Title
Amendment on falsification penalties
Law
Act No. 2712
Decision Date
Mar 17, 1917
An amendment to the Philippine Penal Code in 1917 imposes imprisonment and fines for the falsification of public, official, and commercial documents, with additional penalties for ecclesiastical ministers who commit such offenses.
A

Specific Acts Constituting Document Falsification by Officials

  • Counterfeiting or imitating handwriting, signatures, or rubrics.
  • Falsely showing that persons participated in acts or proceedings when they did not.
  • Attributing to participants statements they did not make.
  • Making untruthful narrations of facts.
  • Altering true dates on documents.
  • Altering or intercalating genuine documents to change their meaning.
  • Issuing authenticated documents claiming to be copies of originals that do not exist or that differ from the original.
  • Intercalating instruments or notes related to document issuance in official protocols or registries.

Application to Ecclesiastical Ministers

  • Ecclesiastical ministers committing these falsifications affecting civil status or producing non-ecclesiastical legal effects are subject to the same penalties as public officers.

Penalties for Private Individuals Falsifying Documents

  • Private individuals falsifying public or official documents, letters of exchange, or commercial documents face prision correctional in its maximum degree.
  • They are also liable to pay a fine between 250 and 12,500 pesetas.

Legal Effectivity

  • The amendments take effect immediately upon passage on March 17, 1917.

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