Commonwealth Act No. 202

Article one hundred and thirty-nine of Act Numbered Three thousand eight hundred and fifteen, known as the revised Penal Code, is hereby amended to read as follows:

• Article 139  Sedition. – How committed.

  The crime of sedition is committed by persons who rise publicly and tumultuously in order to attain by force, intimidation, or by other means outside of legal methods, any of the following objects:

  • 1

    To prevent the promulgation or execution of any law or the holding of any popular election;

  • 2

    To prevent the National Government, or any provincial or municipal government, or any public officer thereof from freely exercising its or his functions, or prevent the execution of any administrative order;

  • 3

    To inflict any act of hate or revenge upon the person or property of any public officer or employee;

  • 4

    To commit, for any political or social end, any act of hate or revenge against private persons or any social class; and

  • 5

    To despoil, for any political or social end, any person, municipality or province, or the National Government or the Government of the United States, of all its property or any part thereof.

Article one hundred and forty-two of Act Numbered Three thousand eight hundred and fifteen, known as the Revised Penal Code, is hereby amended to read as follows:

• Article 142  Inciting to sedition.

  The penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period and a fine of not exceeding 2,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who, without taking any direct part in the crime of sedition, should incite others to the accomplishment of any of the acts which constitute sedition, by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, cartoons, banners, or other representations tending to the same end, or upon any person or persons who shall utter seditious words or speeches, write, publish, or circulate scurrilous libels against the Government of the United States or the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, or any of the duly constituted authorities thereof, or which tend to disturb or obstruct any lawful officer in executing the functions of his office, or which tend to instigate others to cabal or meet together for unlawful purposes, or which suggest or incite rebellious conspiracies or riots, or which lead or tend to stir up the people of the community, the safety and order of the Government, or who shall knowingly conceal such evil practices.

Article one hundred and fifty-four of Act Numbered Three thousand eight hundred and fifteen, known as the Revised Penal Code, is hereby amended to read as follows:

• Article 154  Unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances.

  The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 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.

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.