6 punishable omissions under the RPC


A felony (crime punishable by the Revised Penal Code or RPC) is an act or omission punishable by Act 3815. Therefore, a felony may be an act or a failure to act. The following are examples of six omissions punishable by imprisonment under the RPC.

[1] Art. 116: Misprision of treason.

Every person owing allegiance to (the United States) the Government of the Philippine Islands, without being a foreigner, and having knowledge of any conspiracy against them, conceals or does not disclose and make known the same, as soon as possible to the governor or fiscal of the province, or the mayor or fiscal of the city in which he resides, as the case may be, shall be punished as an accessory to the crime of treason.

[2] Art. 137: Disloyalty of public officers or employees.

The penalty of imprisonment shall be imposed upon public officers or employees who have failed to resist a rebellion by all the means in their power, or shall continue to discharge the duties of their offices under the control of the rebels or shall accept appointment to office under them.

[3] Art. 208: Negligence and tolerance in prosecution of offenses.

The penalty of imprisonment and suspension shall be imposed upon any public officer, or officer of the law, who, in dereliction of the duties of his office, shall maliciously refrain from instituting prosecution for the punishment of violators of the law, or shall tolerate the commission of offenses.

[4] Art. 223: Conniving with or consenting to evasion.

Any public officer who shall consent to the escape of a prisoner in his custody or charge, shall be punished: [a] by a higher penalty of imprisonment, if the fugitive shall have been sentenced by final judgment to any penalty; or; [b] by a lower penalty of imprisonment and temporary special disqualification, in case the fugitive shall not have been finally convicted but only held as a detention prisoner for any crime or violation of law or municipal ordinance.[5] Art. 275: Abandonment of person in danger and abandonment of one‘s own victim.

The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon:

[a] Any one who shall fail to render assistance to any person whom he shall find in an uninhabited place wounded or in danger of dying, when he can render such assistance without detriment to himself, unless such omission shall constitute a more serious offense; or

[b] Anyone who shall fail to help or render assistance to another whom he has accidentally wounded or injured; or

[c] Anyone who, having found an abandoned child under seven years of age, shall fail to deliver said child to the authorities or to his family, or shall fail to take him to a safe place.

[6] Art. 276: Abandoning a minor.

The penalty of imprisonment and fine shall be imposed upon any one who shall abandon a child under seven years of age, the custody of which is incumbent upon him. When the death of the minor shall result from such abandonment, the culprit shall be punished by a longer jail-time; but if the life of the minor shall have been in danger only, the penalty shall be prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods. If the act committed constitutes a more serious offense, the offender shall be charged and punished therefor.