Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 12)
The penalty is prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its medium period.
Persons merely present at such meeting shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor unless they are armed, in which case the penalty shall be prision correctional.
It shall be presumed that the purpose of the meeting, insofar as he is concerned, is to commit acts punishable under the Code, and he shall be considered a leader or organizer of the meeting.
The word 'meeting' shall be understood to include a gathering or group, whether in a fixed place or moving.
If robbery is committed in an uninhabited place or by a band, or by attacking a conveyance, the offender shall be punished by the maximum period of the proper penalties.
The leader shall be imposed the penalty next higher in degree.
When more than three armed malefactors take part in the commission of a robbery, it shall be deemed to have been committed by a band.
All members shall be punished by the maximum of the corresponding penalty provided by law, without prejudice to liability for illegal possession of the unlicensed firearm.
They shall be punished as principals of any assaults committed by the band unless they attempted to prevent the assault.
More than three armed persons forming a band to commit robbery on the highway or kidnapping for extortion or ransom purposes are considered brigands.
They shall be punished by prision mayor in its medium period to reclusion temporal in its minimum period, unless the acts are punishable by higher penalties.
It is presumed they are highway robbers or brigands, and upon conviction, the penalty is imposed in the maximum period.