Article 155 – Alarms and scandals

The penalty of arresto menor or a fine not exceeding 40,000 pesos shall be imposed upon:

1. Any person who within any town or public place, shall discharge any firearm, rocket,
firecracker, or other explosives calculated to cause alarm or danger;

2. Any person who shall instigate or take an active part in any charivari or other
disorderly meeting offensive to another or prejudicial to public tranquillity;

3. Any person who, while wandering about at night or while engaged in any other
nocturnal amusements, shall disturb the public peace, or

4. Any person who, while intoxicated or otherwise, shall cause any disturbance or
scandal in public places, provided that the circumstances of the case shall not make
the provisions of Article 153 applicable.

What are the punishable acts in Article 155?

1. Discharging any firearm, rocket, firecracker, or other explosive within any town or
public place calculated to cause alarm or danger;

2. Instigating or taking an active part in any charivari or other disorderly meeting

offensive to another or prejudicial to public tranquillity;

3. Disturbing the public peace while wandering about at night or while engaged in any
other nocturnal amusements;

4. Causing any disturbance or scandal in public places while intoxicated or otherwise,

provided Article 153 is not applicable. (Reyes, RPC, pp. 166-167)
(1) "Discharging any firearm, rocket, firecracker, or other explosive within any town or
public place calculated to cause alarm or danger-

Points that must be considered for the 1st punishable act:

● The discharge of Firearm must not be aimed at another person, otherwise the crime
will be discharge of firearms under Art. 254
● There must be no intent to kill
● The discharge is not necessarily be at a public place or even at a private dwelling as
long as it causes alarm or danger

To come under Art. 155, the offender who discharges a firearm must not aim it at another
person. If he aims it at another person and discharges the firearm (but without intent to kill),
he will be liable for the crime of discharge of firearms under Art. 254. If there is intent to kill,
he will be liable for frustrated or attempted parricide, murder or homicide, as the case may
be.

Example 1: X found a cal. 38 revolver and discharged it at the town plaza without aiming it
at anyone. The crime is Alarm and Scandal under par. 1 of Art. 155.
Example 2: Suppose X discharged it inside his home or inside his yard, what crime is
committed? Still Alarm and Scandal under par. 1 of Art. 155. It doesn't have to be discharged
in a public place. Art. 155 does not make any distinction as to the particular place in the town
where the firearm is discharged.

Example 3: X and Y got into a heated verbal altercation after Y accidentally bumped X's car.
Y then challenged X to a fight. Το intimidate or frighten Y who was about to approach him, X
pulled out a gun from his waist, aimed it at Y's leg and discharged the same. As a result, Y
sustained a gunshot wound in his leg. The crime is discharge of firearm under Art. 254.
There was no intent to kill because X aimed and fired his gun at a portion of Y's body which,
if hit, is not fatal.

Example 4: X fired a valley of shots using an M-16 armalite at the wall Y's house. The crime
is alarm and scandal under par. 1 of Art. 155. The same was merely intended to cause alarm
in the place where the shots were fired.

*Here, the firearm is aimed towards the wall, in order to constitute discharge of firearm it
must be aimed at another without intent to kill

Example 5: X, wanting to avenge his brother's death, shot and seriously injured Y. The
crime is frustrated or attempted homicide/murder since clearly, there was intent to kill on the
part of X.

The phrase in par. 1, i.e. "calculated to cause alarm or danger" should be interpreted to
mean "which produces alarm or danger". It is the result, not the intent that counts. The act
must produce alarm or danger as a consequence. (Reyes, RPC, p. 167)

(2) "Instigating or taking an active part in any charivari or other disorderly meeting
offensive to another or prejudicial to public tranquillity-

"Charivari" is a medley of discordant voices or a mock serenade where the offender

disturbs the peace by using cans, pans, utensils, etc. It is designed to annoy or insult.

Example: X and his friends, offended by the demand of some neighbours that they turn off
the videoke machine as it was already 10 p.m., banged the pans and utensils against each
other to annoy and disturb the peace in the neighbourhood.

(3) "Disturbing the public peace while wandering about at night or while engaged in
any other nocturnal amusements' -

Example 1: X, frustrated after his girlfriend left him for someone else, went out of his
apartment at 2 a.m. and wandered aimlessly in the neighbouring barangay, crying
incessantly and shouting the name of his girlfriend, disturbing the people in said barangay.

*This is an example of Disturbing the public peace while wandering about at night.
Example 2: X and his friends refused to turn off or at least minimize the loud sound
emanating from the videoke machine even as it was already 11 p.m. thereby causing some
neighbours to lose some sleep because of the noise.

*This is an example of Disturbing the public peace while engaged in any other
nocturnal amusements.

(4) "Causing any disturbance or scandal in public places while intoxicated or

otherwise, provided Article 153 is not applicable-

This is an all-encompassing provision because of the use of the phrase "any disturbance or
scandal in public places while intoxicated or otherwise". Thus, any disturbance or scandal in
a public place not falling within paragraphs 1 to 3 of Art. 155 and Art. 153 of the RPC is
covered under this paragraph.

*This is an example of a disturbance in a public place which does not fall within paragraphs
1 to 3 of Article 155 and more so under Article 153 because it talks about serious
disturbance and this example is not serious disturbance but only a slight disturbance.

Example: X, for no apparent reason, went out of his house and challenged his neighbours to
a fight.

*To come under Art. 153, the disturbance must be serious, otherwise the crime will only be
alarms and scandals under Art. 155. To be considered "serious", it must be planned or
intended and not just a spur of the moment kind of disturbance like the example above.