EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session
SENATE
S. B. No. 1 2 7 6
i»euate
20 
JAN 20 P3S3
d]
R E C t iV iD I V  
1 /
Introduced by Senator FRANKLIN M. DRILON
AN ACT ADJUSTING THE MINIMUM AMOUNT FOR DEATH INDEMNITY, 
MORAL AND EXEMPLARY DAMAGES UNDER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 386 OR 
THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Our penal laws are designed to provide retribution against the offender, 
protection to the public, and restitution to the victim. Restitution has the objective of 
placing the offended party in the same condition as he was before the offense was 
committed against him. No restitution can however be made when life is taken. Life 
once 
lost cannot be 
restored. 
There can 
be 
no 
sufficient reparation or 
indemnification for something of immeasurable value. Nonetheless, Article 100 of the 
Revised Penal Code provides that a person criminally liable for a felony is also civilly 
liable. The Civil Code provides compensation for the wrongful death of a person 
whether caused by crime or quasi-delict.
It must however be noted that even before the enactment of the Civil Code in 
1949, Commonwealth Act No. 284 dating as far back as 1938, already states that 
"civil liability for the death of a person shall be fixed by the competent court at a 
reasonable sum, upon consideration of the pecuniary situation of the party liable and 
other circumstances, but it shall in no case be less than two thousand pesos". The 
Civil Code similarly sets a minimum. In both pieces of legislation, the intent of 
enabling the courts to increase the amount as warranted by circumstances, is clear.
Article 2206 of the Code which was enacted in the year 1949, sets the 
minimum amount at Three Thousand Pesos (P3,000.00). Through time, this amount 
has been increased in jurisprudence to P6,000.00, P9,000.00, P12,000.00 and in 
1990, to P50,000.00 or P75,000.00 when the crime is punishable by death penalty.


The amount remained stagnant at P50,000.00 until the year 2013 when the Court, in 
People V. Gambao (G.R. No. 172707, 1 October 2013), raised the minimum amount to 
the current rate of P100,000.00. Such amount is awarded as a matter of course for 
wrongful death, without need for proof other than the fact of death resulting from 
crime or quasi-delict and the fact that the accused was responsible for such death.
Meanwhile, Article 2216 of the Civil Code does not provide a minimum 
amount for moral and exemplary damages and leaves it entirely to the discretion of 
the courts. Jurisprudence similarly pegs the amount at P100,000.00.
Moral damages are awarded to compensate for manifold injuries such as 
physical suffering, mental anguish, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded 
feelings and social humiliation. The Supreme Court has held that although incapable 
of exactness, no proof of pecuniary loss is necessary in order that moral damages 
may be awarded. The award of moral damages is aimed at a restoration, within the 
limits possible, of the spiritual status quo ante, and therefore, it must be 
proportionate to the suffering inflicted.
Finally, Article 2229 of the Civil Code states that "exemplary or corrective 
damages are imposed by way of example or correction for the public good," where 
circumstances of the case show the highly reprehensible conduct of the offender. 
Exemplary damages are imposed as vindication for undue sufferings and punishment 
for outrageous conduct.
While it is clear from the wording of the law and the decisions rendered by 
the Supreme Court that the amount provided is only the minimum, it has become 
common practice for our courts to award death indemnity as well as moral and 
exemplary damages only within the minimum amount. It has been lamented that the 
gruesome nature of deaths subject of recently decided cases would have warranted 
a higher award but that courts have been hesitant to depart from the amounts fixed 
by jurisprudence. To address this, we are introducing amendments clarifying that 
the amounts provided in the law are only the minimum and that the courts are 
empowered to use their discretion in granting a higher amount, based on the rate of 
inflation and circumstances unique to the case. Without saying that human life or 
human suffering has an equivalent price or cost, the minimum amount is also raised


to P300,000.00 for death indemnity, and P200,000.00 for moral and exemplary 
damages.
The words of the Court in People vs. Oandasan (G.R. No. 194605, 14 June 2016) 
adequately sum up the rationale for the measure we are proposing: "the value of 
human life is incalculable, for no loss of life from crime or quasi-delict can ever be 
justly measured. Yet, the law absolutely requires every injury, especially loss of life, 
to be compensated in the form of damages.... Although money has been accepted as 
the most frequently used means of punishing, deterring, compensating and 
regulating injury throughout the legal system, money in the context of damages is 
not awarded as a replacement for other money, but as substitute for that which is 
generally more important than money; it is the best thing that a court can do. 
Regardless, the civil indemnity for death, being compensatory in nature, must attune 
to contemporaneous economic realities; otherwise, the desire to justly indemnify 
would be thwarted or rendered meaningless. This has been the legislative 
justification for pegging the minimum, but not the maximum, of the indemnity."
In view of the foregoing, the urgent approval of this bill is earnestly sought.
FRAriKLIN M. DRILON


%
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session
S. No.
SENATE
1276
S enate
at ttif J^rtrfUrp
20 
JAN 20 P3S3
Kiayfi99f.
Introduced by Senator FRANKLIN M. DRILON
AN ACT ADJUSTING THE MINIMUM AMOUNT FOR DEATH INDEMNITY, 
MORAL AND EXEMPLARY DAMAGES UNDER REPUBLIC ACT NO. 386 OR 
THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House o f Representatives o f the Philippines 
in Congress assembled:
1 
Section 1. Article 2206 of Republic Act No. 386, otherwise known as the
2 
"Civil Code of the Philippines" is hereby amended to read as follows:
3 
ART. 2206. The amount of damages for death caused by a
4 
crime or quasi-delict SHALL BE AT LEAST THREE HUNDRED
5 
THOUSAND PESOS, even though there may have been
6 
mitigating circumstances. THE COURT, IN  ITS DISCRETION,
7 
MAY AWARD A HIGHER AMOUNT, BASED ON THE RATE
8 
OF INFLATION AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF EACH
9 
CASE. In addition:
10 
(1) The defendant shall be liable for the loss of the
11 
earning capacity of the deceased, and the indemnity
12 
shall be paid to the heirs of the latter; such indemnity
13 
shall in every case be assessed and awarded by the
14 
court, unless the deceased on account of permanent
15 
physical disability not caused by the defendant, had
16 
no earning capacity at the time of his death;
17 
(2) If the deceased was obliged to give support
18 
according to the provisions of Article 291, the
19 
recipient who is not an heir called to the decedent's


1 
inheritance by the 
law 
of testate or intestate
2 
succession, may demand support from the person
3 
causing the death, for a period not exceeding five
4 
years, the exact duration to be fixed by the court;
5 
(3) 
The 
spouse, 
legitimate 
and 
illegitimate
6 
descendants and ascendants of the deceased may
7 
demand moral damages for mental anguish by reason
8 
of the death of the deceased.
9 
Section 2. Article 2216 of the same Act is hereby amended to read as
10 
follows:
11 
Art. 2216. No proof of pecuniary loss is necessary in order that
12 
moral, nominal, temperate, liquidated or exemplary damages,
13 
may be adjudicated. The assessment of such damages, except
14 
liquidated ones, is left to the discretion of the court, according
15 
to the circumstances of each case: PROVIDED, THAT THE
16 
AMOUNT OF MORAL AND EXEMPLARY DAMAGES SHALL
17 
BE AT LEAST TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND PESOS IN
18 
CASES OF DEATH RESULTING FROM A CRIME OR
19 
QUASI-DELICT. THE COURT, IN ITS DISCRETION, MAY
20 
AWARD A HIGHER AMOUNT BASED ON PREVAILING
21 
CIRCUMSTANCES AND THE RATE OF INFLATION.
22 
Section 3. Separability Clause. -  Should any provision of this Act be
23 
declared invalid, the remaining provisions shall continue to be valid and subsisting.
24 
Section 4. Repeating Clause. -  All laws, executive orders, administrative
25 
orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Act
26 
are hereby amended, repealed or modified accordingly.
27 
Section 5. Effectivity. -  This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days
28 
following its publication in the Official Gazette and one (1) newspaper of general
29 
circulation.
Approved,