Article 65Act No. 3815, Sec./Art. 65

Rule in cases in which the penalty is not composed of three periods.-In cases in which the penalty prescribed by law is not composed of three periods, the courts shall apply the rules contained in the foregoing article, dividing into three equal portions the time included in the penalty prescribed, and forming one period of each of the three portions.

REVISED PENAL CODE TEXT AND SPECIAL PENAL LAWS

WHEREAS, crime and violence continue to proliferate

despite the sustained vigorous efforts of the government

to effectively contain them;

WHEREAS, to discourage public indifference or apathy

towards the apprehension and prosecution of criminal

offenders, it is necessary to penalize acts which obstruct

or frustrate or tend to obstruct or frustrate the successful

apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND, E. MARCOS, President

of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by

law do hereby decree and order the following:

Section 1. The penalty of prision correccional in its

maximum period, or a fine ranging from 1,000 to 6,000

pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any person who

knowingly or willfully obstructs, impedes, frustrates or

delays

the

apprehension

of

suspects

and

the

investigation

and

prosecution

of

criminal

cases

by

committing any of the following acts:

(a) preventing witnesses from testifying in any criminal

proceeding or from reporting the commission of any

offense or the identity of any offender/s by means of

bribery, misrepresentation, deceit, intimidation, force or

threats;

(b) altering, destroying, suppressing or concealing any

paper, record, document, or object, with intent to impair

its

verity,

authenticity,

legibility,

availability,

or

admissibility as evidence in any investigation of or official

proceedings in, criminal cases, or to be used in the

investigation of, or official proceedings in, criminal cases;

(c) harboring or concealing, or facilitating the escape of,

any person he knows, or has reasonable ground to believe

or suspect, has committed any offense under existing

penal laws in order to prevent his arrest prosecution and

conviction;

(d) publicly using a fictitious name for the purpose of

concealing a crime, evading prosecution or the execution

of a judgment, or concealing his true name and other

personal

circumstances

for

the

same

purpose

or

purposes;

(e)

delaying

the

prosecution

of

criminal

cases

by

obstructing the service of process or court orders or

disturbing

proceedings

in

the

fiscal's

offices,

in

Tanodbayan, or in the courts;

(f) making, presenting or using any record, document,

paper or object with knowledge of its falsity and with

intent to affect the course or outcome of the investigation

of, or official proceedings in, criminal cases;

(g) soliciting, accepting, or agreeing to accept any benefit

in

consideration

of

abstaining

from, discounting, or

impeding the prosecution of a criminal offender;

(h) threatening directly or indirectly another with the

infliction of any wrong upon his person, honor or property

or that of any immediate member or members of his

family in order to prevent such person from appearing in

the investigation of, or official proceedings in, criminal

cases,

or

imposing

a

condition,

whether

lawful

or

unlawful, in order to prevent a person from appearing in

the investigation of or in official proceedings in, criminal

cases;

(i) giving of false or fabricated information to mislead or

prevent

the

law

enforcement

agencies

from

apprehending the offender or from protecting the life or

property of the victim; or fabricating information from the

data gathered in confidence by investigating authorities

for purposes of background information and not for

publication and publishing or disseminating the same to

mislead the investigator or to the court.

If any of the acts mentioned herein is penalized by any

other law with a higher penalty, the higher penalty shall

be imposed.

Section 2. If any of the foregoing acts is committed by a

public official or employee, he shall in addition to the

penalties

provided

thereunder,

suffer

perpetual

disqualification from holding public office.

Section 3. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 16th day of January, in the

year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-one.

RA No 7438 | Custodial Investigation

Republic Act No. 7438 April 27, 1992

AN

ACT

DEFINING

CERTAIN

RIGHTS

OF

PERSON

ARRESTED,

DETAINED

OR

UNDER

CUSTODIAL

INVESTIGATION AS WELL AS THE DUTIES OF THE

ARRESTING,

DETAINING

AND

INVESTIGATING

OFFICERS,

AND

PROVIDING

PENALTIES

FOR

VIOLATIONS THEREOF

Be

it

enacted

by

the

Senate

and

House

of

Representatives

of

the

Philippines

in

Congress

assembled: :

Section 1. Statement of Policy . – It is the policy of the

Senate to value the dignity of every human being and

guarantee full respect for human rights.

Section 2. Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or

Under

Custodial

Investigation;

Duties

of

Public

Officers . –

(a) Any person arrested detained or under custodial

investigation shall at all times be assisted by counsel.

(b) Any public officer or employee, or anyone acting

under his order or his place, who arrests, detains or

investigates any person for the commission of an offense

shall inform the latter, in a language known to and

understood by him, of his rights to remain silent and to

have competent and independent counsel, preferably of

his own choice, who shall at all times be allowed to confer

privately with the person arrested, detained or under

custodial investigation. If such person cannot afford the

services of his own counsel, he must be provided with a

competent

and

independent

counsel

by

the

investigating officer.

(c) The custodial investigation report shall be reduced to

writing by the investigating officer, provided that before

such report is signed, or thumb marked if the person

arrested or detained does not know how to read and

write, it shall be read and adequately explained to him by

his counsel or by the assisting counsel provided by the

investigating officer in the language or dialect known to

such

arrested

or

detained

person,

otherwise,

such

investigation report shall be null and void and of no effect

whatsoever.

(d)

Any

extrajudicial

confession

made

by

a

person

arrested, detained or under custodial investigation shall

be in writing and signed by such person in the presence

of his counsel or in the latter's absence, upon a valid

waiver, and in the presence of any of the parents, elder

brothers and sisters, his spouse, the municipal mayor, the

municipal judge, district school supervisor, or priest or

minister of the gospel as chosen by him; otherwise, such

extrajudicial confession shall be inadmissible as evidence

in any proceeding.

(e) Any waiver by a person arrested or detained under the

provisions of Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code, or

under custodial investigation, shall be in writing and

signed by such person in the presence of his counsel;

otherwise the waiver shall be null and void and of no

effect.

(f) Any person arrested or detained or under custodial

investigation shall be allowed visits by or conferences

with any member of his immediate family, or any medical

doctor or priest or religious minister chosen by him or by

any member of his immediate family or by his counsel, or

by

any national non-governmental organization duly

accredited by the Commission on Human Rights of by

any international non-governmental organization duly

accredited by the Office of the President. The person's

© Compiled By RGL

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