Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No.

Introduced by: Congressman Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Revised Penal Code (RPC), also known as Act 3815, had been enacted way back in
December 8, 1930. While the RPC governed our penal laws for more than eight decades
the amounts of monetary fines or penalties punishing crimes remain unchanged, this,
despite the devaluation and inflation which our currency has undergone thru more than
eight decades.

In order to uphold the full force and tecth of our penal laws the punishment for
offenses/crimes including the fine, imprisonment and civil disqualification components
must be up to date. With regard to the fine component the amounts are still based on 1930.
prices, the year the law was enacted. The massive inflation and devaluation our currency
has gone through renders the punitive fine component of the RPC negligible. It is in this
ight that an adjustment of the fine through an amendment is highly in order.

The outdated fines incorporated in the RPC are vividly exhibited in Art. 312 of said law
wherein the penalty for Occupation of Real Property or Usurpation of Real Rights in
Property is punishable by:

“a fine from 50 to 100 per centum of the gain which he shall have
obtained, but not less than 75 pesos.”

Orif the value of the gain cannot be ascertained by:

” a fine of from 200 to 500 pesos shall be imposed”
‘The amount of 75 pesos and 200 to 500 pesos are grossly insufficient in today’s standard.
‘The present bill humbly suggests new amounts, subject to the committee's discretion,

replacing the old ones using a formula utilizing the available data from the National
Statistics Coordination Board relating to Consumer Price Indexes.


In adjusting the fines accurately the inflation rate computed from 1930 up to the present
must be computed. However, there is no data available for the CPI (Consumer Price
Index) earlier than 1955 in the Philippines and no data available for the CPI from 1986 to
1988. Moreover, there had been a total of 8 rebasing of base years for the computation of
inflation rates (the purpose of rebasing is to make relevant or update the items included in
the basket of goods).

Given these limitations, the year 1955 is used as the base year for the computation up to
2011 and disregarding the inflation rate in the years 1986 to 1988 making the derived
inflation rate a conservative one. Using the derived inflation rate of 8, 012 % we can
now compute the adjusted value of fines after factoring in the change in prices in the
Philippines, more precisely the effect of inflation rate.

‘The computation yields the adjusted value of 6009 for the “75 pesos” minimum fine for
the crime of Occupation of Real Property or Usurpation of Real Rights in Property and
the adjusted value of 16,024 to 40,060 for the “200 to 500 pesos” range. But for purposes
of convenience it is rounded off to 6000 pesos and 16,000 to 40,000 respectively.

Thus, Art 312 of the RPC should be amended to read:

Art. 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 from 50 to 100 per centum of the gain which he shall
have obtained, but not less than 6,000 pesos.

If the value of the gain cannot be ascertained, a fine of from 16,000 to
40,000 pesos shall be imposed.

‘This moment is certainly the best and opportune time to amend the above mentioned
article of our antiquated RPC.

Immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

LORD ALLANJAY Q. VELASCO


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No.

Introduced by Congressman Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco

AN ACT AMMENDING ARTICLE 312 OF ACT NO. 3815, AS AMENDED,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE REVISED PENAL CODE

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress as assembled:

ION 1. Article 312 of Act No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the
Revised Penal Code, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

Art. 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 from 50 to 100 per centum of the gain which he shall
have obtained, but not less than 6,000 pesos.

If the value of the gain cannot be ascertained, @ fine of from 16,000 to
40,000 pesos shall be imposed.

SECTION. 2. Repealing Clause. — Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive

order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to or
inconsistent with the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified or amended

accordingly.

SECTION 3. Effectivity Clause — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its

publication in the Official Gazette or at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,