Short answer. Severely. Article 166 of the Revised Penal Code punishes forging or counterfeiting obligations and securities of the Philippines, such as government bonds and treasury notes, with reclusion temporal in its minimum period and a fine of up to two million pesos, the amount set by Republic Act No. 10951. Importing or uttering such forged notes is punished the same way.
What the law says
By reclusion temporal in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed two million pesos (₱2,000,000), if the document which has been falsified, counterfeited, or altered is an obligation or security of the Philippines.
Revised Penal Code, Article 166 — Forging Notes Payable To Bearer. Read the full provision →
The offense
Article 166 of the Revised Penal Code protects the integrity of the government's own financial instruments. It punishes the forging or falsification of treasury or bank notes, certificates, and other obligations and securities payable to bearer, as well as the importation and the uttering, that is, the passing or circulating, of such false or forged notes in connivance with the forgers or importers. The crime is not limited to the person who physically counterfeits the document; it also reaches those who bring forged instruments into the country or knowingly put them into circulation together with the forgers.
The penalty for Philippine obligations
The gravest penalty applies to forging the government's own securities. The article provides for punishment by reclusion temporal in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed two million pesos (₱2,000,000), if the document which has been falsified, counterfeited, or altered is an obligation or security of the Philippines. Reclusion temporal is a substantial prison term of years, and the fine ceiling of two million pesos reflects the 2017 revision made by Republic Act No. 10951; the current monetary penalties come from that law, not the Code's original figures. Government bonds and treasury notes fall within this most serious category.
What counts as an obligation or security of the Philippines
The article defines its terms broadly. An obligation or security of the Philippines includes all bonds, certificates of indebtedness, national bank notes, coupons, Philippine notes, treasury notes, fractional notes, certificates of deposit, bills, checks, or drafts for money drawn by or upon authorised officers of the Philippines, and other representatives of value issued under an act of Congress. So the protection is not confined to a narrow list; it sweeps in the many forms in which the government issues instruments of value, which is why forging any of them draws the heaviest penalty under the article.
Lesser categories
The article graduates the penalty by the type of document forged. Counterfeiting a circulating note issued by a domestic banking association authorised to issue notes carries a lighter penalty than forging a Philippine government obligation, and forging documents issued by a foreign government, or circulating notes of a foreign bank, carries lighter penalties still, each with its own fine ceiling as revised by Republic Act No. 10951. The structure reflects the seriousness with which the law treats attacks on the nation's own currency and securities compared with instruments of other issuers.