QuestionsQuestions (Act No. 2364)
Act No. 2364 provides for the punishment of persons guilty of infidelity in the custody of prisoners who are detained for or convicted of crimes or misdemeanors punished under Philippine laws enacted by the Philippine Commission or the Philippine Legislature.
Liability attaches to any person committing acts defined and penalized in Articles 358 and 359 of the Revised Penal Code (as in force at the time), when such acts amount to infidelity in the custody of prisoners detained for or convicted of a crime or misdemeanor.
The prisoners must be detained for or convicted of an offense punished under laws enacted by the Philippine Commission or the Philippine Legislature.
Upon conviction, the offender may be punished by a fine not exceeding PHP 2,000, or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years, or both, at the court’s discretion.
Yes. In either case (crime/ordinance), the defendant must also be sentenced to disqualification from holding public office for a term not to exceed 10 years (for crimes/misdemeanors) or not to exceed 2 years (for municipal ordinance violations).
The penalty is reduced to a fine not exceeding PHP 200, or imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or both, at the court’s discretion, and disqualification from holding public office for not more than 2 years.
The maximum imprisonment is 2 years.
The maximum imprisonment is 6 months.
For crimes/misdemeanors: fine not exceeding PHP 2,000. For municipal ordinance violations: fine not exceeding PHP 200.
Not more than 10 years.
Not more than 2 years.
Articles 358 and 359 of the Penal Code in force at the time.
The court may impose either fine or imprisonment or both, in its discretion, subject to the statutory maximums.
It takes effect on its passage, in accordance with Section 1 of Act No. 1945 of the Philippine Legislature.
To calibrate the punishment according to the gravity or classification of the underlying offense, imposing lower penalties for municipal ordinance violations.
It effectively frames and penalizes those Penal Code acts specifically when they occur in the context of custody of certain prisoners (detained/convicted under Philippine Commission/Legislature laws or municipal ordinances), and prescribes the corresponding penalty and disqualification.
That the offender committed acts contemplated by Articles 358 and 359 (infidelity in custody), and that the affected prisoner was detained or convicted of an offense punished under Philippine Commission/Legislature laws, or alternatively, of a municipal ordinance violation—because the penalty differs.