Would you care to spend several years in a Philippines jail? I believe the majority of my readers would answer with a resounding “NO.” However, check out what Articles 333 and 334 of the Revised Penal Code of 1930 has to say on the subject of adultery.
Crimes Against Chastity
Adultery and Concubinage
ARTICLE 333. Who is Guilty of Adultery?
Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband and by the man who has carnal knowledge of her, knowing her to be married, even if the marriage be subsequently declared void.
Adultery shall be punished by prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods.
If the person guilty of adultery committed this offense while being abandoned without justification by the offended spouse, the penalty next lower in degree than that provided in the next preceding paragraph shall be imposed.
ARTICLE 334. Concubinage
Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or, shall have sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place, shall be punished by prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.
The concubine shall suffer the penalty of destierro.
(The duration of the penalties of prision correccional, suspensión and destierro shall be from six months and one day to six years, except when suspension is imposed as an accessory penalty, in which case, its duration shall be that of the principal penalty.)
Image courtesy of pixabay
Adultery is considered a crime in the Philippines. Note that the adultery law specifically applies to “any married woman.”
While there have been attempts to change the law and have both man and woman suffer the same penalties, no bills have been successfully passed and made into law at this time.
However, some folks take the law into their own hands like a farmer in a nearby province who caught his wife in a vegetable field with her brother-in-law. The farmer claims the man was “sexually molesting” his wife.
The farmer did not confront the man at the time. The husband got his gun and looked for his wife and the brother-in-law. After a lengthy search, he found his wife and brother-in-law in bed together.
The farmer shot the man in the head.
The brother-in-law died.
The local police decided not to press any charges against the farmer.
(AN ACT REVISING THE PENAL CODE AND OTHER PENAL LAWS Retrieved from the Official Gazette of the Philippine Government https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1930/12/08/act-no-3815-s-1930/ )
Shackles image courtesy of lechenie-narkomanii @pixabay.com
Interesting article Dave,It seems like everybody needs a private investigator just for dating!!…only in the Philippines.
It’s more fun in the Philippines! Sounds like your friend Tomcat will be having fun in jail. There are too many single ladies here in the Philippines to be messing around with a married woman. Just plain dumb!!!!
Trouble is Dave, ladies sometimes “forget” to tell the Kano suitor that she’s actually still married to someone else. And of course, guess who is expected to pay for the annulment fees which can run from $3000 to $6000? Also annulments can drag on for years and no guarantees that it will be granted.
So yes definitely safer to make sure your lady is 100% single 🙂
In reality really, prison should be your last concerns if you’re having an affair with a married lady. Few Filipinos have the patience and resources (money) to take you to court for adultery with his wife. They usually resort to using a weapon, like knives, bolos, or guns. It’s instant justice. I was watching the Filipino news this morning and heard that a Cebuano farmer hacked his own cousin caught having sex with his wife. The wife only escaped by jumping out of the window totally naked.
Your Kano life is as cheap as a glass of “tuba” (coconut wine) if the offended party (husband) comes from an influential family or has the right connections.
You’re welcome Dave 🙂 And yes, the Philippines is in many ways like the wild, wild west. 🙂 I prefer it that way though 🙂
Well, there are rules per se, but they are highly prioritized!
There are Filipina women that don’t ask for money? I’m surprised to hear this. I never met anyone in a LTR where a Filipina women didn’t ask for money. Can you tell me where to find one? All my friends start off this way but the financial demands grow with time.
Meriam never asked for money. Not once. Most ladies will not.
i met my wife in palua where she was an ofw, was introduced to her by my american friend who married a filipina while he was in the navy.my wife and i now have been married for 5 years and when we met she never asked for money ands after we married we both work hard and she and i save our money for the future. she is truly a lady
This is nice to hear. Next time I’m back in the Phil, I’ll be avoiding these girls all together and looking for some of those ladies you are talking about. My friends and I have been very disappointed on what we’ve found. In fact one of my friends who had a child with a Filipina left the Philippines because he couldn’t handle the pressure. I originally thought he was a bum but now I can understand the demands from some of these women never stop. Now he just sends “child support” from afar!
Brian, getting deliberately pregnant is a well-known entrapment method to 1) get a marriage commitment from a foreigner and 2) ensure the flow of money will not stop when you depart.
Not all Filipinas do this, but quite a bit do. And for some it backfires when the foreigner will not acknowledge or won’t care to support the child. The Koreans are known for doing this, hence there is a small orphanage in Cebu that takes in half-Korean and also half-Japanese children abandoned by their mothers when they can not support the child. Such children have become known as “Kopinos”.
Hopefully your friend is indeed the father. Did he demand a DNA test?
You are welcome Dave 🙂
And yes, the half-Japanese are known as Japinos.
Well Brian your friend is still a bum! His child needs a father and you cannot do that “afar.” Sorry but the guys that come to the Philippines for the sex give the rest of us expats a bad name. 🙁
Wigle,
My friend lived with her the Phil for about 5 years then finally left. I think he is somewhat a bum. He lived as a family for most of that time. He offered her the chance to go overseas but she never left with him preferring to stay with Filipinos. Until I and another friend experienced our relationships getting out of hand, I had though he was a bum. Now I just think because it was a hopeless situation with a women that had no desire to grow.
I have tried for 3 years to get my GF to teach her daughter English. Bought books 3 years ago and she has yet to teach her child English. I’ve I have lived in the Phil 1/2 of my time for the past 3 years and treated the child as if it was my own. But mom makes all kinds of excuses about why she can’t teach the kid. I’ve seen little to no growth in Mom either, she has a college degree now, we’ll see what she does with it. Unless something changes greatly, both myself and my friend plan to start over w/ Phil girls who have good jobs and see if it will be any better the next time.
Brian, I can tell you for sure that unless you marry the woman she will not trust you for very long. Why would she trust, you don’t trust her enough to marry her. At least that is the way they look at it.
I couldn’t be more happy with Meriam. WOW! She is a great wife. We are on the same page with our world view. As a Baptist Bible Woman she is everything I was looking for in a wife. Never married and no kids. How rare is that in the States? Many Bible Women get married and many don’t.
I know a few Bible women that are still single and looking for that special man. They are very picky. Don’t give up, that special woman is out there waiting for her special man to sweep her off her feet. 🙂
Mariam prayed the same prayer Dave. Then she waited on God for the answer. I know Meriam is the answer to my prayers. 😛
Amen brother, amen.
My GF told me she always dreamed of marrying a foreign guy too. She is married and seperated from a pinay and we would need to get an annulment but that idea has been put on hold due to her lack of best behavior over the last 1 1/2 years. Inability to stay on any budget, and do the minor things I’ve asked her to do. It’s great to hear that both of you have found such good wives. Maybe there is hope for my friend and I both!
Was interested in your original post on Infidelity but notice two significant omissions and that appear to me to be quite significant. I quote from another article:
“In the meantime, lawmakers are also proposing that an offended spouse may not file a complaint against the supposed offender if the former has also already committed the crime of sexual infidelity himself/herself, or had already abandoned his purportedly guilty spouse without any legally acceptable or sufficient reason for more than one year.”
This seems like a sensible and practical amendment which could allow couples to move on and rebuild their lives.
We all know that there are a huge number of unmarried couples who have had previous marriages in the Philippines and many who will not get married for fear of entrapment in a potentially miserable relationship. The institution of marriage and Family is a shambles . Their voices seem silent in an ocean of self-righteousness from Catholic pressurised Government. The ordinary Filipino has been inflicted with rough justice. More especially for the unsuspecting foreigner who unwittingly falls into the snare of a Gold Digging spouse.
Dave, I’m not actually sure if this amendment to HB 5734 has been carried through. I did spot a copy of the Bill on the Web but is hard to find the second time around.
That is why I am interested to know if anyone has more information. The main focus of interest seemed to be in the severity of the punishment with no mention on any check and balances that may have been put into place.
Surely most would agree that the law should not be allowed to be used as a weapon of hatred against a departed or ejected spouse as a means to extort money or inflict cruel imprisonment after a miserable failed marriage where time and separation have persisted without obligations of child support?
I got here by accident as I was looking for an article or court decision about “Unjust enrichment” in the Philippines. For some reason I got curious about your title. lol!
The moment I started reading, I could not stop and proceeded to read even the comments. This is an excellent post about many issues in the Philippines and coming especially from a foreigner who experienced living in the country.
Hi Dave ..Ive just finished watching a utube ..”locked up abroad ” on the case of a British guy(david Scott) locked up in the philippines ..charged with adultery (This may have been the inspiration for your story ) …he is now back in Britain after securing fake id and a visa for his gf ..God knows how …..some comments I would like to make ..seems he did very little research before coming to the philippines to meet his sweetheart .The gf was obviously aware that adultery is illegal as she was upset to find she was pregnant to Mr Scott …..The estranged husband asked for $10,ooo compensation from the Britain (he refused to negotiate at all ..on moral grounds ..After the couple were arrested he refused a bribe offer of only $400 from the police but was later released on a technicality but later lowered his moral standing as he secured fake id for his gf and baby to flee the Philippines …..
So many countries are hopeful that one day the Philippines will join the modern times and the rest of the world. It is frustrating to know the potential of the Philippine people but policy, dependence and corruption stagnate their growth. This law is an example of how Asian men preserve their freedom to constrain women while they are free to enjoy privileges of men. They do not want to disturb their control over woman. When I read the proposed Article 333, it does not say, ‘…committed by any married man or women” but says “…committed by any married woman”. This preserves the Filipino man’s right to have affairs while keeping his wife faithful in accordance to law. Woman caught are guilty. Men caught are subject to interpretation under the men-favored court system. No other country would permit this. Laws of this nature are just as unacceptable as the act of adultery itself – the lawmakers themselves have created a greater crime than the act of adultery itself. Another step back for the Filipino society.
Do we need a mullah catholic taliban state here? if someone cheated on you, move on, break off,s tart a new life, punishing people won’t change their inner heart’s issues or other problems that have gone on since the dawn of mankind. Punishing people for having a sexual affair is not going to change nothing. Rather use the laws to punish corrupt officials that steal public money and criminal dons running loose in the country as well as catholic priests that take altar boys to the next room, hidden hidden. A day is coming when these religious barbarians are going to be chucked into the sea along with other cave man laws and practices. I support the Child support payments laws though. if you are responsible for bringing a child into the world, support him. If you go cheat, then God will judge you, not the Government’s business to interfere into your bedroom life.
I like Bleacher View got here by accident and read the Article and comments below and Wow very interesting. I was watching a show called Locked Up Abroad and it was talking about the Adultery Law and I wanted to see what the penalties where since I couldn't believe such a law exist.
Hi, i have been talking to a filipino girl for about a month now and things are strting to get serious. Where do i start to get a visa etc