APRIL 5, 2012 DATE

NR # 2700
REF. NO.

Solon seeks heavier fines for treason and conspiracy to commit treason
A neophyte lawmaker is seeking amendments to the monetary fines or penalties for the crimes of treason and conspiracy or proposal to commit treason under the Revised Penal Code by factoring in inflation rate in adjusting the value of fines. Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco (Lone District, Marinduque), author of House Bill 5828, said the fine components of these and other crimes under the Revised Penal Code or Act 3815 reflect amounts that are still based on 1930 prices, the year the law was enacted. Velasco said the massive inflation and devaluation the peso currency has gone through renders the punitive component of the Revised Penal Code negligible. It is in this light that an adjustment of the fine through an amendment is highly in order. In order to uphold the full force and teeth of our penal laws, the punishment for offenses or crimes including the fine, imprisonment and civil disqualification components must be up to date, said Velasco, a vice chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments. In adjusting the fines accurately, Velasco said the inflation rate should be computed from 1930 up to the present. However, Velasco said there is no data available for the Consumer Price Index earlier than 1955 in the Philippines and from 1986 to 1988. Moreover, there had been a total of eight rebasing of base years for the computation of inflation rates. Given these limitations, Velasco said the year 1955 shall be used as the base year for the computation up to 2011, and disregarding the inflation rate in the years 1986 to 1988 making the derived inflation rate a conservative one. Using the derived inflation rate of 8,102 percent, we can now compute the adjusted value of fines after factoring in the change in prices in the country, more precisely the effect of the inflation rate, Velasco said. The bill seeks to amend Article 114 of the Revised Penal Code so that any person who, owing allegiance to the Government of the Philippine Islands, not being a foreigner, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort within the Philippine Islands or elsewhere, shall be punished by reclusion temporal to death and shall pay a fine not exceeding P1,600,000.00. The present law provides the fine shall not exceed P20,000.00. Under the bill, an alien, residing in the Philippine Islands, who commits acts of

APRIL 5, 2012 DATE

NR # 2700
REF. NO.

treason shall be punished by prision mayor to death and shall pay a fine not exceeding P1,600,000.00. The present law provides the fine shall not exceed P20,000.00. Velasco also filed House Bill 5827 seeking an amendment to Article 115 of the Revised Penal Code on the penalty for conspiracy or proposal to commit treason so that such crimes shall be punished respectively, by prision mayor and a fine not exceeding P800,000.00, and prision correccional and a fine not exceeding P400,000.00. The present law provides the fine shall not exceed P10,000.00 for the crime of conspiracy and P5,000.00 for the proposal to commit treason. (30) rbb