Text of the provision
Art. 174. False medical certificates, false certificates of merits or service, etc. - The penalties of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000) shall be imposed upon: 1. Any physician or surgeon who, in connection with the practice of his profession, shall issue a false certificate; and 2. Any public officer who shall issue a false certificate of merit of service, good conduct or similar circumstances. The penalty of arresto mayor shall be imposed upon any private person who shall falsify a certificate falling within the classes mentioned in the two
(2) preceding subdivisions.
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
A physician or surgeon who issues a false certificate in his practice, and a public officer who issues a false certificate of merit, service or good conduct, suffer arresto mayor in its maximum period to prisión correccional in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000). A private person who falsifies such a certificate suffers arresto mayor.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 172 — Falsification By A Private Individual.
- Article 176 — Tools For Falsification.
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
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.