Short answer. No. The Revised Penal Code makes it a crime for any executive officer to address an order or even a suggestion to a judicial authority about a case within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts. Both a command and a mere suggestion are punished.
What the law says
Any executive officer who shall address any order or suggestion to any judicial authority with respect to any case or business coming within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of justice
Revised Penal Code, Article 243 — Executive Interference With Courts. Read the full provision →
Guarding the independence of the courts
Article 243 protects the separation between the executive branch and the courts. It punishes any executive officer who shall address any order or suggestion to any judicial authority with respect to any case or business coming within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of justice. The point is that judges must decide cases on the law and the evidence, free from pressure by officials who wield executive power. When a member of the executive reaches into a pending case to steer its outcome, he intrudes on a domain the Constitution reserves to the judiciary, and the Code treats that intrusion as a criminal offense.
Not just orders — suggestions too
A striking feature of this article is how little it takes to violate it. The law does not require a formal command; it reaches any order or suggestion. So an executive officer cannot escape liability by phrasing his interference politely, as a recommendation or a friendly hint about how a case should go. The reason is practical: coming from someone with executive authority, even a suggestion carries implied weight and can pressure a judge as effectively as a directive. By covering suggestions, the article closes the gap that would otherwise let officials lean on the courts while claiming they only offered advice.
The limits of the offense
Two boundaries define it. The offender must be an executive officer — the provision targets the executive branch's interference, not ordinary citizens expressing opinions. And the matter must be one coming within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts: a live judicial case or business, not some administrative question the executive is entitled to handle. An official performing his own lawful functions is not committing this crime; what is forbidden is crossing over to direct or influence how a court should resolve a matter that belongs to the judiciary alone.
The penalty today
The punishment is arresto mayor together with a fine. The fine amount in the current text was fixed by Republic Act No. 10951 (2017), which updated the monetary penalties throughout the Revised Penal Code; under that amendment the fine for this offense may reach up to one hundred thousand pesos. Older reproductions of the Code print far smaller 1930 figures that no longer govern, so any source should be checked against the amended amounts. If you believe an executive official has tried to influence a pending case, the exact words used and the official's position are what matter, and the incident deserves careful review.