Short answer. Under the original 1998 law, simulating a child's birth registration was punished by prisión mayor in its medium period and a fine not exceeding fifty thousand pesos. But RA 8552 was repealed in its entirety by RA 11642 (2022), so that figure is historical only — the current penalty is set by RA 11642, not this section.
What the law says
Any person who shall cause the fictitious registration of the birth of a child under the name(s) of a person(s) who is not his/her biological parent(s) shall be guilty of simulation of birth, and shall be punished by prision mayor in its medium period and a fine not exceeding Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00).
RA 8552, Section 21 — Violations And Penalties. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Any physician or nurse or hospital personnel who, in violation of his/her oath of office, shall cooperate in the execution of the abovementioned crime shall suffer the penalties herein prescribed and also the penalty of permanent disqualification.
RA 8552, Section 21 — Violations And Penalties. Read the full provision →
What Section 21(b) originally provided for simulation of birth
Section 21(b) of RA 8552, as originally enacted, defined this offense and set its penalty directly. It provided that any person who shall cause the fictitious registration of the birth of a child under the name(s) of a person(s) who is not his/her biological parent(s) shall be guilty of simulation of birth, and shall be punished by prision mayor in its medium period and a fine not exceeding Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00). That was the penalty attached to registering a child's birth under a false parentage in order to conceal that the child was adopted.
The added penalty for medical or hospital personnel involved
The same provision added a specific consequence for medical professionals involved. It states that any physician or nurse or hospital personnel who, in violation of his/her oath of office, shall cooperate in the execution of the abovementioned crime shall suffer the penalties herein prescribed and also the penalty of permanent disqualification. So a doctor, nurse, or hospital staff member who helped falsify the birth registration faced the same base penalty, plus permanent disqualification on top of it.
The other penalties in the same section, for context
Section 21 set out several other, separate penalties in the same provision — for coercing adoption consent or exposing a child to danger, for confidentiality violations, and for acts amounting to child trafficking when committed by a syndicate or involving two or more children, which carried reclusion perpetua. Simulation of birth sat as its own distinct category among these, with its own prescribed penalty of prision mayor in its medium period.
Why none of this is current law, and where to look instead
None of these figures are current law, though. Republic Act No. 8552 was expressly repealed in its entirety by Republic Act No. 11642, enacted in 2022, which replaced the court-petition adoption process with an administrative one under the National Authority for Child Care. This site does not currently carry verified text for RA 11642's own penalty provisions, so the accurate current figure for simulating a child's birth cannot be stated here — anyone facing this situation today should look to RA 11642, not this repealed section.