Solon pushes amendment of Revised Penal Code

Senate President Franklin Drilon. Photo courtesy of Drilon’s official Facebook page.

MANILA — Senate President Franklin Drilon filed a bill seeking to amend what he described as “archaic” penal law and adjust the threshold amounts used in determining criminal liability for various crimes.

“In undertaking these changes to an archaic law, we intend to craft a sound, fair and effective policy against criminality that reflects a proper balance among the established goals of criminal justice,” Drilon said.

“Eighty years had inevitably dulled the edge of a once sharp measure. The penalties and fines for various crimes under the Revised Penal Code are no longer commensurate to the crime committed,” he added.

Up to this day, the 85-year-old Penal Code, enacted in 1930, imposes, among others, a fine as low as P5.

“The P200 our elders had in their pockets back in the 1930s surely had higher value than the P200 in our wallets today,” he said.

Drilon filed Senate Bill No. 2680 in order to adjust the amount of imposable fines under the Revised Penal Code.

Anyone committing treason for instance, will be fined with a maximum amount of P4 million instead of the current P20,000.

Once the bill is passed, the P5 minimum fine will be increased to P1,000 and the maximum fine of P22,000 under the present law will be increased to P4.4 million.