Question & AnswerQ&A (Act No. 2399)
The main objective of Act No. 2399 is to extend the provisions of Act No. 2300 to territories inhabited by Moros and other non-Christian tribes, prohibiting the taking away or exploitation of uncivilized persons or members of non-Christian tribes for purposes of exhibition or profit.
Act No. 2399 applies to territories inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes within the Philippine Islands.
Act No. 2399 extends the provisions of Act No. 2300, which prohibits slavery, involuntary servitude, and peonage in the Philippine Islands.
Section 2 prohibits taking away any uncivilized person or member of a non-Christian tribe from their abode, transporting them within the Philippines, making contracts with them, placing them on board vessels, or attempting or aiding such acts for the purpose of exploiting or exhibiting them as a spectacle for profit.
Violators shall be fined not more than ten thousand pesos and imprisoned for not more than five years.
Yes, the law prohibits exploitation or exhibition of uncivilized or non-Christian tribe members as spectacles either in the Philippines or elsewhere.
Though not explicitly defined in the text, these terms refer to indigenous peoples or tribal members within the Moro territories or other non-Christian ethnic groups as recognized during the period of the law's enactment.
All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with Act No. 2399 are repealed.
The Act took effect upon its passage on March 27, 1914.
The prohibition is based on Act No. 2300 of the Philippine Legislature, which adopted measures aligned with the Act of the U.S. Congress of March 4, 1909, codifying and revising penal laws against slavery and involuntary servitude.