Short answer. A public officer who learns a private individual's secret by reason of the office and then reveals it is punished under Article 230 of the Revised Penal Code with arresto mayor and a fine. The secret must have reached the officer through the office; something picked up socially is not covered by this article.
What the law says
Any public officer to whom the secrets of any private individual shall become known by reason of his office who shall reveal such secrets
Revised Penal Code, Article 230 — Revealing Secrets Of Private Individual. Read the full provision →
The link to the office is essential
Two elements carry this offence. The information must be a genuine secret of a private individual, and it must have become known to the officer by reason of the office — through a filed application, a medical record held by a government hospital, a tax return, an investigation file, a benefit claim. An officer who learns the same fact from a neighbour and repeats it may be liable for something else, but not under this article. The protection exists because citizens are compelled to hand personal information to the government and must be able to do so without it circulating.
Revealing means telling anyone not entitled to know
The offence is complete on disclosure. There is no requirement that the officer profited from it, and no requirement that the person suffered a measurable loss, though damage will matter to any civil claim. Telling one person who had no right to the information is enough.
What is not covered is disclosure the law itself authorises or requires: testimony under subpoena, transmittal to another agency in the regular course of duty, or release under a valid legal process. The dividing line is authority, so an officer unsure whether a request is legitimate should demand the legal basis in writing before releasing anything.
Penalties, and the other laws in play
The penalty is arresto mayor with a fine, and the fine figure is the one set by Republic Act No. 10951 (2017), which revised the money amounts throughout the Revised Penal Code; older reprints still print the 1930 figures.
This article is no longer the only remedy. The Data Privacy Act, Republic Act No. 10173, imposes its own criminal and administrative liability for unauthorised disclosure of personal information by anyone processing it, including government agencies, and complaints go to the National Privacy Commission. A separate civil action for damages for violation of privacy is also available. Preserve screenshots, messages and the names of everyone who received the information before doing anything else.
What falls outside the article
The secret must belong to a private individual. Information about the government’s own affairs, or about the conduct of a public office, is dealt with elsewhere in this Code and is subject to the constitutional policy favouring public access to matters of public concern.
Nor does the article reach private employees. A bank clerk, a hospital records officer in a private institution or a company HR staffer who leaks personal information is not a public officer, so the remedy against them lies in the privacy legislation, in contract, and in the civil law on privacy rather than here.