Legal basis and amended provisions
- Republic Act No. 5467 amends Articles 321 and 326 of Act No. 3815.
- Act No. 3815 is amended by inserting new provisions: Articles 326-A and 326-B.
Other forms of arson (Article 321)
- Article 321(a) provides penalties for “other forms of arson” when the arson consists in the burning of other property, with penalties escalating based on the circumstances enumerated under subparagraphs (1) to (8).
- Article 321(1) imposes reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua if the offender sets fire to specified property under the enumerated conditions.
- Article 321(2) imposes reclusion temporal when specified types of property are set on fire under the enumerated circumstances tied to habitation and value thresholds.
- Article 321(3) imposes prision mayor for specified situations that turn on value thresholds for the damage and the type of property burned.
- Article 321(4) imposes prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its medium period when the building’s use and location (dwelling/uninhabited/populated place) and value of damage meet the stated limits.
- Article 321(5) imposes a penalty structure where the degree of prision correccional in its medium period to prision mayor in its minimum period applies based on the damage range, with a reduced penalty rule when the value of the property does not exceed 200 pesos.
- Article 321(6) imposes prision correctional in its medium and maximum periods when the damage described in the specified circumstance exceeds 200 pesos but does not exceed 6,000 pesos.
- Article 321(7) imposes prision correctional in its minimum and medium periods when the damage described in the specified circumstance does not exceed 200 pesos.
- Article 321(8) imposes arresto mayor and a fine ranging from fifty to one hundred per centum of the damage caused when the property consists of grain fields, pasture lands, forests, or plantations and the value does not exceed 200 pesos.
Article 321(1): reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua
- Article 321(1)(a) imposes reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua if the offender sets fire to any building, farmhouse, warehouse, hut, shelter, or vessel in port, knowing it to be occupied at the time by one or more persons.
- Article 321(1)(b) imposes reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua if the building burned is a public building and the value of the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos.
- Article 321(1)(c) imposes reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua if the purpose is to destroy evidence kept in a public building to be used in instituting prosecution for the punishment of violators of the law, irrespective of the amount of the damage.
- Article 321(1)(d) imposes reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua if the purpose is to destroy evidence kept in a public building to be used in any legislative, judicial or administrative proceedings, irrespective of the amount of the damage.
- Article 321(1)(d) proviso provides that if the evidence destroyed is to be used against the defendant for the prosecution of any crime punishable under existing laws, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua.
- Article 321(1)(e) imposes reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua if the arson is committed with the intention of collecting under an insurance policy against loss or damage by fire.
Article 321(2) to (4): habitation and value limits
- Article 321(2)(a) imposes reclusion temporal if an inhabited house or any other building where people are accustomed to meet is set on fire and the culprit did not know it was occupied at the time, or if the offender sets fire to a moving freight train or motor vehicle, with damage exceeding 6,000 pesos.
- Article 321(2)(b) imposes reclusion temporal if the value of the damage in Article 321(2)(a) does not exceed 6,000 pesos.
- Article 321(2)(c) imposes reclusion temporal if a farm, sugar mill, cane mill, mill central, bamboo groves, or any similar plantation is set on fire.
- Article 321(2)(d) imposes reclusion temporal if grain fields, pasture lands, forests, or planting are set on fire and the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos.
- Article 321(3)(a) imposes prision mayor if the value of the damage in cases under Article 321(3)(a) does not exceed 6,000 pesos.
- Article 321(3)(b) imposes prision mayor if a building not used as a dwelling or place of assembly located in a populated place is set on fire and the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos.
- Article 321(4)(a) imposes prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its medium period if a building used as a dwelling located in an uninhabited place is set on fire and the damage caused exceeds 1,000 pesos.
- Article 321(4)(b) imposes the same penalty if the value of the damage in the case mentioned in Article 321(4)(b) (referring to the specified paragraphs) does not exceed 200 pesos.
Article 321(5) to (8): graduated penalties
- Article 321(5) imposes prision correccional in its medium period to prision mayor in its minimum period when the damage caused is over 200 pesos but does not exceed 1,000 pesos, and the property referred to in Article 321(5) is set on fire; if the value of that property does not exceed 200 pesos, the penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed in Article 321(5) shall be imposed.
- Article 321(6) imposes prision correctional in its medium and maximum periods if the damage caused in the specified case does not exceed 6,000 pesos but is over 200 pesos.
- Article 321(7) imposes prision correctional in its minimum and medium periods if the damage caused in the specified case does not exceed 200 pesos.
- Article 321(8) imposes arresto mayor and a fine ranging from fifty to one hundred per centum of the damage caused when the burned property consists of grain fields, pasture lands, forests, or plantations and the value does not exceed 200 pesos.
Setting fire to one’s own property (Article 326)
- Article 326 punishes arson where the property burned is exclusively owned by the offender.
- Article 326 imposes arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correctional in its minimum period if the arson is committed for the purpose of defrauding or causing damage to another, or if prejudice has actually been caused.
- Article 326 imposes arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correctional in its minimum period if the thing burned is a building in an inhabited place.
Death caused by arson (Article 326-A)
- Article 326-A mandates that when death resulted as a consequence of arson committed on any of the properties and under any of the circumstances mentioned in the preceding articles, the court shall impose the death penalty.
Prima facie evidence of arson (Article 326-B)
- Article 326-B establishes that certain circumstances constitute prima facie evidence of arson.
- Article 326-B provides that prima facie evidence exists if, after the fire, materials or substances soaked in gasoline, kerosene, petroleum, or other inflammables are found, or if any mechanical, electrical, chemical, or electronic contrivance designed to start a fire is found, or ashes or traces of any of the foregoing are found.
- Article 326-B provides prima facie evidence if a substantial amount of inflammable substance or materials were stored within the building not necessary in the course of the defendant’s business.
- Article 326-B provides prima facie evidence if the fire started simultaneously in more than one part of the building or locale under circumstances that cannot normally be due to accidental or unintentional causes.
- Article 326-B proviso requires that at least one of the following is present in the three circumstances for prima facie evidence to apply:
- the total insurance carried on the building and/or goods is more than 80 per cent of the value of such building and/or goods at the time of the fire; or
- the defendant, after the fire, has presented a fraudulent claim for loss.
- Article 326-B penalty rule provides that prision correccional shall be imposed on one who plants the prohibited articles above-mentioned, to secure a conviction, or as a means of extortion or coercion.