Covered crime: arson and penalties
- Section 1 makes it a crime for any person to burn or set fire to the property of another, punishable by Prision Mayor.
- Section 1 also imposes the same penalty when a person sets fire to his own property if the act exposes to danger the life or property of another.
Destructive arson—higher penalty list
- Section 2 imposes the penalty of Reclusion Temporal in its maximum period to Reclusion Perpetua if the burned property is any of the following:
- Section 2 includes an ammunition factory and other establishment where explosives, inflammable or combustible materials are stored.
- Section 2 includes an archive or museum (public or private) and any edifice devoted to culture, education or social services.
- Section 2 includes any church or place of worship or other building where people usually assemble.
- Section 2 includes any train, airplane or any aircraft, vessel or watercraft, or any conveyance for transportation of persons or property.
- Section 2 includes a building where evidence is kept for use in any legislative, judicial, administrative or other official proceedings.
- Section 2 includes a hospital, hotel, dormitory, lodging house, housing tenement, shopping center, public or private market, theater or movie house, or any similar place/building.
- Section 2 includes any building (whether used as a dwelling or not) situated in a populated or congested area.
Other arson cases—next penalty tier
- Section 3 imposes the penalty of Reclusion Temporal to Reclusion Perpetua if the property burned is any of the following:
- Section 3 includes any building used as offices of the government or any of its agencies.
- Section 3 includes any inhabited house or dwelling.
- Section 3 includes any industrial establishment, shipyard, oil well or mine shaft, platform or tunnel.
- Section 3 includes any plantation, farm, pastureland, growing crop, grain field, orchard, bamboo grove or forest.
- Section 3 includes any rice mill, sugar mill, cane mill or mill central.
- Section 3 includes any railway or bus station, airport, wharf or warehouse.
Aggravating circumstances—maximum period
- Section 4 requires that the penalty in any case of arson be imposed in its maximum period if any of the following applies:
- Section 4 applies when the arson is committed with intent to gain.
- Section 4 applies when the arson is committed for the benefit of another.
- Section 4 applies when the offender is motivated by spite or hatred towards the owner or occupant of the property burned.
- Section 4 applies when the arson is committed by a syndicate.
- Section 4 defines “syndicate” as when the offense is planned or carried out by a group of three (3) or more persons.
Death resulting from arson
- Section 5 imposes the penalty of Reclusion Perpetua to death if, by reason of or on the occasion of the arson, death results.
Prima facie evidence rules
- Section 6 establishes prima facie evidence of arson when any of the following circumstances is present:
- Section 6 applies if the fire started simultaneously in more than one part of the building or establishment.
- Section 6 applies if a substantial amount of flammable substances or materials is stored within the building not necessary in the business of the offender nor for household use.
- Section 6 applies if gasoline, kerosene, petroleum or other flammable or combustible substances or materials soaked therewith or containers thereof, or any mechanical, electrical, chemical, or electronic contrivance designed to start a fire, or ashes or traces of any of the foregoing are found in the ruins or premises of the burned building or property.
- Section 6 applies if the building or property is insured for substantially more than its actual value at the time of the issuance of the policy.
- Section 6 applies if during the lifetime of the corresponding fire insurance policy more than two fires have occurred in the same or other premises owned or under the control of the offender and/or insured.
- Section 6 applies if shortly before the fire, a substantial portion of the effects insured and stored in a building or property had been withdrawn from the premises except in the ordinary course of business.
- Section 6 applies if a demand for money or other valuable consideration was made before the fire in exchange for the desistance of the offender or for the safety of the person or property of the victim.
Conspiracy
- Section 7 punishes conspiracy to commit arson by Prision Mayor in its minimum period.
Confiscation and escheat
- Section 8 orders that the building which is the object of arson including the land on which it is situated be confiscated and escheated to the State.
- Section 8 provides an exception: confiscation and escheat do not apply if the owner can prove no participation in nor knowledge of the arson despite the exercise of due diligence.
Repeal, amendment, and effect
- Section 9 repeals or amends Articles 320 to 326-B of the Revised Penal Code and all laws, executive orders, rules and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent with Decree No. 1613.
- Section 10 sets the effectivity rule: immediate effect upon publication at least once in a newspaper of general circulation.