Short answer. Under Article 231 of the Revised Penal Code as amended by Republic Act No. 10951, a judicial or executive officer who openly refuses to execute a valid superior authority's judgment or order faces imprisonment of arresto mayor medium period to prisión correccional minimum period, temporary special disqualification in its maximum period, and a fine not exceeding ₱200,000.
What the law says
Any judicial or executive officer who shall openly refuse to execute the judgment, decision or order of any superior authority made within the scope of the jurisdiction of the latter and issue with all the legal formalities, shall suffer the penalties of arresto mayor in its medium period to prisión correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification in its maximum period and a fine not exceeding Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000).
Revised Penal Code, Article 231 — Open Disobedience By An Officer. Read the full provision →
What 'open disobedience' means under Article 231
Article 231 of the Revised Penal Code is headed Open Disobedience, and the word openly is central to the offense. The refusal must be explicit, not merely a delay or a passive failure to act. An officer who says outright that they will not comply with a superior's judgment, decision, or order commits this offense. An officer who drags their feet without formally defying the order may face other accountability, but Article 231 specifically covers the officer who makes their non-compliance plain and deliberate.
Which officers and which orders
The article applies to judicial and executive officers — those serving in judicial bodies or in the executive branch of government. The order they refuse must satisfy three conditions: it must come from a superior authority; it must have been made within the scope of that authority's jurisdiction; and it must have been issued with all legal formalities. An order that is void, issued outside the superior's jurisdiction, or defective in form does not fall within Article 231. The officer cannot be punished for refusing to comply with something the superior had no lawful power to issue.
The three penalties imposed
A conviction under Article 231 brings three concurrent penalties. The imprisonment range spans from arresto mayor in its medium period (two months and one day to four months) to prisión correccional in its minimum period (six months and one day to two years and four months). Added to this is temporary special disqualification in its maximum period — a period of disqualification from public office fixed at the maximum of the applicable range. Finally, there is a fine not exceeding ₱200,000 under the current text as amended by Republic Act No. 10951.
Current fine ceiling under RA 10951
The ₱200,000 fine ceiling in Article 231 is the amount as amended by Republic Act No. 10951, enacted in 2017, which updated monetary figures throughout the Revised Penal Code. Older editions of the Code print the original 1930 amounts, which are significantly lower. When researching the penalty for open disobedience, confirm that the source you are using reflects the RA 10951 amendments rather than the pre-amendment text. The imprisonment range and the special disqualification element are not altered by RA 10951 — only the fine ceiling changed.