Text of the provision

Art. 154. Unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances. - The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine ranging from Forty thousand pesos (₱40,000) to Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000) shall be imposed upon: 1. Any person who by means of printing, lithography, or any other means of publication shall publish or cause to be published as news any false news which may endanger the public order, or cause damage to the interest or credit of the State; 2. Any person who by the same means, or by words, utterances or speeches shall encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities or praise, justify, or extol an, act punished by law; 3. Any person who shall maliciously publish or cause to be published any official resolution or document without proper authority or before they have been published officially; or 4. Any person who shall print, publish, or distribute or cause to be printed, published, or distributed books, pamphlets, periodicals, or leaflets which do not bear the real printer’s name, or which are classified as anonymous.

Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, Act No. 3815, as amended. Reproduced in full from the official enactment and verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings.

What this article means

Arresto mayor and a fine ranging from Forty thousand pesos (₱40,000) to Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000) are imposed on anyone who publishes false news endangering public order or damaging the interest or credit of the State; who encourages disobedience to the law or authorities, or praises or extols an act punished by law; who maliciously publishes an official resolution or document without authority or before its official release; or who prints or distributes material bearing no real printer’s name or classified as anonymous.

Questions about this provision

Related provisions

Penalty amounts. The text above is the article as amended by Republic Act No. 10951 (2017), which revised the property values and fines throughout this Code. Older reproductions of the Revised Penal Code still print the 1930 amounts — for theft and estafa they show 12,000 and 22,000 pesos where the current figures run to millions. Check which version any source you rely on is giving you.

Cases interpreting this article

Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment (Act No. 3815), verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings. The Revised Penal Code has been amended many times; this page reproduces the text as those sources carry it. The annotation and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. How a provision applies to a particular situation depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your case can assess.