Short answer. Forcible abduction is the taking away of a woman against her will and with lewd designs, punished by reclusion temporal. Illegal detention punishes the deprivation of liberty by itself; forcible abduction requires that sexual motive, and it is the motive that separates the two crimes.
What the law says
The abduction of any woman against her will and with lewd designs shall be punished by reclusion temporal.
Revised Penal Code, Article 342 — Forcible Abduction. Read the full provision →
The three things the prosecution must show
Article 342 of the Revised Penal Code is built on three elements. First, the person taken is a woman — the article is written that way and applies regardless of her age, civil status or reputation. Second, the taking is against her will, whether by force, intimidation, or fraud that vitiates her consent. Third, and decisively, the accused acted with lewd designs: an unchaste intent, an intent directed at some sexual purpose. The article adds that the same penalty applies in every case where the female abducted is under twelve years of age, because at that age the law will not entertain the idea of consent at all.
Where the line with illegal detention falls
Illegal detention is a crime against liberty. What it punishes is locking someone up or depriving them of freedom of movement, whatever the reason. Forcible abduction sits in a different part of the Code entirely — among the crimes against chastity — and the deprivation of liberty is only the means. Take away the lewd design and what remains is illegal detention, or grave coercion, or nothing criminal at all. Take away the deprivation of liberty and there may be an entirely different offence. Prosecutors sometimes charge in the alternative for exactly this reason, and the evidence of intent is usually where such cases are won or lost.
When abduction is absorbed by a graver crime
If the abduction was carried out in order to commit rape and rape actually followed, the two are not simply added together — the law treats the abduction as the necessary means to the rape and punishes them as a complex crime, with the penalty for the more serious offence imposed in its maximum period. Rape itself was reclassified as a crime against persons by Republic Act No. 8353 (1997), and prosecutions of sexual offences against children are today brought under the special child protection statutes, which carry heavier penalties than this article. Which charge fits depends on the facts, not on the label a complaint first carries.
What this means for a complainant or an accused
Because chastity offences historically carried special rules on who may complain and on the effect of a subsequent valid marriage, the procedural side of these cases is unusually technical, and it changed substantially after the 1997 reform. If you are reporting an incident, report it as it happened and let the prosecutor characterise the offence; do not try to fit the facts to a label. If you are the one accused, the seriousness is real — reclusion temporal is a long prison term. No lawyer can promise how any prosecution will end. This page is general legal information, not advice on a particular case; to have one reviewed, you can book a consultation.