New Criminal Code Book 2 now complete

Department of Justice building. INQUIRER.net/RYAN LEAGOGO

MANILA, Philippines–The Book 2 of the New Criminal Code is already complete after three years of work, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

“We shall now endorse the final product to both houses of Congress for their consideration to realize its passage as the new Criminal Code of the Philippines on or before 2016,” Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said.

Key features of Book 2 include (1) structure based on central themes with common features; (2) rationalized penal provisions by categorizing into three major titles, namely Crimes against Persons, Crimes against Property and Crimes against the State; (3) modernized archaic provisions by integrating and consolidating several penal laws which refers to the same criminal act; (4) delisted some outdated penal provisions; (5) inclusion of trans-border crimes and (6) penal provisions are generally conduct-based.

The book 1 of the Code was completed in 2012.

The government has pushed for the revision of the criminal code because some of its provisions stemmed from an “antiquated” general penal law enacted during the American occupation in 1932.

Book 1 contains general principles applicable to the punishment of crimes.

With the new code, lawyers and other legal professionals need not go to the original Spanish text of Act No. 3815 (the Revised Penal Code). In the new code, the English language, not the Spanish language, is prevalent.

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