Revised Penal Code of the Philippines
| Revised Penal Code of the Philippines | |
|---|---|
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| Philippine Legislature | |
| An Act Revising the Penal Code and other Penal Laws | |
| Citation | Act No. 3815 |
| Territorial extent | Philippines |
| Enacted by | Governor-General of the Philippines with the advice and consent of the Philippine Legislature |
| Date enacted | December 8, 1930 |
| Date signed | December 8, 1930 |
| Amendments | |
| Presidential Decree No. 1602 (Gambling) Presidential Decree No. 1613 (Arson) Presidential Decree No. 1744 (Arson) |
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| Keywords | |
| Criminal law | |
| Status: In force | |
The Revised Penal Code contains the general penal laws of the Philippines. First enacted in 1930, it remains in effect today, despite several amendments thereto. It does not comprise a comprehensive compendium of all Philippine penal laws. The Revised Penal Code itself was enacted as Act No. 3815, and some Philippine criminal laws have been enacted outside of the Revised Penal Code as separate Republic Acts.
The Revised Penal Code supplanted the Spanish Código Penal, which was in force in the Philippines (then a colony of the Spanish Empire up to 1898) from 1886 to 1930, after a failed attempt in to be implented in 1877. The new Code was drafted by a committee created in 1927, and headed by Judge Anacleto Díaz, who would later serve on the Supreme Court. Rather than engage in a wholesale codification of all penal laws in the Philippines, the committee instead revised the old Penal Code and included all other penal laws only insofar as they related to the Penal Code.
The Revised Penal Code criminalizes a whole class of acts that are generally accepted as criminal, such as the taking of a life whether through murder or homicide, rape, robbery and theft, and treason. The Code also penalizes other acts which are considered criminal in the Philippines, such as adultery, concubinage, and abortion. It expressly defines the elements that each crime comprises, and the existence of all these elements have to be proven beyond reasonable doubt in order to secure conviction.
Not all crimes in the Philippines are penalized under the Code; certain crimes, such as the illegal possession of firearms, are penalized under special legislation contained in Republic Acts. The most notable crimes now excluded from the Revised Penal Code are those concerning illegal drug use or trafficking, which are penalized instead under the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972 and later the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
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