Robbery Penalties (Revised Penal Code)
Robbery penalties in the Philippines: 4 years, 2 months and 1 day to 10 years for simple robbery, up to reclusion perpetua for robbery with homicide.
| Kind of robbery | Penalty in the law | How long (Articles 27 and 76) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| With violence or intimidation, when a homicide is committed by reason or on occasion of the robbery, or the robbery is accompanied by rape, intentional mutilation or arson (Art. 294, case 1) | Reclusion perpetua to death | Reclusion perpetua (20 years and 1 day to 40 years): Republic Act No. 9346 prohibits the death penalty | Republic Act No. 7659 (Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code), Supreme Court E-Library |
| With violence or intimidation, causing physical injuries under Article 263, subdivision 1, such as insanity, imbecility, impotency or blindness (Art. 294, case 2) | Reclusion temporal in its medium period to reclusion perpetua | 14 years, 8 months and 1 day to 40 years | Republic Act No. 7659 (Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code), Supreme Court E-Library |
| With violence or intimidation, causing physical injuries under Article 263, subdivision 2 (Art. 294, case 3) | Reclusion temporal | 12 years and 1 day to 20 years | Republic Act No. 7659 (Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code), Supreme Court E-Library |
| With violence or intimidation "carried to a degree clearly unnecessary", or causing physical injuries under Article 263, subdivisions 3 and 4, to a person not responsible for the crime (Art. 294, case 4) | Prision mayor in its maximum period to reclusion temporal in its medium period | 10 years and 1 day to 17 years and 4 months | Republic Act No. 7659 (Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code), Supreme Court E-Library |
| With violence or intimidation, in other cases, often called simple robbery (Art. 294, case 5) | Prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its medium period | 4 years, 2 months and 1 day to 10 years | Republic Act No. 7659 (Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code), Supreme Court E-Library |
| Attempted or frustrated robbery, when a homicide is committed by reason or on occasion of it (Art. 297) | Reclusion temporal in its maximum period to reclusion perpetua, unless the homicide deserves a higher penalty under the Code | 17 years, 4 months and 1 day to 40 years | Act No. 3815, Revised Penal Code, Article 297, Supreme Court E-Library |
| By armed persons, in an inhabited house, public building or building for religious worship, with force upon things, value taken over ₱50,000 (Art. 299) | Reclusion temporal | 12 years and 1 day to 20 years | Republic Act No. 10951, Sec. 79 (Article 299), Supreme Court E-Library |
| Same place and force, offenders not armed, value over ₱50,000 (Art. 299) | The penalty next lower in degree: prision mayor (Articles 61 and 71) | 6 years and 1 day to 12 years | Republic Act No. 10951, Sec. 79 (Article 299), Supreme Court E-Library |
| Same place and force, offenders armed, value ₱50,000 or less (Art. 299) | The same rule: the penalty next lower in degree, prision mayor | 6 years and 1 day to 12 years | Republic Act No. 10951, Sec. 79 (Article 299), Supreme Court E-Library |
| Same place and force, offenders not armed, value ₱50,000 or less (Art. 299) | Prision mayor in its minimum period | 6 years and 1 day to 8 years | Republic Act No. 10951, Sec. 79 (Article 299), Supreme Court E-Library |
| In an uninhabited place or in a building not covered by Article 299, with one of the kinds of force listed in Article 302, value over ₱50,000 (Art. 302) | Prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods | 2 years, 4 months and 1 day to 6 years | Republic Act No. 10951, Sec. 80 (Article 302), Supreme Court E-Library |
| Same as the row above, value ₱50,000 or less (Art. 302) | "The penalty next lower in degree" than prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods | Not computed here: the court applies the rules of Article 61 to find it | Republic Act No. 10951, Sec. 80 (Article 302), Supreme Court E-Library |
Notes
- The table shows the range the law allows for each kind of robbery. It is not the sentence a person will get. The court fixes the actual sentence using other rules of the Code and the facts of the case. The lengths come from Articles 27 and 76; see the Duration of penalties table.
- Robbery is defined in Article 293: taking personal property of another, with intent to gain, by violence against or intimidation of a person, or by using force upon anything. Without violence, intimidation or force upon things, the crime is theft: see Robbery vs theft and the Theft penalty table.
- Republic Act No. 9346 prohibits the death penalty. Where a law that uses the penalty names of the Revised Penal Code says death, reclusion perpetua is imposed instead (Sec. 2). Section 3 says that persons convicted of offenses punished with reclusion perpetua, or whose sentences are reduced to reclusion perpetua by reason of the Act, are not eligible for parole under the Indeterminate Sentence Law ( RA 9346).
- Some robberies get the maximum period of the penalty. Article 294 cases 3, 4 and 5 are punished in their maximum period when committed in an uninhabited place or by a band, by attacking a moving vehicle or taking its passengers by surprise, or on a street, road, highway or alley, and the intimidation is made with the use of a firearm (Article 295). A robbery is committed by a band when more than three armed persons take part, and if any of their arms is an unlicensed firearm, all of them get the maximum of the penalty (Article 296). Article 300 also raises to the maximum period the penalty for the robbery described in the article before it when committed in an uninhabited place and by a band.
- Force upon things under Article 299 means entering through an opening not intended for entry or exit, breaking a wall, roof, floor, door or window, using false keys or picklocks, pretending to be a public officer or using a false name, or breaking locked furniture or carrying it away to break it open elsewhere. If the robbery is committed in a dependency of the house, such as an interior court or a warehouse connected to it, the penalty is one degree lower. A house is still "inhabited" even if the people living there are away (Article 301).
- Under the last paragraph of Article 302, when the property taken is mail matter or large cattle, the penalties of Articles 294, 295, 297, 299, 300 and 302 are raised to the penalties next higher in degree.
- The robbery articles set prison penalties, not fines. The offender is also civilly liable: he must return what was taken or pay its value and pay for the damage caused (Article 100). For the damages the Supreme Court sets when a person is killed, see People v. Jugueta.
- Made-up example: Arvin points a knife at Joy at a jeepney stop and takes her phone. She is not hurt. This falls under case 5 of Article 294: 4 years, 2 months and 1 day to 10 years.
- Made-up example: Rey, unarmed, breaks a window of a house while the family is away and takes things worth ₱30,000 in all. The house is still inhabited, he used force upon things, and the value is ₱50,000 or less, so the penalty is prision mayor in its minimum period: 6 years and 1 day to 8 years.
- Made-up example: Three armed men rob a store and one of them shoots the owner dead. This is robbery with homicide under case 1 of Article 294: reclusion perpetua.
- See also Robbery in the Philippines: kinds and penalties and robbery in the glossary. If you or a family member faces a case, see Free legal help.
General information, not legal advice. For your case, ask a lawyer, the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) or the agency.
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