• SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
S.No. IBR3_ 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
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The law on infidelity in the custody of prisoners is of 1930s vintage. The penalties 
considered harsh during those days are probably too tanle in today's milieu where crimes of 
unparalleled cruelty have become a daily occurrence. At the same time, the escape of prisoners 
has very often scandalized society. The government official or employee who has charge of a 
prisoner more often commit such infidelity in the custody because the penalty for such a 
dastardly act is light, and therefore, the lure (0 illegally free a prisoner through bribery is too 
tempting. One who frees a prisoner is part of the commission of the offense perpetrated by the 
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prisoner. A guard who frees an inmate not only participates post litem to the commission of the 
crimes of the offender but also turns his back on the government and the laws he has sworn to 
protect and respect. . 
In the Penal Code, the penalty for the crime offreeing a convicted prisoner by their guard 
keepers is prision correccional in its medium to its maximum period. Therefore, the penalty 
• begins at two (2) years and one day to six (6) years. However for the crime of infidelity in the 
custody of prisoners who are merely in detention, the penalty is prision correccional in its 
minimum period, which is six (6) months and one day to two (2) years. The emphasis of the 
imposition of the penalty is based on whether the prisoner is convicted or merely in detention. To 
us, this categorization is not proper and is insufficient because it is not based on the gravity of 
ihe offense of the prisoner. True; the accused is deemed innocent until he is convicted. But today, 
there are occurrences of crimes that are so odious and atrocious that it despoils the human being 
and violate human sensibilities. 
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The commission of crimes that are heinous, like murder, the massacre or extermination of 
a family, or terrorism have become nightmares which threaten the stability of the government. 
Yet every now and then we are scandalized by the rampant escape of those accused of terrorism, 
economic sabotage, massacre and similar terrible felonies from their high security incarceration 
while the officials and the personnel in charge of the detainee literally go scot-free because the 
highest penalty they can be meted out is two years imprisonment. The imposition of a stiffer 
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penalty is but a defense of society against government :officials and employees who desecrate 
their duty as care takers of detention prisoners. It is not only valid but logical as dictated by 
necessity that the penalty of the crime of infidelity of a custodian be made in proportion to the 
gravity of the crimes ofthe illegally freed offender.' 
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MIRIAM DEF 
SOR S NTI 
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, This bill was originally filed in the Fourteenth. Congress: 
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SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
S. No. 1883 
• 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
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AN ACT· 
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DEFINING THE CRIME OF BETRAYAL OF DUTY IN THE CUSTODY OF PRISONERS, 
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PROVIDING FOR ADDITIONAL RULES ON THE IMPRISONMENT, DETENTION, 
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CONFINEMENT AND CUSTODY OF PRISONERS AND DETAINEES, SPECIFYING 
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ADDITIONAL WORK AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL 
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CHARGED WITH THE CUSTODY OF SUCH PRISONERS AND 
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STATING THE PENALTIES TI-IEREFOR 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Crime of Betrayal of D!"ty in the Custody of Prisoners. - Any provision of 
law to the contrary notwithstanding, the crime of betrayal of duty in the custody of prisoners and 
detained persons is hereby defined as on act or series of acts whereby a person or persons 
charged with the custody of prisoners, detained persons under preventive imprisonment, persons 
arrested in the act of committing a crime, persons who are wanted in foreign countries by which 
the Philippines has a treaty 'of reciprocity for extradition, persons who committed heinous 
crimes, terrorist and war criminals or one engaged in economic sabotage, shall allow without 
legal justification the escape of such prisoner or persons similarly situated. The person found 
guilty of the crime of betrayal of duty in the custody of prisoners shall be punished with a 
penalty which is one (1) degree low~r than the penalty imposed for the offense which the 
prisoner or detainee is charged with or convicted of; Provided. that in no case shaH the penalty 
imposed be lower than prision correccion(11 in its minimum period; Providedfurther, that for the 
escape of a detainee who is wanted by a foreign country, the penalty of prision correccional in 
its maximum period shall be meted out; Provided further, that for the escape of a prisoner 
accused of the commission of terrorism, war crimes, or economic sabotage, the penalty of life 
imprisonment shall be imposed without any provision for parole; Provided finally, that the 
persons convicted of the crime of betrayal of duty in the custody of prisoners shall likewise 
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suffer special permanent disqualification from public service if the detainee shall have been 
convicted or who has admitted his guilt in open court, even if the decision of conviction has not 
been rendered. 
SECTION 2. Record for High Risk Detainees. - In addition to the requirement considered 
necessary in the custody of prisoners imposed by present rules and regulations, the office or 
institution for high risk detainees, shall establish or add to existing rules, a record of the time the 
detained person was accepted by the institution, name of the persons guarding the detainee, the 
time and date the detained person was turned over to guards, properly signed and acknowledged 
by said personnel guarding the detainee, the movement' of the detainee from and to his or her 
room or cell of detention, his or her transfer from one institution or detention to another, and 
such record shall at all time be properly signed and acknowledged in the said records by the 
person in custody. 
SECTION 3. Command Responsibility. - Any person, though not in charge of the 
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detainee, who enjoys a higher rank than the custodian of the prisoner who shall cause, aid, abet, 
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and facilitate the escape of a detainee, shall suffer the same penalty as the persons who are in 
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cnstody of the prisoner but that in imposing the penalty, the court or tribunal shall impose the 
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same in its maximum period where the same is divisible; Provided, however, that the court shall, 
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in every case, impose penalties under this Act in the degree that will be fair and humane as the 
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case may be. 
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SECTION 4. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is held invalid or 
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unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act' or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain 
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valid and subsisting. 
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SECTION 5. Repealing Clause. - All laws, acts, presidential decrees, executive orders, 
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administrative orders, rules, and regulations inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this 
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Act are deemed amended, .modified, or repealed accordingly. 
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SECTION 6. EfJectiviiy Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
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publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
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