| HOUSE °F REPRESENTATIVES

RECEIVED

| pave-(.7 JUL 2016
TIM: 2,

BY:

Republic of the Philippines
House of the Representatives
Quezon City

SEV

‘TEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

1285

REGISTRATION UNIT
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 teeth of our penal laws the punishment lor
offensive/erimes 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 light 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The outdated fines incorporated in the RPC are vividly exhibited in Art 149 of said law,
wherein the value of the fine is yet to be amended.

he present bill humbly suggests new amounts, subject to the commitice’s discretio
replacing the old ones using a formula utilizing the available data from the National Statist
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 1995 is used as the base year for the computation up to 2011
and distegarding the inflation rate in the years 1986 to 1988 making the derived inflation rate
4 conservative one, Using the derived inflation rate of 8.012% we can now compute the
adjusted values of fines after factoring in the change in prices in the Philippines, more
1 of inflation rate.

precisely the ¢

BILLS AND INDEX SERVICE



The Following amended vei
to the nearest thousand:

nn reflects the adjusted fine component for Art 147 rounded ofT

“Art. 147. Illegal assaults. — The penalty of prison correccional in its minimum and
medium periods and @ fine not exceeding 40,000 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
defined in the next preceding article.”

rimes,

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

Immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

LORD ican ‘A



Republic of the Philippines
House of the Representatives
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

23
HOUSE BILL NO, 1285

Introduced by: Congressman Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco

AN ACT AMENDING ARTICLE 149 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:

SECTION 1, Article 149 of Act No, 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the Revised
Penal Code, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

‘Art. 149, Indirect assaults. ~ The penalty of prison correccional in its minimum and
medium periods and @ fine not exceeding 40,000 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 erimes
defined in the next preceding article.”

SECTION 2. Repeating Clause. ~ Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive order
letter or 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 alter its
publication in the Official Gazette or at least (2) newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,