Chapter Two

CRIMES AGAINST POPULAR REPRESENTATION

Section One. - Crimes against legislative bodies and similar bodies

Article 143. Act tending to prevent the meeting of the Assembly and similar bodies. - The penalty of
prision correccional or a fine ranging from 200 to 2,000 pesos, or both, shall be imposed upon any
person who, by force or fraud, prevents the meeting of the National Assembly (Congress of the
Philippines) or of any of its committees or subcommittees, constitutional commissions or committees
or divisions thereof, or of any provincial board or city or municipal council or board. (Reinstated by
E.O. No. 187).

Article 144. Disturbance of proceedings. - The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine from 200 to 1,000
pesos shall be imposed upon any person who disturbs the meetings of the National Assembly
(Congress of the Philippines) or of any of its committees or subcommittees, constitutional
commissions or committees or divisions thereof, or of any provincial board or city or municipal
council or board, or in the presence of any such bodies should behave in such manner as to
interrupt its proceedings or to impair the respect due it. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).

Section Two. - Violation of parliamentary immunity

Article 145. Violation of parliamentary immunity. - The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed
upon any person who shall use force, intimidation, threats, or fraud to prevent any member of the
National Assembly (Congress of the Philippines) from attending the meetings of the Assembly
(Congress) or of any of its committees or subcommittees, constitutional commissions or committees
or divisions thereof, from expressing his opinions or casting his vote; and the penalty of prision
correccional shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall, while the Assembly
(Congress) is in regular or special session, arrest or search any member thereof, except in case
such member has committed a crime punishable under this Code by a penalty higher than prision
mayor.

Chapter Three
ILLEGAL ASSEMBLIES AND ASSOCIATIONS

Article 146. Illegal assemblies. - The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period to prision
mayor in its medium period shall be imposed upon the organizers or leaders of any meeting
attended by armed persons for the purpose of committing any of the crimes punishable under this
Code, or of any meeting in which the audience is incited to the commission of the crime of treason,
rebellion or insurrection, sedition or assault upon a person in authority or his agents. Persons merely
present at such meeting shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor, unless they are armed, in which
case the penalty shall be prision correccional.

If any person present at the meeting carries an unlicensed firearm, it shall be presumed that the
purpose of said meeting, insofar as he is concerned, is to commit acts punishable under this Code,
and he shall be considered a leader or organizer of the meeting within the purview of the preceding
paragraph.

As used in this article, the word "meeting" shall be understood to include a gathering or group,
whether in a fixed place or moving. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).
Article 147. Illegal associations. - The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium
periods and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon the founders, directors, and
presidents of associations totally or partially organized for the purpose of committing any of the
crimes punishable under this Code or for some purpose contrary to public morals. Mere members of
said associations shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).

Chapter Four
ASSAULT UPON, AND RESISTANCE AND DISOBEDIENCE TO, PERSONS IN AUTHORITY
AND THEIR AGENTS

Article 148. Direct assaults. - Any person or persons who, without a public uprising, shall employ
force or intimidation for the attainment of any of the purpose enumerated in defining the crimes of
rebellion and sedition, or shall attack, employ force, or seriously intimidate or resist any person in
authority or any of his agents, while engaged in the performance of official duties, or on occasion of
such performance, shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum
periods and a fine not exceeding P1,000 pesos, when the assault is committed with a weapon or
when the offender is a public officer or employee, or when the offender lays hands upon a person in
authority. If none of these circumstances be present, the penalty of prision correccional in its
minimum period and a fine not exceeding P500 pesos shall be imposed.

Article 149. Indirect assaults. - The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium
periods and a fine not exceeding P500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who shall make
use of force or intimidation upon any person coming to the aid of the authorities or their agents on
occasion of the commission of any of the crimes defined in the next preceding article.

Article 150. Disobedience to summons issued by the National Assembly, its committees or

subcommittees, by the Constitutional Commissions, its committees, subcommittees or divisions. -
The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from two hundred to one thousand pesos, or both
such fine and imprisonment shall be imposed upon any person who, having been duly summoned to
attend as a witness before the National Assembly, (Congress), its special or standing committees
and subcommittees, the Constitutional Commissions and its committees, subcommittees, or
divisions, or before any commission or committee chairman or member authorized to summon
witnesses, refuses, without legal excuse, to obey such summons, or being present before any such
legislative or constitutional body or official, refuses to be sworn or placed under affirmation or to
answer any legal inquiry or to produce any books, papers, documents, or records in his possession,
when required by them to do so in the exercise of their functions. The same penalty shall be
imposed upon any person who shall restrain another from attending as a witness, or who shall
induce disobedience to a summon or refusal to be sworn by any such body or official.

Article 151. Resistance and disobedience to a person in authority or the agents of such person. -
The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos shall be imposed upon any person
who not being included in the provisions of the preceding articles shall resist or seriously disobey
any person in authority, or the agents of such person, while engaged in the performance of official
duties.

When the disobedience to an agent of a person in authority is not of a serious nature, the penalty
of arresto menor or a fine ranging from 10 to P100 pesos shall be imposed upon the offender.

Article 152. Persons in authority and agents of persons in authority; Who shall be deemed as
such. - In applying the provisions of the preceding and other articles of this Code, any person directly
vested with jurisdiction, whether as an individual or as a member of some court or governmental
corporation, board, or commission, shall be deemed a person in authority. A barrio captain and a
barangay chairman shall also be deemed a person in authority.

A person who, by direct provision of law or by election or by appointment by competent authority, is

charged with the maintenance of public order and the protection and security of life and property,
such as a barrio councilman, barrio policeman and barangay leader and any person who comes to
the aid of persons in authority, shall be deemed an agent of a person in authority.

In applying the provisions of Articles 148 and 151 of this Code, teachers, professors and persons
charged with the supervision of public or duly recognized private schools, colleges and universities,
and lawyers in the actual performance of their professional duties or on the occasion of such
performance, shall be deemed persons in authority. (As amended by PD No. 299, Sept. 19, 1973
and Batas Pambansa Blg. 873, June 12, 1985).

Chapter Five
PUBLIC DISORDERS

Article 153. Tumults and other disturbance of public orders; Tumultuous disturbance or interruption
liable to cause disturbance. - The penalty of arresto mayor in its medium period to prision
correccional in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any
person who shall cause any serious disturbance in a public place, office, or establishment, or shall
interrupt or disturb public performances, functions or gatherings, or peaceful meetings, if the act is
not included in the provisions of Articles 131 and 132.

The penalty next higher in degree shall be imposed upon persons causing any disturbance or
interruption of a tumultuous character.

The disturbance or interruption shall be deemed to be tumultuous if caused by more than three
persons who are armed or provided with means of violence.

The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon any person who in any meeting, association, or
public place, shall make any outcry tending to incite rebellion or sedition or in such place shall
display placards or emblems which provoke a disturbance of the public order.

The penalty of arresto menor and a fine not to exceed P200 pesos shall be imposed upon these
persons who in violation of the provisions contained in the last clause of Article 85, shall bury with
pomp the body of a person who has been legally executed.

Article 154. Unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances. - The penalty of arresto
mayor and a fine ranging from P200 to P1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon:

1. Any person who by means of printing, lithography, or any other means of publication shall
publish or cause to be published as news any false news which may endanger the public
order, or cause damage to the interest or credit of the State;

2. Any person who by the same means, or by words, utterances or speeches shall
encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities or praise, justify, or extol
any act punished by law;

3. Any person who shall maliciously publish or cause to be published any official resolution
or document without proper authority, or before they have been published officially; or
 4. Any person who shall print, publish, or distribute or cause to be printed, published, or
distributed books, pamphlets, periodicals, or leaflets which do not bear the real printer's
name, or which are classified as anonymous.

Article 155. Alarms and scandals. - The penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding P200
pesos shall be imposed upon:

1. Any person who within any town or public place, shall discharge any firearm, rocket,
firecracker, or other explosives calculated to cause alarm or danger;

2. Any person who shall instigate or take an active part in any charivari or other disorderly
meeting offensive to another or prejudicial to public tranquility;

3. Any person who, while wandering about at night or while engaged in any other nocturnal
amusements, shall disturb the public peace; or

4. Any person who, while intoxicated or otherwise, shall cause any disturbance or scandal in
public places, provided that the circumstances of the case shall not make the provisions of
Article 153 applicable.

Article 156. Delivery of prisoners from jails. - The penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period of
prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who shall remove from
any jail or penal establishment any person confined therein or shall help the escape of such person,
by means of violence, intimidation, or bribery. If other means are used, the penalty of arresto
mayor shall be imposed.

If the escape of the prisoner shall take place outside of said establishments by taking the guards by
surprise, the same penalties shall be imposed in their minimum period.

Chapter Six
EVASION OF SERVICE OF SENTENCE

Article 157. Evasion of service of sentence. - The penalty of prision correccional in its medium and
maximum periods shall be imposed upon any convict who shall evade service of his sentence by
escaping during the term of his imprisonment by reason of final judgment.

However, if such evasion or escape shall have taken place by means of unlawful entry, by breaking
doors, windows, gates, walls, roofs, or floors, or by using picklocks, false keys, deceit, violence or
intimidation, or through connivance with other convicts or employees of the penal institution, the
penalty shall be prision correccional in its maximum period.

Article 158. Evasion of service of sentence on the occasion of disorder, conflagrations,

earthquakes, or other calamities. - A convict who shall evade the service of his sentence, by leaving
the penal institution where he shall have been confined, on the occasion of disorder resulting from a
conflagration, earthquake, explosion, or similar catastrophe, or during a mutiny in which he has not
participated, shall suffer an increase of one-fifth of the time still remaining to be served under the
original sentence, which in no case shall exceed six months, if he shall fail to give himself up to the
authorities within forty-eight hours following the issuance of a proclamation by the Chief Executive
announcing the passing away of such calamity.
Convicts who, under the circumstances mentioned in the preceding paragraph, shall give
themselves up to the authorities within the above mentioned period of 48 hours, shall be entitled to
the deduction provided in Article 98.

Article 159. Other cases of evasion of service of sentence. - The penalty of prision correccional in
its minimum period shall be imposed upon the convict who, having been granted conditional pardon
by the Chief Executive, shall violate any of the conditions of such pardon. However, if the penalty
remitted by the granting of such pardon be higher than six years, the convict shall then suffer the
unexpired portion of his original sentence.

Chapter Seven
COMMISSION OF ANOTHER CRIME DURING SERVICE OF PENALTY IMPOSED FOR
ANOTHER PREVIOUS OFFENSE

Article 160. Commission of another crime during service of penalty imposed for another offense;
Penalty. - Besides the provisions of Rule 5 of Article 62, any person who shall commit a felony after
having been convicted by final judgment, before beginning to serve such sentence, or while serving
the same, shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty prescribed by law for the new
felony.

Any convict of the class referred to in this article, who is not a habitual criminal, shall be pardoned at
the age of seventy years if he shall have already served out his original sentence, or when he shall
complete it after reaching the said age, unless by reason of his conduct or other circumstances he
shall not be worthy of such clemency.