Text of the provision

Art. 299. Robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to worship. - Any armed person who shall commit robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to religious worship, shall be punished by reclusion temporal, if the value of the property taken shall exceed Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000), and if—

(a) The malefactors shall enter the house or building in which the robbery was committed, by any of the following means: 1. Through an opening not intended for entrance or egress. 2. By breaking any wall, roof, or floor or breaking any door or window. 3. By using false keys, picklocks or similar tools. 4. By using any fictitious name or pretending the exercise of public authority. Or if—

(b) The robbery be committed under any of the following circumstances: 1. By the breaking of doors, wardrobes, chests, or any other kind of locked or sealed furniture or receptacle. 2. By taking such furniture or objects away to be broken or forced upon outside the place of the robbery. When the offenders do not carry arms, and the value of the property taken exceeds Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000), the penalty next lower in degree shall be imposed. The same rule shall be applied when the offenders are armed, but the value of the property taken does not exceed Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000). When said offenders do not carry arms and the value of the property taken does not exceed Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000), they shall suffer the penalty prescribed in the two

(2) next preceding paragraphs, in its minimum period. If the robbery be committed in one of the dependencies of an inhabited house, public building, or building dedicated to religious worship, the penalties next lower in degree than those prescribed in this article 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

An armed person who robs an inhabited house, public building or place of worship is punished by reclusion temporal if the property taken exceeds Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000) and entry was made through an opening not meant for entry, by breaking a wall, roof, floor, door or window, by false keys or picklocks, or under a fictitious name or pretended public authority — or where the robbery involved breaking locked furniture or receptacles or carrying them off to be forced open elsewhere. The penalty drops one degree where the offenders are unarmed but the value exceeds Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000), or where they are armed but the value does not exceed Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000); if they are unarmed and the value does not exceed Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000), those penalties are imposed in the minimum period. Robbery in a mere dependency of such a building draws the penalties next lower in degree.

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.