Text of the provision

Art. 229. Revelation of secrets by an officer. - Any public officer who shall reveal any secret known to him by reason of his official capacity, or shall wrongfully deliver papers or copies of papers of which he may have charge and which should not be published, shall suffer the penalties of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, perpetual special disqualification and a fine not exceeding Four hundred thousand pesos (₱400,000) if the revelation of such secrets or the delivery of such papers shall have caused serious damage to the public interest; otherwise, the penalties of prisión correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand (₱100,000) pesos shall be imposed.

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 public officer who reveals a secret known to him by reason of his office, or wrongfully delivers papers in his charge that should not be published, suffers prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods, perpetual special disqualification and a fine not exceeding Four hundred thousand pesos (₱400,000) if serious damage to the public interest resulted; otherwise prisión correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand (₱100,000) pesos.

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.