Text of the provision
Art. 246. Parricide. -Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants or descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished by the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death.
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
Killing one’s father, mother, or child (legitimate or illegitimate), any other ascendant or descendant, or one’s spouse is parricide, punished by reclusion perpetua to death.
Questions about this provision
- At what age of the child does a killing stop being infanticide and become parricide?
- Does parricide cover a child who is illegitimate?
- Is killing a stepfather or a parent-in-law parricide?
Related provisions
- Article 244 — Unlawful Appointments.
- Article 249 — The Crime Of Homicide.
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.
The death penalty. This article still refers to the penalty of death. Republic Act No. 9346 (2006) prohibits the imposition of the death penalty in the Philippines. In its place the law imposes reclusión perpetua where the Revised Penal Code’s nomenclature is used, or life imprisonment where it is not. Read this article subject to that prohibition.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.