shall dispose of the same, although such encumbrance be not recorded.
3. The owner of any personal property who shall wrongfully take it from its lawful possessor, to the prejudice of the latter or any third person.
4. Any person who, to the prejudice of another, shall execute any fictitious contract.
5. Any person who shall accept any compensation given him under the belief that it was in payment of services rendered or labor performed by him, when in fact he did not actually perform such services or labor.
6. Any person who, while being a surety in a bond given in a criminal or civil action, without express authority from the court or before the cancellation of his bond or before being relieved from the obligation contracted by him, shall sell, mortgage, or, in any other manner, encumber the real property or properties with which he guaranteed the fulfillment of such obligation.
ARTICLE 317. Swindling a Minor. — Any person who, taking advantage of the inexperience or emotions or feelings of a minor, to his detriment, shall induce him to assume any obligation or to give any release or execute a transfer of any property right in consideration of some loan of money, credit or other personal property, whether the loan clearly appears in the document or is shown in any other form, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor and a fine of a sum ranging from 10 to 50 per cent of the value of the obligation contracted by the minor.
ARTICLE 318. Other Deceits. — The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine of not less than the amount of the damage caused and not more than twice such amount shall be imposed upon any person who shall defraud or damage another by any other deceit not mentioned in the preceding articles of this chapter.
Any person who, for profit or gain, shall interpret dreams, make forecasts, tell fortunes, or take advantage of the credulity of the public in any other similar manner, shall suffer the penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Chattel Mortgage
ARTICLE 319. Removal, Sale or Pledge of Mortgaged Property. — The penalty or arresto mayor or a fine amounting to twice the value of the property shall be imposed upon:
1. Any person who shall knowingly remove any personal property mortgaged under the Chattel Mortgage Law to any province or city other than the one in which it was located at the time of the execution of the mortgage, without the written consent of the mortgagee, or his executors, administrators or assigns.
2. Any mortgagor who shall sell or pledge personal property already pledged, or any part thereof, under the terms of the Chattel Mortgage Law, without the consent of the mortgagee written on the back of the mortgage and noted on the record thereof in the office of the register of deeds of the province where such property is located.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Arson and Other Crimes Involving Destruction
ARTICLE 320. Destructive Arson. — The penalty of reclusión temporal in its maximum period to reclusión perpetua shall be imposed upon any person who shall burn:
1. Any arsenal, shipyard, storehouse or military powder or fireworks factory, ordnance storehouse, archives or general museum of the government.
2. Any passenger train or motor vehicle in motion or vessel out of port.
3. In an inhabited place, any storehouse or factory of inflammable or explosive materials.
4. Any theater, church, cockpit, or other building where meetings are held, when occupied by a numerous assemblage.
ARTICLE 321. Other Forms of Arson. — When the arson consists in the burning of other property and under the circumstances given hereunder, the offender shall be punished:
1. By reclusión temporal or reclusión perpetua, if the offender shall set fire to any building, farmhouse, warehouse, hut, shelter, or vessel in port, knowing it to be occupied at the time by one or more persons.
2. By reclusión temporal:
(a) If the building burned is a public building and the value of the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos;
(b) If an inhabited house or any other building in which people are accustomed to meet is set on fire, and the culprit did not know that such house or building was occupied at the time, or if he shall set fire to a moving freight train or motor vehicle, and the value of the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos.
3. By prisión mayor:
(a) If the value of the damage caused in the cases mentioned in the next preceding subdivision does not exceed 6,000 pesos.
(b) If a building not used as a dwelling or place of assembly, located in a populated place, is set on fire, and the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos.
(c) If a farm, sugar mill, cane mill, central, mill, bamboo groves or any similar plantation is set on fire, and the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos.
4. By prisión correccional in its maximum period to prisión mayor in its medium period, when the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos and the following are set on fire:
(a) A building used as a dwelling located in an uninhabited place; or
(b) Grain fields, pasture lands, forests, or plantings.
5. By prisión correccional in its medium period to prisión mayor in its minimum period, when the damage caused is over 200 pesos but does not exceed 1,000 pesos, and any of the property referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) of the next preceding subdivision is set on fire; but when the value of such property does not exceed 200 pesos, the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed in this subdivision shall be imposed when the property burned is a building used as a dwelling in an uninhabited place, and the penalty of arresto menor and a fine ranging from fifty to one hundred per centum of the damage caused shall be imposed, when the property burned consist of grain fields, pasture lands, forests or plantations.
6. The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, if the damage caused in the cases mentioned in paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 3 of this article does not exceed 6,000 pesos but is over 200.
7. The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if the damage caused in the cases mentioned in paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 3 of this article does not exceed 200 pesos.
ARTICLE 322. Cases of Arson Not Included in the Preceding Articles. — Cases of arson not included in the next preceding articles shall be punished:
1. By arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods, when the damage caused does not exceed 50 pesos;
2. By arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, when the damage caused is over 50 pesos but does not exceed 200 pesos;
3. By prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if the damage caused is over 200 pesos but does not exceed 1,000 pesos; and
4. By prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, if it is over 1,000 pesos.
ARTICLE 323. Arson of Property of Small Value. — The arson of any uninhabited hut, storehouse, barn, shed, or any other property the value of which does not exceed 25 pesos, committed at a time or under circumstances which clearly exclude all danger of the fire spreading, shall not be punished by the penalties respectively prescribed in this chapter, but in accordance with the damage caused and under the provisions of the following chapter.
ARTICLE 324. Crimes Involving Destruction. — Any person who shall cause destruction by means of explosion, discharge of electric current, inundation, sinking or stranding of a vessel, intentional damaging of the engine of said vessel, taking up the rails from a railway track, maliciously changing railway signals for the safety of moving trains, destroying telegraph wires and telegraph posts, or those of any other system, and, in general, by using any other agency or means of destruction as effective as those above enumerated, shall be punished by reclusión temporal if the commission has endangered the safety of any person; otherwise, the penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 325. Burning One’s Own Property as a Means to Commit Arson. — Any person guilty of arson or causing great destruction of property belonging to another shall suffer the penalties prescribed in this chapter, even though he shall have set fire to or destroyed his own property for the purpose of committing the crime.
ARTICLE 326. Setting Fire to Property Exclusively Owned by the Offender. — If the property burned shall be the exclusive property of the offender, he shall be punished by arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, if the arson shall have been committed for the purpose of defrauding or causing damage to another, or if, though such purpose be lacking, said damage or prejudice shall actually have been caused, or if the thing burned shall have been a building in an inhabited place.
CHAPTER NINE
Malicious Mischief
ARTICLE 327. Who are Liable for Malicious Mischief . — Any person who shall deliberately cause to the property of another any damage not falling within the terms of the next preceding chapter shall be guilty of malicious mischief.
ARTICLE 328. Special Cases of Malicious Mischief . — Any person who shall cause damage to obstruct the performance of public functions, or using any poisonous or corrosive substance; or spreading any infection or contagion among cattle; or who causes damage to the property of the National Museum or National Library, or to any archive or registry, waterworks, road, promenade, or any other thing used in common by the public, shall be punished:
1. By prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, if the value of the damage caused exceeds 1,000 pesos;
2. By arresto mayor, if such value does not exceed the abovementioned amount but is over 200 pesos; and
3. By arresto menor, if such value does not exceed 200 pesos.
ARTICLE 329. Other Mischiefs. — The mischiefs not included in the next preceding article shall be punished:
1. By arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods, if the value of the damage caused exceeds 1,000 pesos;
2. By arresto mayor in its minimum and medium periods, if such value is over 200 pesos but does not exceed 1,000 pesos; and
3. By arresto menor or fine of not less than the value of the damage caused and not more than three times such value, if the amount involved exceeds 200 pesos or cannot be estimated.
ARTICLE 330. Damages and Obstruction to Means of Communication. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon any person who shall damage any railway, telegraph or telephone lines.
If the damage shall result in any derailment of cars, collision or other accident, the penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed, without prejudice to the criminal liability of the offender for the other consequences of his criminal act.
For the purpose of the provisions of this article, the electric wires, traction cables, signal system and other things pertaining to railways, shall be deemed to constitute an integral part of a railway system.
ARTICLE 331. Destroying or Damaging Statues, Public Monuments or Paintings. — Any person who shall destroy or damage statues or any other useful or ornamental public monument, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period.
Any person who shall destroy or damage any useful or ornamental painting of a public nature shall suffer the penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos, or both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
CHAPTER TEN
Exemption from Criminal Liability in Crimes Against Property
ARTICLE 332. Persons Exempt from Criminal Liability. — No criminal, but only civil liability, shall result from the commission of the crime of theft, swindling or malicious mischief committed or caused mutually by the following persons:
1. Spouses, ascendants and descendants, or relatives by affinity in the same line;
2. The widowed spouse with respect to the property which belonged to the deceased spouse before the same shall have passed into the possession of another; and
3. Brothers and sisters and brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, if living together.
The exemption established by this article shall not be applicable to strangers participating in the commission of the crime.
TITLE ELEVEN
Crimes Against Chastity
CHAPTER ONE
Adultery and Concubinage
ARTICLE 333. Who are Guilty of Adultery. — Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband and by the man who has carnal knowledge of her, knowing her to be married, even if the marriage be subsequently declared void.
Adultery shall be punished by prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods.
If the person guilty of adultery committed this offense while being abandoned without justification by the offended spouse, the penalty next lower in degree than that provided in the next preceding paragraph shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 334. Concubinage. — Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or, shall have sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
The concubine shall suffer the penalty of destierro.
CHAPTER TWO
Rape and Acts of Lasciviousness
ARTICLE 335. When and How Rape is Committed. — Rape is committed by having carnal knowledge of a woman under any of the following circumstances:
1. By using force or intimidation;
2. When the woman is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious; and
3. When the woman is under twelve years of age, even though neither of the circumstances mentioned in the two next preceding paragraphs shall be present.
The crime of rape shall be punished by reclusión temporal.
ARTICLE 336. Acts of Lasciviousness. — Any person who shall commit any act of lasciviousness upon other persons of either sex, under any of the circumstances mentioned in the preceding article, shall be punished by prisión correccional.
CHAPTER THREE
Seduction, Corruption of Minors and White Slave Trade
ARTICLE 337. Qualified Seduction. — The seduction of a virgin over twelve years and under eighteen years of age, committed by any person in public authority, priest, house-servant, domestic, guardian, teacher, or any person who, in any capacity, shall be entrusted with the education or custody of the woman seduced, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
The penalty next higher in degree shall be imposed upon any person who shall seduce his sister or descendant, whether or not she be a virgin or over eighteen years of age.
Under the provisions of this Chapter, seduction is committed when the offender has carnal knowledge of any of the persons and under the circumstances described herein.
ARTICLE 338. Simple Seduction. — The seduction of a woman who is single or a widow of good reputation, over twelve but under eighteen years of age, committed by means of deceit, shall be punished by arresto mayor.
ARTICLE 339. Acts of Lasciviousness with the Consent of the Offended Party. — The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed to punish any other acts of lasciviousness committed by the same persons and the same circumstances as those provided in articles 337 and 338.
ARTICLE 340. Corruption of Minors. — Any person who shall habitually or with abuse of authority or confidence, promote or facilitate the prostitution or corruption of persons underage to satisfy the lust of another, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods, and if the culprit be a public officer, he shall also suffer the penalty of temporary absolute disqualification.
ARTICLE 341. White Slave Trade. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon any person who, in any manner, or under any pretext, shall engage in the business or shall profit by prostitution or shall enlist the services of women for the purpose of prostitution.
CHAPTER FOUR
Abduction
ARTICLE 342. Forcible Abduction. — The abduction of any woman against her will and with lewd designs shall be punished by reclusión temporal.
The same penalty shall be imposed in every case, if the female abducted be under twelve years of age.
ARTICLE 343. Consented Abduction. — The abduction of a virgin over twelve years and under eighteen years of age, carried out with her consent and with lewd designs, shall be punished by the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
CHAPTER FIVE
Provisions Relative to the Preceding Chapters of Title Eleven
ARTICLE 344. Prosecution of the Crimes of Adultery, Concubinage, Seduction, Abduction, Rape and Acts of Lasciviousness. — The crimes of adultery and concubinage shall not be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the offended spouse.
The offended party cannot institute criminal prosecution without including both the guilty parties, if they are both alive, nor, in any case, if he shall have consented or pardoned the offenders.
The offenses of seduction, abduction, rape or acts of lasciviousness, shall not be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the offended party or her parents, grandparents, or guardian, nor, in any case, if the offender has been expressly pardoned by the above named persons, as the case may be.
In cases of seduction, abduction, acts of lasciviousness and rape, the marriage of the offender with the offended party shall extinguish the criminal action or remit the penalty already imposed upon him. The provisions of this paragraph shall also be applicable to the co-principals, accomplices and accessories after the fact of the abovementioned crimes.
ARTICLE 345. Civil Liability of Persons Guilty of Crimes Against Chastity. — Person guilty of rape, seduction or abduction, shall also be sentenced:
1. To indemnify the offended woman.
2. To acknowledge the offspring, unless the law should prevent him from so doing.
3. In every case to support the offspring.
The adulterer and the concubine in the case provided for in articles 333 and 334 may also be sentenced, in the same proceeding or in a separate civil proceeding, to indemnify for damages caused to the offended spouse.
ARTICLE 346. Liability of Ascendants, Guardians, Teachers, or Other Persons Entrusted with the Custody of the Offended Party. — The ascendants, guardians, curators, teachers and any person who, by abuse of authority or confidential relationship, shall cooperate as accomplices in the perpetration of the crimes embraced in chapters second, third and fourth of this title, shall be punished as principals.
Teachers or other persons in any other capacity entrusted with the education and guidance of youth, shall also suffer the penalty of temporary special disqualification in its maximum period to perpetual special disqualification.
Any person falling within the terms of this article, and any other person guilty of corruption of minors for the benefit of another, shall be punished by special disqualification from filling the office of guardian.
TITLE TWELVE
Crimes Against the Civil Status of Persons
CHAPTER ONE
Simulation of Births and Usurpation of Civil Status
ARTICLE 347. Simulation of Births, Substitution of One Child for Another and Concealment or Abandonment of a Legitimate Child. — The simulation of births and the substitution of one child for another shall be punished by prisión mayor and a fine of not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
The same penalties shall be imposed upon any person who shall conceal or abandon any legitimate child with intent to cause such child to lose its civil status.
Any physician or surgeon or public officer who, in violation of the duties of his profession or office, shall cooperate in the execution of any of the crimes mentioned in the two next preceding paragraphs, shall suffer the penalties therein prescribed and also the penalty of temporary special disqualification.
ARTICLE 348. Usurpation of Civil Status. — The penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall usurp the civil status of another, should he do so for the purpose of defrauding the offended party or his heirs; otherwise, otherwise, the penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed.
CHAPTER TWO
Illegal Marriages
ARTICLE 349. Bigamy. — The penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall contract a second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been legally dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by means of a judgment rendered in the proper proceedings.
ARTICLE 350. Marriage Contracted Against Provisions of Laws. — The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon any person who, without being included in the provisions of the next preceding article, shall contract marriage knowing that the requirements of the law have not been complied with or that the marriage is in disregard of a legal impediment.
If either of the contracting parties shall obtain the consent of the other by means of violence, intimidation or fraud, he shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty provided in the next preceding paragraph.
ARTICLE 351. Premature Marriages. — Any widow who shall marry within three hundred and one days from the date of the death of her husband, or before having delivered if she shall have been pregnant at the time of his death, shall be punished by arresto mayor and fine not exceeding 500 pesos.
The same penalties shall be imposed upon any woman whose marriage shall have been annulled or dissolved, if she shall marry before her delivery or before the expiration of the period of three hundred and one days after the legal separation.
ARTICLE 352. Performance of Illegal Marriage Ceremony. — Priests or ministers of any religious denomination or sect, or civil authorities who shall perform or authorize any illegal marriage ceremony shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the marriage law.
TITLE THIRTEEN
Crimes Against Honor
CHAPTER ONE
Libel
SECTION ONE
Definitions, Forms and Punishment of this Crime
ARTICLE 353. Definition of Libel. — A libel is a public and malicious imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause the dishonor, discredit, or contempt of a natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory of one who is dead.
ARTICLE 354. Requirement for Publicity. — Every defamatory imputation is presumed to be malicious, even if it be true, if no good intention and justifiable motive for making it is shown, except in the following cases:
1. A private communication made by any person to another in the performance of any legal, moral or social duty; and
2. A fair and true report, made in good faith, without any comments or remarks, of any judicial, legislative or other official proceedings which are not of confidential nature, or of any statement, report or speech delivered in said proceedings, or of any other act performed by public officers in the exercise of their functions.
ARTICLE 355. Libel by Means of Writing or Similar Means. — A libel committed by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph, painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition, or any similar means, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods or a fine ranging from 200 to 6,000 pesos, or both, in addition to the civil action which may be brought by the offended party.
ARTICLE 356. Threatening to Publish and Offer to Prevent Such Publication for a Compensation. — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine of from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who threatens another to publish a libel concerning him or the parents, spouse, child, or other members of the family of the latter, or upon anyone who shall offer to prevent the publication of such libel for a compensation or money consideration.
ARTICLE 357. Prohibited Publication of Acts Referred to in the Course of Official Proceedings. — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine of from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any reporter, editor or manager of a newspaper, daily or magazine, who shall publish facts connected with the private life of another and offensive to the honor, virtue and reputation of said person, even though said publication be made in connection with or under the pretext that it is necessary in the narration of any judicial or administrative proceedings wherein such facts have been mentioned.
ARTICLE 358. Slander. — Oral defamation shall be punished by arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period if it is of a serious and insulting nature; otherwise the penalty shall be arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos.
ARTICLE 359. Slander by Deed. — The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall perform any act not included and punished in this title, which shall cast dishonor, discredit or contempt upon another person. If said act is not of a serious nature, the penalty shall be arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 200 pesos.
SECTION TWO
General Provisions
ARTICLE 360. Persons Responsible. — Any person who shall publish, exhibit or cause the publication or exhibition of any defamation in writing or by similar means, shall be responsible for the same.
The author or editor of a book or pamphlet, or the editor or business manager of a daily newspaper, magazine or serial publication, shall be responsible for the defamation contained therein to the same extent as if he were the author thereof.
The criminal action and the civil action for damages in cases of written defamation, as provided in this chapter, may be filed simultaneously or separately with the Court of First Instance of the province wherein the libel was published, displayed or exhibited, regardless of the place where the same was written, printed or composed.
No criminal action for defamation which consists in the imputation of a crime which cannot be prosecuted de officio shall be brought except at the instance of and upon complaint expressly filed by the offended party.
ARTICLE 361. Proof of the Truth. — In every criminal prosecution for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the court and if it appears that the matter charged as libelous is true, and, moreover, that it was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the defendants shall be acquitted.
Proof of the truth of an imputation of an act or omission not constituting a crime shall not be admitted, unless the imputation shall have been made against Government employees with respect to facts related to the discharge of their official duties.
In such cases if the defendant proves the truth of the imputation made by him, he shall be acquitted.
ARTICLE 362. Libelous Remarks. — Libelous remarks or comments connected with the matter privileged under the provisions of article 354, if made with malice, shall not exempt the author thereof nor the editor or managing editor of a newspaper from criminal liability.
CHAPTER TWO
Incriminatory Machinations
ARTICLE 363. Incriminating Innocent Person. — Any person who, by any act not constituting perjury, shall directly incriminate or impute to an innocent person the commission of a crime, shall be punished by arresto mayor.
ARTICLE 364. Intriguing Against Honor. — The penalty of arresto menor or fine not exceeding 200 pesos shall be imposed for any intrigue which has for its principal purpose to blemish the honor or reputation of a person.
TITLE FOURTEEN
Quasi Offenses
SOLE CHAPTER
Criminal Negligence
ARTICLE 365. Imprudence and Negligence. — Any person who, by reckless imprudence, shall commit any act which, had it been intentional, would constitute a grave felony, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its medium period; if it would have constituted a less grave felony, the penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum and medium periods shall be imposed.
Any person who, by simple imprudence or negligence, shall commit an act which would otherwise constitute a grave felony, shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its medium and maximum periods; if it would have constituted a less serious felony, the penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum period shall be imposed.
When the execution of the act covered by this article shall have only resulted in damage to the property of another, the offender shall be punished by a fine ranging from an amount equal to the value of said damages to three times such value, but which shall in no case be less than 25 pesos.
A fine not exceeding 200 pesos and censure shall be imposed upon any person who, by simple imprudence or negligence, shall cause some wrong which, if done maliciously, would have constituted a light felony.
In the imposition of these penalties, the court shall exercise their sound discretion, without regard to the rules prescribed in article 62.
The provisions contained in this article shall not be applicable:
1. When the penalty provided for the offense is equal to or lower than those provided in the first two paragraphs of this article, in which case the court shall impose the penalty next lower in degree than that which should be imposed, in the period which they may deem proper to apply.
2. When, by imprudence or negligence and with violation of the Automobile Law, the death of a person shall be caused, in which case the defendant shall be punished by prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods.
Reckless imprudence consists in voluntary, but without malice, doing or falling to do an act from which material damage results by reason of inexcusable lack of precaution on the part of the person performing or failing to perform such act, taking into consideration his employment or occupation, degree of intelligence, physical condition and other circumstances regarding persons, time and place.
Simple imprudence consists in the lack of precaution displayed in those cases in which the damage impending to be caused is not immediate nor the danger clearly manifest.
TITLE FIFTEEN
Final Provisions
ARTICLE 366. Application of Laws Enacted Prior to this Code. — Without prejudice to the provisions contained in article 22 of this Code, felonies and misdemeanors, committed prior to the date of effectiveness of this Code shall be punished in accordance with the Code or Acts in force at the time of their commission.
ARTICLE 367. Repealing Clause. — Except as is provided in the next preceding article, the present Penal Code, the Provisional Law for the application of its provisions, and Acts Nos. 277, 292, 480, 518, 519, 899, 1121, 1438, 1523, 1559, 1692, 1754, 1755, 1773, 2030, 2036, 2071, 2142, 2212, 2293, 2298, 2300, 2364, 2549, 2557, 2595, 2609, 2712, 2718, 3104, 3195, 3244, 3298, 3309, 3313, 3397, 3559, and 3586, are hereby repealed.
The provisions of the Acts which are mentioned hereunder are also repealed, namely:
Act 666, sections 6 and 18.
Act 1508, sections 9, 10, 11, and 12.
Act 1524, section 4.
Act 1533, sections 1, 2, and 6.
Act 1697, sections 3 and 4.
Act 1757, sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (first clause), 11, and 12.
Act 2381, sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9.
Act 2711, sections 102, 2670, 2671, and 2672.
Act 3247, sections 1, 2, 3, and 5; and
General Orders, No. 58, series of 1900, section 106.
And all laws and parts of laws which are contrary to the provisions of this Code are hereby repealed.
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