Short answer. Prisión correccional. Article 132 punishes a public officer or employee who prevents or disturbs the ceremonies or manifestations of any religion. If the disturbance is committed with violence or threats, the penalty rises to prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods. The offense specifically targets officials who interfere with religious worship.
What the law says
any public officer or employee who shall prevent or disturb the ceremonies or manifestations of any religion
Revised Penal Code, Article 132 — Interruption Of Religious Worship. Read the full provision →
The offense
Freedom to worship is protected not only by the Constitution but by the criminal law against interference by the very officials who ought to safeguard it. Article 132 punishes any public officer or employee who shall prevent or disturb the ceremonies or manifestations of any religion. The offense is committed when a person acting in a public capacity blocks or disrupts religious rites or observances. The article is deliberately broad as to the faith affected, protecting the ceremonies or manifestations of any religion, so the safeguard is not confined to any particular creed.
A heavier penalty when violence or threats are used
The article sets two levels of punishment. In its ordinary form, preventing or disturbing religious worship carries prisión correccional in its minimum period. But if the crime is committed with violence or threats, the penalty rises to prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods. The use of force or intimidation to break up or obstruct a religious ceremony is thus treated as an aggravated form of the offense, drawing a longer term of imprisonment than a disturbance carried out without such violence or threats.
Why it targets public officers
This particular offense is framed around a public officer or employee, because the wrong it addresses is the abuse of public authority against religious freedom. When someone clothed with governmental power uses it to stop or disrupt worship, the injury is not merely to the worshippers but to the State's duty to protect the free exercise of religion. Interference by private individuals may be addressed by other provisions, but Article 132 speaks to the special danger of officials themselves turning against the religious observances they are supposed to allow.
Protecting the free exercise of religion
The provision gives concrete criminal force to the guarantee of religious freedom. By penalising officials who prevent or disturb religious ceremonies, and by punishing more severely those who do so with violence or threats, it deters the use of public power to suppress worship. For anyone whose religious observance is obstructed by an official, the article marks that conduct as a crime, not a permissible exercise of authority, and it protects the ceremonies and manifestations of every religion evenhandedly.