Short answer. Prisión correccional in its medium period to prisión mayor in its minimum period, or a fine of forty thousand to two million pesos, or both. Article 213 punishes a public officer who, dealing with supplies, contracts, or the settlement of public accounts, uses a scheme to defraud the Government. The peso amounts come from Republic Act No. 10951.
What the law says
shall enter into an agreement with any interested party or speculator or make use of any other scheme, to defraud the Government
Revised Penal Code, Article 213 — Frauds Against Public Treasury. Read the full provision →
Frauds against the public treasury
Article 213 punishes frauds against the public treasury and similar offenses by public officers. One of its two main branches targets an officer who, in his official capacity, deals with a private party over the furnishing of supplies, the making of contracts, or the settlement of accounts relating to public property or funds, and who shall enter into an agreement with any interested party or speculator or make use of any other scheme, to defraud the Government. The wrong is the officer turning his role in public dealings into an instrument for cheating the very government he serves.
The penalty
The offense is punished by prisión correccional in its medium period to prisión mayor in its minimum period, or by a fine ranging from forty thousand to two million pesos, or by both imprisonment and fine. The peso amounts of the fine were set by Republic Act No. 10951, which revised the Code's monetary penalties in 2017, so the current figures derive from that law rather than the Code's original text. The court may impose imprisonment, a fine within that range, or both, according to the circumstances of the fraud.
How the fraud is committed
The article does not require any single fixed method; it reaches an agreement with an interested party or speculator, or the use of any other scheme, to defraud the Government. This broad wording captures the many ways an officer handling public supplies, contracts, or accounts might rig the transaction against the public interest, whether by colluding with a contractor, favouring a speculator, or devising some other artifice. What ties them together is the officer's exploitation of his official dealings to cause loss to the Government, by whatever scheme he employs.
Scope and related offenses
The same article separately punishes an officer entrusted with collecting taxes, licenses, fees, and other imposts who commits abuses such as demanding wrong amounts, failing to issue required receipts, or collecting the wrong things, and it provides that when the offender is a Bureau of Internal Revenue or Bureau of Customs officer, the Administrative Code also applies. The contract-and-supplies fraud addressed here is thus one part of a broader provision guarding public funds. For officers dealing with government contracts and accounts, the rule is plain: using the position to defraud the Government is a crime.