REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House nit No, 7829

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. GARY C. ALEJANO:

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The law on infidelity in the custody of prisoners has been in force since the 1930s. News of
criminals escaping custody has always been a source of public concen. In such incidences,
Government officials or employees who has custody of such criminals cannot be said to be
completely guiltless of the fact that these outlaws take flight. In fact, with the penalty for allowing
criminals escape being so lenient, these officials are susceptible to the all too tempting allure of
bribery.

Someone who frees a detainee is no lesser, perhaps even worse, than someone who is
complicit in the commission of a criminal act. He is a traitor to the principles of justice that we
uphold, a traitor to the people whom he has swom to protect, and ultimately an enemy of the state
who would rather sell his dignity for some coin, than to maintain the order that the State wishes to
preserve.

In the Penal Code, the penalty for the crime of freeing a convicted prisoner(s) by their guard
or keepers is prision correctional in its medium to maximum period, which means 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 correctional in its minimum
period, which is six (6) months and one day to two (2) years. The emphasis of the penalty is based
‘on whether the prisoner is convicted or merely in detention.

This categorization is improper and is ultimately insufficient, since it does not take into
account the gravity of the prisoner's offense. Prisoners who are suspects for committing heinous
crimes such as murder, terrorism, genocide and other such horrible deeds is and always will be a
threat to the stability of the government and as such, we must do everything in our power to prevent
their escape and penalize steeply the persons responsible for the escape of such detainees if they be
proven to have aided such persons to escape. It is not only valid, but logical as dictated by necessity
that the penalty of the crime of infidelity of a custodian be meted in proportion to the gravity of the
crimes of the offender freed without legal justification.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this measure is earnestly sought.



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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
‘Second Regular Session

7829

House Bill No.

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. GARY C. ALEJANO

AN ACT
DEFINING THE CRIME OF BETRAYAL OF DUTY IN THE CUSTODY OF PRISONERS
PROVIDING FOR ADDITIONAL RULES ON THE IMPRISONMENT, DETENTION,
(CONFINEMENT AND CUSTODY OF PRISONERS AND DETAINEES, SPECIFYING
ADDITIONAL WORK AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL
CHARGED WITH THE CUSTODY OF SUCH PRISONERS AND STATING THE
PENALTIES THEREFORE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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

SECTION 1. Short Title —This Act shall be known as “Penalizing the Crime of Betrayal of

Duty Act.”

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy.—It is hereby declared the policy of the State to deter
persons detained persons under preventive imprisonment, persons arrested in the act of committing
a.crime, persons who are wanted in foreign countries, terrorist or war criminals, or persons engaged
in economic sabotage from defying the law and escape lawful judgment for their crimes by
penalizing persons charged with the custody of such prisoners for allowing, without legal
justification, their escape.

SEC. 3. Crime of Betrayal of Duty—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
an 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 shall be punished with a penalty which is one degree lower than the penalty


imposed for the offense, which the detainee is charged with or convicted of, PROVIDED THAT in
no case shall the penalty imposed be lower than prision correctional in its minimum period.
PROVIDED

FURTHERMORE THAT for the escape of the prisoners who are accused of the commission of the
heinous, terrorism, war crimes and 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 suffer special permanent
disqualification if the detainee shall have been convicted or has admitted guilt in open court, even if
the decision of conviction has not been rendered.

SEC. 4. Records on Detained Persons—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 or
detainees, the time and date there were turn-over of guards, proper signed and acknowledged by
said personnel guarding the detainee(s), the movement of the detainees from and to his room or cell
of detention, his 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(s) in custody.

SEC. 5.—Any person, though not in charge of the detainee, who enjoys a higher rank than
the custodian of the prisoner who shall cause, aid, abet and facilitate the escape of a detainee, shall
suffer the same penalty as the persons who are in custody of the prisoner, but that in imposing the
penalty, the court or tribunal shall impose the same in its maximum period, where the same is
divisible. Provided, however, that the court shall, in every case, impose penalties under this Act in
the degree that will be fair and humane as the case may be.

SEC. 6. Effectivity—This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days from its publication in at
least two newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,