Text of the provision
Art. 131. Prohibition, interruption, and dissolution of peaceful meetings. -The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who, without legal ground, shall prohibit or interrupt the holding of a peaceful meeting, or shall dissolve the same. The same penalty shall be imposed upon a public officer or employee who shall hinder any person from joining any lawful association or from attending any of its meetings. The same penalty shall be imposed upon any public officer or employee who shall prohibit or hinder any person from addressing, either alone or together with others, any petition to the authorities for the correction of abuses or redress of grievances.
Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, Act No. 3815, as amended. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings and the Official Gazette, all three of which agree word for word.
What this article means
A crime only a public officer or employee can commit. Prohibiting, interrupting or dissolving a peaceful meeting without legal ground is punished here, as is hindering a person from joining a lawful association or from addressing a petition to the authorities for the correction of abuses or the redress of grievances. It is the Revised Penal Code’s enforcement of the constitutional freedoms of assembly and petition.
Related provisions
- Article 126 — Delaying Release Of A Prisoner.
- Article 132 — Interruption Of Religious Worship.
On this text. This article is reproduced as the Revised Penal Code enacted it, verified word-for-word against two independent sources. Republic Act No. 10951 (2017) revised the penalty amounts in many other articles of this Code; where an amount appears below it is the figure this article itself carries.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.