ANTI-PIRACY AND ANTI-HIGHWAY ROBBERY LAW OF 1974
(P.D. No. 532)

Historical edition and scope (reviewed 7 October 2026): This retains the six operative sections and closing of the original 1974 decree. Preambles and signature plate are in the complete SC source. In People v. Tulin, 30 August 2001, the Court explained that Republic Act No. 7659 did not supersede or amend the decree’s piracy provisions. An enrolled copy remains needed to settle section 2(e)’s exact “or other unlawful means”/“of other unlawful means” transcription difference; the existing reader phrase is preserved.

SECTION 1. Title. — This Decree shall be known as the "Anti-Piracy and Anti-Highway Robbery Law of 1974."

SEC. 2. Definition of Terms. — The following terms shall mean and be understood, as follows:

1. Philippine Waters. — It shall refer to all bodies of water, such as but not limited to, seas, gulfs, bays around, between and connecting each of the Islands of the Philippine Archipelago, irrespective of its depth, breadth, length or dimension, and all other waters belonging to the Philippines by historic or legal title, including territorial sea, the sea-bed, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction.
2. Vessel. — Any vessel or watercraft used for transport of passengers and cargo from one place to another through Philippine Waters. It shall include all kinds and types of vessels or boats used in fishing.
3. Philippine Highway. — It shall refer to any road, street, passage, highway and bridges or other parts thereof, or railway or railroad within the Philippines used by persons, or vehicles, or locomotives or trains for the movement or circulation of persons or transportation of goods, articles, or property or both.
4. Piracy. — Any attack upon or seizure of any vessel, or the taking away of the whole or part thereof or its cargo, equipment, or the personal belongings of its complement or passengers, irrespective of the value thereof, by means of violence against or intimidation of persons or force upon things, committed by any person, including a passenger or member of the complement of said vessel, in Philippine waters, shall be considered as piracy. The offenders shall be considered as pirates and punished as hereinafter provided.
5. Highway Robbery/Brigandage. — The seizure of any person for ransom, extortion or other unlawful purposes, or the taking away of the property of another by means of violence against or intimidation of persons or force upon things or other unlawful means, committed by any person on any Philippine Highway.

SEC. 3. Penalties. — Any person who commits piracy or highway robbery/brigandage as herein defined, shall, upon conviction by competent court be punished by:

1. Piracy. — The penalty of reclusión temporal in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed. If physical injuries or other crimes are committed as a result or on the occasion thereof, the penalty of reclusión perpetua shall be imposed. If rape, murder or homicide is committed as a result or on the occasion of piracy, or when the offenders abandoned the victims without means of saving themselves, or when the seizure is accomplished by firing upon or boarding a vessel, the mandatory penalty of death shall be imposed.
2. Highway Robbery/Brigandage. — The penalty of reclusión temporal in its minimum period shall be imposed. If physical injuries or other crimes are committed during or on the occasion of the commission of robbery or brigandage, the penalty of reclusión temporal in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed. If kidnapping for ransom or extortion, or murder or homicide, or rape is committed as a result or on the occasion thereof, the penalty of death shall be imposed.

Current penalty qualification: The death wording in the preceding section is historical. Republic Act No. 9346, sections 1–3 prohibits death and substitutes reclusión perpetua when the law uses Revised Penal Code penalty names; section 3 supplies the parole restriction for the persons it covers. The decree or offense itself is not thereby wholly repealed.

SEC. 4. Aiding pirates or highway robbers/brigands or abetting piracy or highway robbery/brigandage. — Any person who knowingly and in any manner aids or protects pirates or highway robbers/brigands, such as giving them information about the movement of police or other peace officers of the government, or acquires or receives property taken by such pirates or brigands or in any manner derives any benefit therefrom; or any person who directly or indirectly abets the commission of piracy or highway robbery or brigandage, shall be considered as an accomplice of the principal offenders and be punished in accordance with the Rules prescribed by the Revised Penal Code.

It shall be presumed that any person who does any of the acts provided in this Section has performed them knowingly, unless the contrary is proven.

SEC. 5. Repealing Clause. — Pertinent portions of Act No. 3815, otherwise known as the Revised Penal Code; and all laws, decrees, or orders or instructions, or parts thereof, insofar as they are inconsistent with this Decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 6. Effectivity. — This Decree shall take effect upon approval.

Done in the City of Manila, this 8th day of August, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.