Short answer. Under Article 164 of the Revised Penal Code as amended by Republic Act No. 10951, mutilating Philippine coins carries prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding ₱400,000. The same penalty applies to importing or circulating mutilated coins, and to acting in connivance with those who do.
What the law says
The penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed Four hundred thousand pesos (₱400,000) shall be imposed upon any person who shall mutilate coins of the legal currency of the Philippines or import or utter mutilated current coins, or in connivance with mutilators or importers.
Revised Penal Code, Article 164 — Mutilation Of Coins. Read the full provision →
What acts Article 164 covers
Article 164 of the Revised Penal Code reaches beyond the act of mutilation itself. It also covers three related acts. First, importing mutilated coins into the Philippines. Second, uttering mutilated coins — passing them in circulation as though they were valid currency. Third, acting in connivance with mutilators or importers — participating in or facilitating the scheme without necessarily handling the physical coins personally. All of these acts carry the same penalty. The common thread is participation in a scheme that degrades or introduces debased coins into circulation.
The penalty: prisión correccional minimum and fine
The prescribed penalty is prisión correccional in its minimum period, covering imprisonment from six months and one day to two years and four months. Added to this is a fine not exceeding ₱400,000. Both are imposed together. The fine ceiling is the amount as amended by Republic Act No. 10951 in 2017. Older editions of the Revised Penal Code still carry the 1930 figures, which are significantly lower. The Indeterminate Sentence Law applies to the imprisonment component, so the court sets both a minimum and a maximum term within the applicable range.
What 'mutilation' means in this context
Mutilation of a coin involves physically altering the coin — filing, clipping, scraping, or otherwise reducing its metal content — while keeping it in circulation as though it retains its face value. The harm is that a person who receives a mutilated coin gets less metal than the denomination represents, while the mutilator retains the extracted metal. Mutilating coins is therefore a form of fraud against those who accept the coins in good faith and a form of interference with the integrity of the currency supply.
RA 10951 and the current fine ceiling
The ₱400,000 fine ceiling in Article 164 is the current figure under Republic Act No. 10951, which overhauled the monetary thresholds throughout the Revised Penal Code. Before RA 10951, the fine was expressed in amounts that reflected 1930 peso values — amounts that had become economically meaningless. The 2017 amendment brought the penalties into proportion with current economic conditions. When researching this offense, always confirm whether the source you are reading reflects the RA 10951 amendments or the original 1930 text.