Act No. 3815, s.

1930
December 8, 1930

ACT NO. 3815

AN ACT REVISING THE PENAL CODE AND OTHER

PENAL LAWS

PRELIMINARY ARTICLE

This law shall be known as “The Revised Penal Code.”

BOOK ONE

General Provisions Regarding the Date of

Enforcement and Application of the Provisions of this
Code, and Regarding the Offenses, the Persons Liable
and the Penalties

PRELIMINARY TITLE

Date of Effectiveness and Application of the

Provisions of This Code

ARTICLE 1. Time When Act Takes Effect. — This Code

shall take effect on the Qrst day of January, nineteen
hundred and thirty-two.

ARTICLE 2. Application of Its Provisions. — Except as

provided in the treaties and laws of preferential
application, the provisions of this Code shall be
enforced not only within the Philippine Archipelago,
including its atmosphere, its interior waters and
maritime zone, but also outside of its jurisdiction,
against those who:

1. Should commit an offense while on a Philippine

ship or airship;

2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or

currency note of the Philippine Islands or
obligations and securities issued by the
Government of the Philippine Islands;

3. Should be liable for acts connected with the

introduction into these islands of the obligations
and securities mentioned in the preceding
number;

4. While being public o^cers or employees,

should commit an offense in the exercise of their
functions; or

5. Should commit any of the crimes against

national security and the law of nations, deQned
in Title One of Book Two of this Code.

TITLE ONE

Felonies and Circumstances Which Affect Criminal

Liability

CHAPTER ONE

Felonies

ARTICLE 3. DeQnition. — Acts and omissions

punishable by law are felonies (delitos).

Felonies are committed not only by means of deceit

(dolo) but also by means of fault (culpa).

There is deceit when the act is performed with

deliberate intent; and there is fault when the wrongful
act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of
foresight, or lack of skill.

ARTICLE 4. Criminal Liability. — Criminal liability shall

be incurred:

1. By any person committing a felony (delito)

although the wrongful act done be different from
that which he intended.

2. By any person performing an act which would

be an offense against persons or property, were it
not for the inherent impossibility of its
accomplishment or on account of the
employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.

ARTICLE 5. Duty of the Court in Connection with Acts

Which Should Be Repressed but Which are Not
Covered by the Law, and in Cases of Excessive
Penalties. — Whenever a court has knowledge of any
act which it may deem proper to repress and which is
not punishable by law, it shall render the proper
decision, and shall report to the Chief Executive,
through the Department of Justice, the reasons which
induce the court to believe that said act should be
made the subject of penal legislation.

In the same way the court shall submit to the Chief

Executive, through the Department of Justice, such
statement as may be deemed proper, without
suspending the execution of the sentence, when a
strict enforcement of the provisions of this Code
would result in the imposition of a clearly excessive
penalty, taking into consideration the degree of malice
and the injury caused by the offense.

ARTICLE 6. Consummated,, Frustrated, and Attempted

Felonies. — Consummated felonies, as well as those
which are frustrated and attempted, are punishable.

A felony is consummated when all the elements

necessary for its execution and accomplishment are
present; and it is frustrated when the offender
performs all the acts of execution which would
produce the felony as a consequence but which,
nevertheless, do not produce it by reason of causes
independent of the will of the perpetrator.

There is an attempt when the offender commences

the commission of a felony directly by overt acts, and
does not perform all the acts of execution which
should produce the felony by reason of some cause
or accident other than his own spontaneous
desistance.

ARTICLE 7. When Light Felonies are Punishable. —

Light felonies are punishable only when they have
been consummated, with the exception of those
committed against person or property.

ARTICLE 8. Conspiracy and Proposal to Commit

Felony. — Conspiracy and proposal to commit felony
are punishable only in the cases in which the law
specially provides a penalty therefor.

A conspiracy exists when two or more persons come

to an agreement concerning the commission of a
felony and decide to commit it.

There is proposal when the person who has decided

to commit a felony proposes its execution to some
other person or persons.

ARTICLE 9. Grave Felonies, Less Grave Felonies and

Light Felonies. — Grave felonies are those to which
the law attaches the capital punishment or penalties
which in any of their periods are agictive, in
accordance with article 25 of this Code.

Less grave felonies are those which the law punishes

with penalties which in their maximum period are
correctional, in accordance with the abovementioned
article.

Light felonies are those infractions of law for the

commission of which the penalty of arresto menor or
a Qne not exceeding 200 pesos or both, is provided.

ARTICLE 10. Offenses Not Subject to the Provisions

of this Code. — Offenses which are or in the future
may be punishable under special laws are not subject
to the provisions of this Code. This Code shall be
supplementary to such laws, unless the latter should
specially provide the contrary.

CHAPTER TWO

Justifying Circumstances and Circumstances which

Exempt from Criminal Liability

ARTICLE 11. Justifying Circumstances. — The

following do not incur any criminal liability:

1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or

rights, provided that the following circumstances
concur:

First. Unlawful aggression;

Second. Reasonable necessity of the means

employed to prevent or repel it;

Third. Lack of su^cient provocation on the

part of the person defending himself.

2. Anyone who acts in defense of the person or

rights of his spouse, ascendants, descendants, or
legitimate, natural or adopted brothers or sisters,
or of his relatives by a^nity in the same degrees,
and those by consanguinity within the fourth civil
degree, provided that the Qrst and second
requisites prescribed in the next preceding
circumstance are present, and the further
requisite, in case the provocation was given by
the person attacked, that the one making defense
had no part therein.

3. Anyone who acts in defense of the person or

rights of a stranger, provided that the Qrst and
second requisites mentioned in the Qrst
circumstance of this article are present and that
the person defending be not induced by revenge,
resentment, or other evil motive.

4. Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or

injury, does an act which causes damage to
another, provided that the following requisites are
present:

First. That the evil sought to be avoided

actually exists;

Second. That the injury feared be greater than

that done to avoid it;

Third. That there be no other practical and

less harmful means of preventing it.

5. Any person who acts in the fulQllment of a duty

or in the lawful exercise of a right or o^ce.

6. Any person who acts in obedience to an order

issued by a superior for some lawful purpose.

ARTICLE 12. Circumstances Which Exempt from

Criminal Liability. — The following are exempt from
criminal liability:

1. An imbecile or an insane person, unless the

latter has acted during a lucid interval.

When the imbecile or an insane person has

committed an act which the law deQnes as a
felony (delito), the court shall order his
conQnement in one of the hospitals or asylums
established for persons thus agicted, which he
shall not be permitted to leave without Qrst
obtaining the permission of the same court.

2. A person under nine years of age.

3. A person over nine years of age and under

Qfteen, unless he has acted with discernment, in
which case, such minor shall be proceeded
against in accordance with the provisions of
article 80 of this Code.

When such minor is adjudged to be criminally

irresponsible, the court, in conformity with the
provisions of this and the preceding paragraph,
shall commit him to the care and custody of his
family who shall be charged with his surveillance
and education; otherwise, he shall be committed
to the care of some institution or person
mentioned in said article 80.

4. Any person who, while performing a lawful act

with due care, causes an injury by mere accident
without fault or intention of causing it.

5. Any person who acts under the compulsion of

an irresistible force.

6. Any person who acts under the impulse of an

uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury.

7. Any person who fails to perform an act

required by law, when prevented by some lawful
or insuperable cause.

CHAPTER THREE

Circumstances Which Mitigate Criminal Liability

ARTICLE 13. Mitigating Circumstances. — The

following are mitigating circumstances:

1. Those mentioned in the preceding chapter,

when all the requisites necessary to justify the act
or to exempt from criminal liability in the
respective cases are not attendant.

2. That the offender is under eighteen years of

age or over seventy years. In the case of the
minor, he shall be proceeded against in
accordance with the provisions of article 80.

3. That the offender had no intention to commit

so grave a wrong as that committed.

4. That su^cient provocation or threat on the part

of the offended party immediately preceded the
act.

5. That the act was committed in the immediate

vindication of a grave offense to the one
committing the felony (delito), his spouse,
ascendants, descendants, legitimate, natural, or
adopted brothers or sisters, or relatives by a^nity
within the same degrees.

6. That of having acted upon an impulse so

powerful as naturally to have produced passion or
obfuscation.

7. That the offender had voluntarily surrendered

himself to a person in authority or his agents, or
that he had voluntarily confessed his guilt before
the court prior to the presentation of the evidence
for the prosecution.

8. That the offender is deaf and dumb, blind or

otherwise suffering some physical defect which
thus restricts his means of action, defense, or
communication with his fellow beings.

9. Such illness of the offender as would diminish

the exercise of the will-power of the offender
without however depriving him of consciousness
of his acts.

10. And, Qnally, any other circumstance of a

similar nature and analogous to those above
mentioned.

CHAPTER FOUR

Circumstances Which Aggravate Criminal Liability

ARTICLE 14. Aggravating Circumstances. — The

following are aggravating circumstances:

1. That advantage be taken by the offender of his

public position.

2. That the crime be committed in contempt of or

with insult to the public authorities.

3. That the act be committed with insult or in

disregard of the respect due to the offended party
on account of his rank, age, or sex, or that it be
committed in the dwelling of the offended party, if
the latter has not given provocation.

4. That the act be committed with abuse of

conQdence or obvious ungratefulness.

5. That the crime be committed in the palace of

the Chief Executive, or in his presence, or where
public authorities are engaged in the discharge of
their duties, or in a place dedicated to religious
worship.

6. That the crime be committed in the nighttime,

or in an uninhabited place, or by a band, whenever
such circumstances may facilitate the
commission of the offense.

Whenever more than three armed malefactors

shall have acted together in the commission of an
offense it shall be deemed to have been
committed by a band.

7. That the crime be committed on the occasion

of a coniagration, shipwreck, earthquake,
epidemic or other calamity or misfortune.

8. That the crime be committed with the aid of

armed men or persons who insure or afford
impunity.

9. That the accused is a recidivist.

A recidivist is one who, at the time of his trial for

one crime, shall have been previously convicted
by Qnal judgment of another crime embraced in
the same title of this Code.

10. That the offender has been previously

punished for an offense to which the law attaches
an equal or greater penalty or for two or more
crimes to which it attaches a lighter penalty.

11. That the crime be committed in consideration

of a price, reward, or promise.

12. That the crime be committed by means of

inundation, Qre, poison, explosion, stranding of a
vessel or intentional damage thereto, derailment
of a locomotive, or by the use of any other artiQce
involving great waste and ruin.

13. That the act be committed with evident

premeditation.

14. That craft, fraud, or disguise be employed.

15. That advantage be taken of superior strength,

or means be employed to weaken the defense.

16. That the act be committed with treachery

(alevosia).

There is treachery when the offender commits

any of the crimes against the person, employing
means, methods, or forms in the execution
thereof which tend directly and specially to insure
its execution, without risk to himself arising from
the defense which the offended party might
make.

17. That means be employed or circumstances

brought about which add ignominy to the natural
effects of the act.

18. That the crime be committed after an

unlawful entry.

There is an unlawful entry when an entrance is

effected by a way not intended for the purpose.

19. That as a means to the commission of a

crime a wall, roof, ioor, door, or window be
broken.

20. That the crime be committed with the aid of

persons under Qfteen years of age or by means of
motor vehicles, airships, or other similar means.

21. That the wrong done in the commission of the

crime be deliberately augmented by causing other
wrong not necessary for its commission.

CHAPTER FIVE

Alternative Circumstances

ARTICLE 15. Their Concept. — Alternative

circumstances are those which must be taken into
consideration as aggravating or mitigating according
to the nature and effects of the crime and the other
conditions attending its commission. They are the
relationship, intoxication and the degree of instruction
and education of the offender.

The alternative circumstance of relationship shall be

taken into consideration when the offended party is
the spouse, ascendant, descendant, legitimate,
natural, or adopted brother or sister, or relative by
a^nity in the same degrees of the offender.

The intoxication of the offender shall be taken into

consideration as a mitigating circumstance when the
offender has committed a felony in a state of
intoxication, if the same is not habitual or subsequent
to the plan to commit said felony; but when the
intoxication is habitual or intentional it shall be
considered as an aggravating circumstance.

TITLE TWO

Persons Criminally Liable for Felonies

ARTICLE 16. Who are Criminally Liable. — The

following are criminally liable for grave and less grave
felonies:

1. Principals.

2. Accomplices.

3. Accessories.

The following are criminally liable for light felonies:

1. Principals.

2. Accomplices.

ARTICLE 17. Principals. — The following are

considered principals:

1. Those who take a direct part in the execution of

the act;

2. Those who directly force or induce others to

commit it;

3. Those who cooperate in the commission of the

offense by another act without which it would not
have been accomplished.

ARTICLE 18. Accomplices. — Accomplices are those

persons who, not being included in article 17,
cooperate in the execution of the offense by previous
or simultaneous acts.

ARTICLE 19. Accessories. — Accessories are those

who, having knowledge of the commission of the
crime, and without having participated therein, either
as principals or accomplices, take part subsequent to
its commission in any of the following manners:

1. By proQting themselves or assisting the

offender to proQt by the effects of the crime.

2. By concealing or destroying the body of the

crime, or the effects or instruments thereof, in
order to prevent its discovery.

3. By harboring, concealing, or assisting in the

escape of the principal of the crime, provided the
accessory acts with abuse of his public functions
or whenever the author of the crime is guilty of
treason, parricide, murder, or an attempt to take
the life of the Chief Executive, or is known to be
habitually guilty of some other crime.

ARTICLE 20. Accessories Who are Exempt from

Criminal Liability. — The penalties prescribed for
accessories shall not be imposed upon those who are
such with respect to their spouses, ascendants,
descendants, legitimate, natural, and adopted
brothers and sisters, or relatives by a^nity within the
same degrees, with the single exception of
accessories falling within the provisions of paragraph
1 of the next preceding article.

TITLE THREE

Penalties

CHAPTER ONE

Penalties in General

ARTICLE 21. Penalties that May Be Imposed. — No

felony shall be punishable by any penalty not
prescribed by law prior to its commission.

ARTICLE 22. Retroactive Effect of Penal Laws. —

Penal laws shall have a retroactive effect in so far as
they favor the person guilty of a felony, who is not a
habitual criminal, as this term is deQned in rule 5 of
article 62 of this Code, although at the time of the