Section 12Sec./Art. 12

Section 265 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended by Republic Act No. 10963, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 265. Offenses Relating to Stamps. -Any person who commits any of the acts enumerated hereunder shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than Ten million pesos (₱10,000,000.00) but not more than Five hundred million pesos (₱500,000,000.00) and imprisonment of not less than five (5) years but not more than eight (8) years:

"(a) Making, importing, selling, using or possessing without express authority from the Commissioner, any die for printing or making stamps, labels, tags or playing cards;

"(b) Reusing previously affixed stamps, erasing the cancellation marks of any stamp previously used, or altering the written figures or letters or cancellation marks on internal revenue stamps;

"(c) Possessing false, counterfeit, restored or altered stamps, labels or tags or causing the commission of any such offense by another;

"(d) Selling or offering for sale any box or package containing articles subject to excise tax with false, spurious or counterfeit stamps or labels or selling from any such fraudulent box, package or container as aforementioned; or

"(e) Giving away or accepting from another, or selling, buying or using containers on which the stamps are not completely destroyed.

"Provided, That the cumulative possession of false/counterfeit/recycled tax stamps in excess of the amount of Fifty million pesos (₱50,000,000.00) shall be punishable by a fine of Five hundred million pesos (₱500,000,000.00) or up to ten (10) times the value of the illegal stamps seized, whichever is higher, and imprisonment of not less than ten (10) years but not more than fifteen (15) years:

"Provided, finally, That if the cumulative value of false/counterfeit/recycled tax stamps does not exceed Ten thousand pesos (₱10,000.00), the penalty shall only be a fine in the amount of Twelve thousand pesos (₱12,000.00)."