Text of the provision

Art. 52. Penalty to be imposed upon accomplices in a consummated crime. -The penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the consummated felony shall be imposed upon the accomplices in the commission of a consummated felony.

Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, Act No. 3815, as amended. Reproduced in full. The three sources consulted do not read identically here; the text above is the reading carried by two of the three, including the Official Gazette.

What this article means

The penalty scale works in degrees. An accomplice in a consummated felony takes the penalty next lower in degree than the one the law prescribes for the principal. Read together with Articles 50 to 57, which graduate the penalty for every combination of participation (principal, accomplice, accessory) and stage (consummated, frustrated, attempted).

Related provisions

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.

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.