Crimes Against Public Order - Assault Upon, and Resistance and Disobedience to, Persons in Authority and Their Agents

Question 1

Article 148

Direct assaults

Answer 1

Any person or persons who, without a public uprising, shall employ force or intimidation for the attainment of any of the purpose enumerated in defining the crimes of rebellion and
sedition, or shall attack, employ force, or seriously intimidate or resist any person in authority or any of his agents, while engaged in the performance of official duties, or on occasion of such performance, shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine not exceeding Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000), when the assault is committed with a weapon or when the offender is a public officer or employee, or when the offender lays hands upon a person in authority. If none of these circumstances be present, the penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period and a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) shall be imposed.

Question 2

Article 149

Indirect assaults.

Answer 2

The penalty of prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods and a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) shall be imposed upon any person who shall make use of force or intimidation upon any person
coming to the aid of the authorities or their agents on occasion of the commission of any of the crimes defined
in the next preceding article.

Question 3

Article 150

Disobedience to summons issued by the
National Assembly, its committees or subcommittees, by
the Constitutional Commissions, its committees,
subcommittees or divisions.

Answer 3

The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine ranging from Forty thousand pesos (P40,000) to Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000), or both such fine and imprisonment shall be imposed upon any person who, having been duly summoned to attend as a witness before Congress, its special or standing
committees and subcommittees, the Constitutional Commissions and its committees, subcommittees, or divisions, or before any commission or committee chairman or member authorized to summon witnesses, refuses, without legal excuse, to obey such summons, or being present before any such legislative or constitutional body or official, refuses to be sworn or placed under affirmation or to answer any legal inquiry or to produce any books, papers, documents, or records in his possession, when required by them to do so in the exercise of their functions. The same penalty shall be
imposed upon any person who shall restrain another from attending as a witness, or who shall induce disobedience to a summon or refusal to be sworn by any such body or official.

Question 4

Article 151

Resistance and disobedience to a person in
authority or the agents of such person.

Answer 4

The penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) shall be imposed upon any person who not being included in the provisions of the
preceding articles shall resist or seriously disobey any person in authority, or the agents of such person, while engaged in the performance of official duties.
When the disobedience to an agent of a person in authority is not of a serious nature, the penalty of arresto menor or a fine ranging from Two thousand pesos (P2,000) to Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000) shall be imposed upon the offender.

Question 5

Article 152

Persons in authority and agents of persons in
authority; Who shall be deemed as such.

Answer 5

In applying the provisions of the preceding and other articles of this Code, any person directly vested with jurisdiction,
whether as an individual or as a member of some court or
governmental corporation, board, or commission, shall be
deemed a person in authority. A barrio captain and a barangay chairman shall also be deemed a person in authority.
A person who, by direct provision of law or by election or
by appointment by competent authority, is charged with
the maintenance of public order and the protection and
security of life and property, such as a barrio councilman,
barrio policeman and barangay leader and any person
who comes to the aid of persons in authority, shall be
deemed an agent of a person in authority.
In applying the provisions of Articles 148 and 151 of this
Code, teachers, professors and persons charged with the
supervision of public or duly recognized private schools,
colleges and universities, and lawyers in the actual
performance of their professional duties or on the
occasion of such performance, shall be deemed persons
in authority. (As amended by PD No. 299, Sept. 19, 1973
and Batas Pambansa Blg. 873, June 12, 1985).