REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5467 - AN
ACT TO AMEND ARTICLES THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE AND THREE HUNDRED
TWENTY-SIX OF ACT NUMBERED THIRTY-EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN (RE: OTHER
FORMS OF ARSON)
Section 1. Article Three hundred twenty-one of Act numbered
thirty-eight hundred and fifteen is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Art. 321. Other forms of arson. — When the arson
consists in the burning of other property and under the circumstances
given hereunder, the offender shall be punished.
"1. By reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua: (a)
If the offender shall set fire to any building, farmhouse, warehouse,
hut, shelter, or vessel in port, knowing it to be occupied at the time
by one or more persons;
"(b) If the building burned is a public building and
the value of the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos;
"(c) If the building burned is a public building and
the purpose is to destroy evidence kept therein to be used in
instituting prosecution for the punishment of violators of the law,
irrespective of the amount of the damage;
"(d) If the building burned is a public building and
the purpose is to destroy evidence kept therein to be used in any
legislative, judicial or administrative proceedings, irrespective of
the amount of the damage: Provided, however, That if the evidence
destroyed is to be used against the defendant for the prosecution of
any crime punishable under existing laws, the penalty shall be
reclusion perpetua;
"(e) If the arson shall have been committed on the
intention of collecting under an insurance policy against loss or
damage by fire.
"2. By reclusion temporal:
"(a) If an inhabited house or any other building in
which people are accustomed to meet is set on fire, and the culprit did
not know that such house or building was occupied at the time, or if he
shall set fire to a moving freight train or motor vehicle, and the
value of the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos;
"(b) If the value of the damage caused in paragraph
(b) of the preceding subdivision does not exceed 6,000 pesos;
"(c) If a farm, sugar mill, cane mill, mill central,
bamboo groves, or any similar plantation is set on fire, and the damage
caused exceeds 6,000 pesos; and
"(d) If grain fields, pasture lands, forests, or
planting set on fire, and the damage caused exceeds 6,000 pesos."
"3. By prision mayor:
"(a) If the value of the damage caused in the cases
mentioned in paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) in the next preceding
subdivision does not exceed 6,000 pesos;
"(b) If a building not used as a dwelling or place of
assembly, located is a populated place, is set on fire, and the damage
caused exceeds 6,000 pesos;
"4. By prision correccional in its maximum period to
prision mayor in its medium period:
"(a) If a building used as a dwelling located in an
uninhabited place is set on fire and the damage caused exceeds 1,000
pesos;
"(b) If the value of the damage caused in the case
mentioned in paragraphs (c) and (d) of subdivision 2 of this article
does not exceed 200 pesos."
"5. By prision correccional in its medium period to
prision mayor in its minimum period, when the damage caused, is over
200 pesos but does not exceed 1,000 pesos, and the property referred to
in paragraph (a) of the next preceding subdivision is set on fire; but
when the value of such property does not exceed 200 pesos, the penalty
next lower in degree than that prescribed in this subdivision shall be
imposed.
"6. The penalty of prision correccional in its
medium and maximum periods, if the damage caused in the case mentioned
in paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of this article does not exceed 6,000
pesos but is over 200;
"7. The penalty of prision correccional in its
minimum and medium periods, if the damage caused in the case mentioned
in paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of this article does not exceed 200
pesos.
"8. The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine ranging
from fifty to one hundred per centum of the damage caused shall be
imposed, when the property burned consist of grain fields, pasture
lands, forests, or plantations when the value of such property does not
exceed 200 pesos."
Sec. 2. Article Three hundred twenty-six of Act
Numbered Thirty-eight hundred and fifteen is hereby amended to read as
follows:
"Art. 326. Setting fire to property exclusively owned
by the offender. — If the property burned shall be the exclusive
property of the offender, he shall be punished by arresto mayor in its
maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period, if the
arson shall have been committed for the purpose of defrauding or
causing damage to another, or prejudice shall actually have been
caused, or if the thing burned shall have been a building in an
inhabited place."
"Art. 326-A. In cases where death resulted as a
consequence of arson. — If death resulted as a consequence of arson
committed on any of the properties and under any of the circumstances
mentioned in the preceding articles, the court shall impose the death
penalty.
"Art. 326-B. Prima facie evidence of arson. — Any of
the following circumstances shall constitute prima facie evidence of
arson:
"1. If after the fire, are found materials or
substances soaked in gasoline, kerosene, petroleum, or other
inflammables, or any mechanical, electrical, chemical, or electronic
contrivance designed to start a fire or ashes or traces of any of the
foregoing;
"2. That substantial amount of inflammable substance
or materials were stored within the building not necessary in the
course of the defendants business; and
"3. That the fire started simultaneously in more than
one part of the building or locale under circumstances that cannot
normally be due to accidental or unintentional causes: Provided,
however, That at least one of the following is present in any of the
three abovementioned circumstances:
"(a) That the total insurance carried on the building
and/or goods is more than 80 per cent of the value of such building
and/or goods at the time of the fire;
"(b) That the defendant after the fire has presented
a different claim for loss."
"The penalty of prision correccional shall be imposed on one who
plants the articles abovementioned, in order to secure a conviction, or
as a means of extortion or coercion."
Sec. 3. This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
Approved: May 12, 1969
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