Legal basis and amendments made
- Section 1 amends Article 139 of Act No. 3815, the Revised Penal Code.
- Section 2 amends Article 142 of Act No. 3815, the Revised Penal Code.
- Section 3 amends Article 154 of Act No. 3815, the Revised Penal Code.
- The amendments modify the Revised Penal Code’s provisions on sedition, inciting to sedition, and unlawful use of means of publication.
Doctrine and elements of sedition
- The crime of sedition is committed by persons who rise publicly and tumultuously to attain by force, intimidation, or other means outside of legal methods any of the enumerated objects.
- Article 139(1) covers rising publicly and tumultuously to prevent the promulgation or execution of any law or the holding of any popular election.
- Article 139(2) covers rising publicly and tumultuously to prevent the National Government, a provincial or municipal government, or a public officer from freely exercising functions, or to prevent execution of any administrative order.
- Article 139(3) covers rising publicly and tumultuously to inflict an act of hate or revenge upon the person or property of any public officer or employee.
- Article 139(4) covers rising publicly and tumultuously, for any political or social end, to commit an act of hate or revenge against private persons or any social class.
- Article 139(5) covers rising publicly and tumultuously, for any political or social end, to despoil any person, municipality or province, the National Government, or the Government of the United States of all its property or any part thereof.
Inciting to sedition and punishable acts
- Article 142 imposes the penalty of prision correctional in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos on a person who incites others to the acts constituting sedition without taking direct part in the sedition itself.
- Article 142 covers incitement by speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, cartoons, banners, or other representations tending to accomplish any of the acts constituting sedition.
- Article 142 imposes the same penalty and fine on persons who utter seditious words or speeches or who write, publish, or circulate scurrilous libels against:
- the Government of the United States; or
- the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines; or
- any of the duly constituted authorities thereof.
- Article 142 further covers seditious incitement and conduct that:
- tends to disturb or obstruct any lawful officer in executing official functions;
- instigate others to cabal or meet together for unlawful purposes;
- suggest or incite rebellious conspiracies or riots;
- lead or tend to stir up the people against lawful authorities; or
- disturb the peace of the community or the safety and order of the Government.
- Article 142 includes knowingly concealing such evil practices within the punishable conduct.
Unlawful use of means of publication
- Article 154 imposes the penalty of arresto mayor and a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos on any person who commits the enumerated publication-related acts.
- Article 154(1) penalizes publishing or causing to be published as news any false news that may endanger the public order or cause damage to the interest or credit of the State, by means of printing, lithography, or any other means of publication.
- Article 154(2) penalizes encouraging disobedience to the law or to constituted authorities, or praising, justifying, or extolling any act punished by law, by the same means (printing, lithography, or other means of publication) or by words, utterances, or speeches.
- Article 154(3) penalizes maliciously publishing or causing to be published:
- any official resolution or document without proper authority; or
- any such official resolution or document before they have been published officially.
- Article 154(4) penalizes printing, publishing, or distributing (or causing such printing, publishing, or distribution) books, pamphlets, periodicals, or leaflets which do not bear the real printer’s name, or which are classified as anonymous.