Highway Robbery or Brigandage
Act No. 518, enacted on November 12, 1902, defines highway robbery or brigandage as the act of three or more individuals forming an armed band to steal personal property through force. Members of such a band can be punished with imprisonment for at least twenty years, or death, upon conviction, even without direct evidence of theft. Additionally, individuals who assist these bands by providing information or supplies may face imprisonment ranging from ten to twenty years. The Act emphasizes the urgency of its passage for public safety and takes effect immediately.
November 12, 1902
ACT NO. 518
AN ACT DEFINING HIGHWAY ROBBERY OR BRIGANDAGE, AND PROVIDING FOR THE PUNISHMENT THEREFOR
SECTION 1. Whenever three or more persons, conspiring together, shall form a band of robbers for the purpose of stealing carabao or other personal property, by means of force and violence, and shall go out upon the highway or roam over the country armed with deadly weapons for this purpose, they shall be deemed highway robbers or brigands, and every person engaged in the original formation of the band, or joining it thereafter, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by death imprisonment for not less than twenty years, in the discretion of the court.
SECTION 2. To prove the crime described in the previous section, it shall not be necessary to adduce evidence that any member of the band has in fact committed robbery or theft, but it shall be sufficient to justify conviction thereunder if, from the circumstances, it can be inferred beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was a member of such an armed band as that described in said section.
SECTION 3. Persons guilty of the crime defined in section one may be punished therefor in the Court of First Instance in any province in which they may be taken or from which they may have fled. ACTIHa
SECTION 4. Every person knowingly aiding or abetting such a band of brigands as that described in section one by giving them information of the movement of the police or constabulary, or by securing stolen property from them, or by procuring supplies of food, clothing, arms, or ammunition and furnishing the same to them shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten years and not more than twenty years.
SECTION 5. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws" passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred. TIEHDC
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
ENACTED, November 12, 1902.