WHEREAS,
there have been rampant and wanton burnings of residential houses,
public buildings, markets, hotels, and other commercial
establishments; chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, to effectively discourage and deter the commission of arson,
and to prevent destruction of properties and protect the lives of
innocent people, it is necessary that the capital punishment be imposed
upon arsonists.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines,
by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby
order and decree that Article 320, Revised Penal Code be amended:cralaw:red
Section 1. Article 320 of the Revised Penal Code
shall read as follows:cralaw:red
"Article 320. Destructive Arson. — The penalty of
reclusion temporal in its maximum period to death shall be imposed upon
any person who shall burn: chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
1. One (1) or more buildings or edifices, consequent
to one single act of burning, or as result of simultaneous burnings, or
committed on several or different occasions.
2. Any building of public or private ownership,
devoted to the use of the public in general, or where people usually
gather or congregated for a definite purpose such as but not limited to
official governmental function or business, private transaction,
commerce, trade, worship, meetings and conferences, or merely
incidental to a definite purpose such as but not limited to hotels,
motels, transient dwellings, public conveyance or stops or terminals,
regardless of whether the offender had knowledge that there are persons
in said building or edifice at the time it is set on fire, and
regardless also of whether the building is actually inhabited or not.
3. Any train or locomotive, ship or vessel,rship
orrplane, devoted to transportation or convenience, or public use,
entertainment or leisure.
4. Any building, factory, warehouse installation and
any appurtenances thereto, which are devoted to the service of public
utilities.
5. Any building, the burning of which is for the
purpose of concealing or destroying evidence of another violation of
law, or for the purpose of concealing bankruptcy or defrauding
creditors or to collect from insurance.
Irrespective of the application of the above enumerated qualifying
circumstances, the penalty of death shall likewise be imposed when the
arson is perpetrated or committed by two (2) or more persons or
by a group of persons, regardless of whether their purpose is merely to
burn or destroy the building or the edifice, or the burning merely
constitutes an overt act in the commission or another violation of law.
The penalty of reclusion temporal in its maximum period to death shall
also be imposed upon any person who shall burn:cralaw:red
1. Any arsenal, shipyard, storehouse or military
powder or fireworks factory, ordinance storehouse, archives or general
museum of the government.
2. In an inhabited place, any storehouse or factory
of inflammable or explosive materials.
If as a consequence of the commission of any of the acts penalized
under this Article, death or injury results, or any valuable documents,
equipment, machineries, apparatus, or other valuable properties were
burned or destroyed, the mandatory penalty of death shall be imposed."
Section 2. Provisions of Articles 320, 321 and
322 of the Revised Penal Code which are or may be inconsistent herewith
are hereby repealed.
Section 3. Effectivity. — This Decree shall
take effect immediately.
Done in the City of Manila,
this 11th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred
and eighty.
|