Short answer. Yes. Under Article 136 of the Revised Penal Code, the mere conspiracy and proposal to commit a coup d'état, rebellion, or insurrection is itself a crime — punishable even if the uprising never actually takes place. The law reaches the agreement and the proposal, not just the rebellion.
What the law says
The conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection shall be punished respectively
Revised Penal Code, Article 136 — Conspiracy To Commit Rebellion. Read the full provision →
What the law says
prisión mayor in its minimum period
Revised Penal Code, Article 136 — Conspiracy To Commit Rebellion. Read the full provision →
Conspiracy and proposal are punished by themselves
Ordinarily, mere planning is not punished; the law usually waits for an actual crime. Rebellion is an exception. Article 136 penalizes the conspiracy and proposal to commit a coup d'état, rebellion, or insurrection. Specifically, The conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection shall be punished respectively, with a parallel penalty set for a coup. That means the agreement to rise up, and the proposal to others to do so, are punishable in their own right — even if no rebellion ever breaks out. Because the danger to public order is so grave, the law steps in at the planning stage.
The difference between conspiracy and proposal
The article punishes two distinct acts. There is conspiracy — when two or more persons come to an agreement to rise in rebellion and decide to carry it out. And there is proposal — when a person who has decided to rebel proposes its commission to others. Both are covered, and both are complete once made; neither requires that the rebellion actually be launched. This is what makes Article 136 unusual: it criminalizes preparatory acts that, for most offenses, would not yet be punishable. The gravity of an armed uprising against the government is what justifies reaching back to the planning stage.
The penalties, revised in 2017
Article 136 grades the penalties by the type of uprising. It punishes conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection with prisión correccional in its maximum or medium period, and sets a heavier penalty of prisión mayor in its minimum period for a coup, each with a fine. The peso figures now printed in the article come from Republic Act No. 10951 (2017), which revised the fines throughout the Code; older copies show the 1930 amounts, so verify the version before quoting a figure. The imprisonment penalties reflect that a coup is treated as the graver plot.
What the article does not reach
Article 136 punishes conspiracy and proposal; it does not, by this provision, punish a person for merely holding rebellious opinions or for loose talk that never ripens into a genuine agreement or a real proposal to commit the uprising. There must be an actual conspiracy — a real agreement and decision to act — or an actual proposal by one who has decided to rebel. It is also distinct from the crime of rebellion itself, which requires the uprising to be carried out. This article's whole point is to punish the planning even where the rebellion never happens.