Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code: Murder
Status: Amended
Amended
This provision has been amended. The text below is the current version.
- Amended by: Republic Act No. 7659 (Wording as amended by this law.)
- Amended by: Republic Act No. 9346 (Republic Act No. 9346 prohibits the imposition of the penalty of death (Sec. 1). In its place, reclusion perpetua is imposed when the law violated uses the nomenclature of the penalties of the Revised Penal Code (Sec. 2). Where this article mentions death, read it with that Act.)
What does Article 248 say?
Any person who, not falling within the provisions of Article 246 shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished by reclusion perpetua, to death if committed with any of the following attendant circumstances:
1. With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity.
2. In consideration of a price, reward or promise.
3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a railroad, fall of an airship, or by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin.
4. On occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic or other public calamity.
5. With evident premeditation.
6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.
What does it mean in plain language?
Article 248 says that killing another person is murder when at least one of six circumstances is present: treachery or similar means, a price or reward, a destructive means such as fire or poison, a public calamity, evident premeditation, or cruelty. The penalty written in the article is reclusion perpetua, to death. Because Republic Act No. 9346 prohibits the death penalty, the penalty a court imposes today is reclusion perpetua.
Murder and homicide both mean killing another person. The difference is the circumstance. If none of the six circumstances in Article 248 is proven, the crime is homicide, which has a lighter penalty. The killing of one's father, mother, child, other ascendant or descendant, or spouse is a different crime, parricide (Article 246), and is not covered here.
How does it work in real life?
Rico and Ben: a fight at a drinking session
Rico and Ben argue during a drinking session. Rico swings a bottle, Ben punches back, and Rico falls and dies after hitting his head. The fight was face to face, and nothing shows a plan, a reward or any other Article 248 circumstance. On these facts the charge would be homicide or a lesser crime, not murder.
Carlo and Dodong: an attack from behind
Carlo hides behind a wall and stabs Dodong in the back as he walks home. Dodong never sees him coming and has no chance to defend himself. A sudden and unexpected attack like this is the usual picture of treachery, so the prosecutor may charge murder. The court will still decide, based on the evidence, whether treachery was proven.
Arnel: a killing for money
Arnel accepts money to kill a man he does not know. The killing is "in consideration of a price, reward or promise" (paragraph 2), so it can be murder for Arnel even without treachery.
What does this mean in practice?
- Murder cases are filed by the prosecutor in court. The charge must specify the qualifying circumstance (Rule 110, Section 8).
- Bail is not a matter of right. Under Rule 114, a person charged with an offense punishable by reclusion perpetua cannot be admitted to bail when the evidence of guilt is strong. The prosecution has the burden of showing this at a bail hearing. See is murder bailable?.
- Murder prescribes in twenty years under Article 90, the same as homicide.
- The accused may raise self-defense or another justifying circumstance. Read self-defense in the Philippines.
- A pending case can show up as a "hit" when the accused applies for an NBI clearance. See the NBI hit status guide.
- For the differences side by side, see homicide vs murder.
What are the six circumstances that make a killing murder?
The article lists them in six numbered paragraphs. In simple words:
- Treachery and similar means. Treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, the aid of armed men, means that weaken the victim's defense, or means or persons that make sure the killer goes unpunished.
- A price, reward or promise. The killer was paid or promised something.
- A destructive means. Fire, poison, explosion, flood, shipwreck, a train derailment, a motor vehicle, or any other means that causes great waste and ruin.
- A public calamity. The killing took place during an earthquake, volcanic eruption, destructive cyclone, epidemic or similar disaster.
- Evident premeditation. The killing was planned ahead.
- Cruelty. The killer deliberately and inhumanly made the victim suffer more, or mocked or insulted the victim's body.
One is enough. In People v. Jugueta (2016), the Supreme Court said that "the presence of any one of the circumstances enumerated in Article 248 of the Code is sufficient to qualify a killing as murder." Under the Rules of Criminal Procedure (Rule 110, Section 8), the charge must specify the qualifying circumstance, and the circumstance must be proven in court like the killing itself.
What is treachery?
Article 248 names treachery but does not define it. The definition is in Article 14, the list of aggravating circumstances:
There is treachery when the offender commits any of the crimes against the person, employing means, methods, or forms in the execution thereof which tend directly and specially to insure its execution, without risk to himself arising from the defense which the offended party might make.
In Jugueta, the Court repeated that the essence of treachery is a sudden and unexpected attack on an unsuspecting victim who gave no provocation. In that case the victims included young children, and the Court said that minor children cannot be expected to put up a defense.
What is the penalty for murder today?
The article says "reclusion perpetua, to death". This wording comes from Republic Act No. 7659 (1993). Since 2006, Republic Act No. 9346 prohibits the imposition of the death penalty. Section 2 of that law says reclusion perpetua is imposed instead when the law uses the penalty names of the Revised Penal Code, as Article 248 does.
Reclusion perpetua lasts from 20 years and 1 day to 40 years:
The penalty of reclusion perpetua shall be from twenty years and one day to forty years.
Section 3 of RA 9346 adds that people convicted of offenses punished with reclusion perpetua, or whose sentences are reduced to reclusion perpetua because of that law, are not eligible for parole under Act No. 4103.
Jugueta also set standard amounts that the convicted person must pay the victim's heirs. Where the penalty imposed is reclusion perpetua, the Court listed ₱75,000 as civil indemnity, ₱75,000 as moral damages and ₱75,000 as exemplary damages. Where the penalty would have been death but is reduced to reclusion perpetua because of RA 9346, each amount is ₱100,000. Our page on damages for death in a criminal case explains these amounts.
Why does the E-Library copy of the Code show a different penalty?
The Revised Penal Code page on the Supreme Court E-Library is the original 1930 text. It gives murder a penalty of "reclusion temporal in its maximum period to death". Republic Act No. 7659 rewrote Article 248 in 1993 and set the penalty at "reclusion perpetua, to death". This page shows the article as amended by RA 7659, read together with RA 9346, which removed the death penalty.
Which Supreme Court rulings are relevant?
Frequently asked questions
What is the penalty for murder in the Philippines?
Article 248 says reclusion perpetua, to death. Republic Act No. 9346 prohibits the death penalty, so the court imposes reclusion perpetua, which runs from 20 years and 1 day to 40 years under Article 27. RA 9346 also says people sentenced to reclusion perpetua under it are not eligible for parole.
What is the difference between murder and homicide?
Both are the killing of another person. It is murder when at least one of the six circumstances listed in Article 248 is present, such as treachery or evident premeditation. Without any of them, the killing is homicide under Article 249, punished by reclusion temporal (12 years and 1 day to 20 years).
What is treachery in murder?
Article 14 of the Code says there is treachery when the offender uses means or methods that ensure the crime without risk to himself from any defense the victim might make. In People v. Jugueta (2016), the Supreme Court described its essence as a sudden and unexpected attack on an unsuspecting victim.
Is murder bailable?
Not when the evidence of guilt is strong. Under Rule 114 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, a person charged with an offense punishable by reclusion perpetua cannot get bail when the evidence of guilt is strong. The court holds a hearing, and the prosecution must show that the evidence is strong.
How long does the State have to file a murder case?
Article 90 says crimes punishable by death, reclusion perpetua or reclusion temporal prescribe in twenty years. This covers both murder and homicide.
General information, not legal advice. For your case, ask a lawyer, the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) or the agency.
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