Short answer. Section 21 makes violation of a barangay protection order punishable by imprisonment of thirty days. That penalty is without prejudice to any other criminal or civil action the offended party may bring for the acts committed, so the thirty days is on top of liability for the underlying conduct.
What the law says
Violation of a BPO shall be punishable by imprisonment of thirty (30) days without prejudice to any other criminal or civil action that the offended party may file for any of the acts committed
RA 9262, Section 21 — Violation Of Protection Orders. Read the full provision →
The penalty for the violation
The section states that violation of a BPO shall be punishable by imprisonment of thirty (30) days without prejudice to any other criminal or civil action that the offended party may file for any of the acts committed. The penalty for breaching a barangay protection order is thus a fixed thirty days' imprisonment. The breach itself is a punishable act — the law does not treat disobeying the order as a mere formality, but as conduct carrying its own criminal consequence, separate from whatever the order was issued to prevent in the first place.
It does not absorb the underlying acts
The without prejudice language means the thirty-day penalty is not a substitute for liability for the acts committed. If, in violating the order, the offender also commits an act of violence or another offence, that conduct can be pursued on its own footing. The violation penalty and any liability for the underlying acts run separately and can be brought together. So a breach that also involves fresh harm exposes the offender both to the thirty days for the violation and to whatever the new act independently carries.
Different orders, different consequences
The thirty-day penalty is specific to a barangay protection order. Violation of a temporary or permanent protection order issued under the same law is treated differently — as contempt of court punishable under the Rules of Court — again without prejudice to any other action the offended party may file. So the consequence of a breach turns on which kind of protection order was violated. It is worth being clear about whether the order in question was issued by the barangay or by a court, because that determines how the breach is punished.
The court's further power, and next steps
During trial and upon judgment, the court may on its own initiative issue a protection order it considers necessary, without a separate application, so pursuing the violation can itself produce added protection. For someone whose order has been breached, the practical steps are to preserve evidence of the violation and to take advice on both the violation complaint and the underlying acts, since the two are handled separately under the law. Attending to immediate safety alongside the filing is part of the same picture.