How Many Years Before a Criminal Case Prescribes?

Article 90, as amended by Republic Act No. 4661, sets the periods:

To use this table, you need the class of the penalty. Article 25 of the Code sorts penalties into classes. Afflictive penalties include reclusion perpetua, reclusion temporal and prision mayor. Correctional penalties include prision correccional and arresto mayor. Arresto menor is a light penalty. Fines have their own classes under Article 26, as amended by Republic Act No. 10951: a fine over ₱1,200,000 is afflictive, a fine from ₱40,000 up to ₱1,200,000 is correctional, and a fine below ₱40,000 is light.

These rows apply Article 90 to the penalty set by law:

For more rows with their sources, see Prescription of crimes table. For estafa brackets above ₱40,000, see Estafa in the Philippines.

Article 90 says "Light offenses prescribe in two months." Article 9 of the Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 10951, defines light felonies as those punished by arresto menor or a fine not exceeding ₱40,000, or both. This page does not settle whether the two terms mean exactly the same thing in every case, and Article 26 treats a fine of exactly ₱40,000 as correctional. Two months is a very short period, so the classification of the offense matters.

Article 90 has a rule for compound penalties:

Applying this rule to a specific crime can be tricky, for example when the prison term and the fine fall in different classes. This page does not work out those cases.

Article 91 of the Code answers this:

In short:

• Start: the day the crime is discovered by the offended party, the authorities or their agents.
• Stop: the filing of the complaint or information.
• Restart: when the proceedings end without a conviction or an acquittal, or are unjustifiably stopped for a reason not due to the accused.
• Pause: while the offender is outside the Philippines.

Yes. Rule 110, Section 1 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure says that "The institution of the criminal action shall interrupt the running of the period of prescription of the offense charged unless otherwise provided in special laws." For offenses that need a preliminary investigation, the action is instituted by filing the complaint with the proper officer for that investigation.

In Panaguiton v. Department of Justice (2008), the complainant filed a BP 22 complaint with the city prosecutor within the four-year period. The case then went back and forth for years. The Supreme Court rejected "the position that only the filing of a case in court can toll the running of the prescriptive period". The filing with the prosecutor had interrupted prescription, so the case had not prescribed.

Crimes punished by special laws, not by the Revised Penal Code, follow Act No. 3326 unless the special law has its own rule. The Supreme Court E-Library shows the original 1926 text of the Act. Its Section 1 sets these periods (later amendments, if any, are not covered here):

• 1 year for offenses punished only by a fine or by imprisonment of not more than one month, or both;
• 4 years for imprisonment of more than one month but less than two years;
• 8 years for imprisonment of two years or more but less than six years;
• 12 years for imprisonment of six years or more (20 years for treason);
• 2 months for violations of municipal ordinances.

Under Section 2, the period runs from the day of the violation or, if it was not known then, from its discovery. In Panaguiton, the Court held that a violation of BP 22 prescribes in four years under this law. See BP 22 vs estafa for how the two cases differ.

In Causing v. People (2023), the Supreme Court held that cyber libel prescribes in one year, the same as libel, and that the period is counted from the day the crime is discovered by the offended party, the authorities or their agents. It abandoned an earlier ruling that had applied a longer period.

These are made-up examples to show how the rules work. They are not advice for any real case.

Mila lent money and received a postdated check, which bounced in March 2021. She filed a BP 22 complaint with the city prosecutor in January 2025. Even counting the four years from March 2021, the period would end only in March 2025. Following Panaguiton, the filing with the prosecutor interrupted the period, so the complaint was in time.

Totoy discovers in 2026 that his former business partner forged his signature on a document back in 2017. Under Article 91, the period for a crime under the Revised Penal Code runs from discovery, not from 2017.

Rolly is accused of a crime and then works in Dubai for three years. Under Article 91, prescription does not run while he is outside the Philippines.

No. Prescription of crimes is about filing a criminal case. Collecting money in a civil case has its own time limits under the Civil Code. See How many years can you collect a debt? This page also does not cover how long a sentence already imposed can be enforced, which follows different rules.

If a case may be close to its deadline, a lawyer should look at it early. The exact period depends on the penalty for the specific crime, the date of discovery, any time the offender spent abroad and any complaint already filed. A lawyer can compute it from the records. If you cannot afford a lawyer, see Free legal help in the Philippines for the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) and other options.