Penalties and Periods: Principal Penalties

In the Philippine Penal System, there are two (2) kinds of penalties: those provided for in the Revised Penal Code and those mentioned in other laws. Some laws prescribe penalties found in the Revised Penal Code while others provide penalties that are uniquely their own. The Revised Penal Code has two (2) kinds of penalties: divisible and indivisible. Divisible penalties are divided into three (3) periods: minimum, medium and maximum.

The penalties under the Revised Penal Code are:

1.) Death -indivisible, abolished in 2006

2.) Reclusion Perpetua -indivisible, 20 years and 1 day to 40 years

3.) Reclusion Temporal -divisible, min: 12 years & 1 day to 14 years & 8 months, med: 14 years, 8 months & 1 day to 17 years & 4 months, max: 17 years, 4 months & 1 day to 20 years

4.) Prision Mayor -divisible, min: 6 years & 1 day to 8 years, med: 8 years & 1 day to 10 years, max: 10 years & 1 day to 12 years

5.) Prision Correccional and Destierro -divisible, min: 6 months, & 1 day to 2 years & 4 months, med: 2 years, 4 months & 1 day to 4 years & 2 months, max: 4 years, 2 months & 1 day to 6 years

6.) Arresto Mayor -divisible, min: 1 month & 1 day to 2 months, med: 2 months & 1 day to 4 months, max: 4 months & 1 day to 6 months

7.) Arresto Menor -divisible, min: 1 to 10 days, med: 11 to 20 days, max: 21 to 30 days.

The periods of the divisible penalties are further divided into minimum, medium and maximum smaller periods. Destierro is a unique penalty. Instead of being imprisoned, the person punished with destierro is not allowed to come within 25 to 250 kilometers of an area. Fines are also divisible; a light penalty is less than Php 200, a corrective penalty is Php 200 to Php 6,000, and an afflictive penalty is higher than Php 6,000.

Regarding other laws, only those that prescribe Revised Penal Code penalties follow the list above.