Core offense: kidnapping and detention
- Section 267(a) provides that any private individual who kidnaps or detains another, or otherwise deprives him of liberty, commits the offense of Kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
- The base penalty under Section 267(a) is reclusion perpetua to death.
- The offense is aggravated by the duration, manner, purpose, victim characteristics, and consequences enumerated in Section 267(a).
Aggravating circumstances and mandatory penalty scale
- Under Section 267(a), the penalty remains reclusion perpetua to death where:
- the kidnapping or detention lasted more than five days; or
- it was committed simulating public authority; or
- serious physical injuries were inflicted on the person kidnapped or detained; or
- the kidnapping or detention was done to kill the victim (i.e., if “to kill him shall have been made”).
- Under Section 267(a), the penalty also applies where:
- the person kidnapped or detained is a minor; or
- the person kidnapped or detained is a female; or
- the person kidnapped or detained is a public officer.
Death penalty for ransom purpose
- Section 267(a) mandates the death penalty where the kidnapping or detention is committed for the purpose of extorting ransom from the victim or any other person.
- The death penalty under Section 267(a) applies even if none of the other listed circumstances were present.
Amendatory history and legal basis
- Republic Act No. 1084 amends Section two hundred and sixty-seven of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Section 2 of Republic Act No. 18.
- Republic Act No. 1084 operates as a further amendment to Section 267, updating the penalty provisions for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
Temporal and separability effects
- Republic Act No. 1084 contains no separability clause and no sunset provision.
- Republic Act No. 1084 provides only the effectivity rule that it takes effect upon its approval on June 15, 1954.