Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

5835

House Bill No.

Introduced

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
cight decades.

In order to uphold the full force and teeth 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
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‘The outdated fines incorporated in the RPC are vividly exhibited in Art 355 of said law,
wherein the range of fines is yet to be amended.

‘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 following amended version reflects the adjusted fine component for Art 355 rounded
off to the nearest thousand:

“Art. 355. Libel means by writings or similar means, — A libel committed
by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph,
painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition, or any similar
means, shall be punished by prision correccional in its minimum and
medium periods or a fine ranging from 16,000 to 480,000 pesos, or both,
in addition to the civil action which may be brought by the offended
party.”

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 ALLAN Q. VELASCO


Republic of the Phit
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Fi

TH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No. _
Introduced by Congressman Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco

AN ACT AMMENDING ARTICLE 355 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 355 of Act No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the
Revised Penal Code, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

“Art, 355. Libel means by writings or similar means. — A libel committed
by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph,
painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition, or any similar
means, shall be punished by prision correccional in its minimum and
medium periods or a fine ranging from 16,000 to 480,000 pesos, or both,
in addition to the civil action which may be brought by the offended
party.”

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,