ARTICLE III

BILL OF RIGHTS
Section 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and
seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable,
and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon
probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after
examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the
witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be
searched and the persons or things to be seized.
Section 3.
1. The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be
inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public
safety or order requires otherwise, as prescribed by law.
2. Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding
section shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.
Section 12.
1. Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense
shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain silent
and to have competent and independent counsel preferably of
his own choice. If the person cannot afford the services of
counsel, he must be provided with one. These rights cannot be
waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel.
2. No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other
means which vitiate the free will shall be used against him.
Secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado, or other
similar forms of detention are prohibited.
3. Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or
Section 17 hereof shall be inadmissible in evidence against him.
4. The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for violations
of this Section as well as compensation to the rehabilitation of
victims of torture or similar practices, and their families.
Section 17. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against
himself.

NATIONAL INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1997

SEC. 201. Effect of Failure to Stamp Taxable Document. - An
instrument, document or paper which is required by law to be stamped
and which has been signed, issued, accepted or transferred without
being duly stamped, shall not be recorded, nor shall it or any copy
thereof or any record of transfer of the same be admitted or used in
evidence in any court until the requisite stamp or stamps are affixed
thereto and cancelled.

REPUBLIC ACT No. 1405

AN ACT PROHIBITING DISCLOSURE OF OR INQUIRY INTO,
DEPOSITS WITH ANY BANKING INSTITUTION AND PROVIDING
PENALTY THEREFOR.
Section 1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Government to
give encouragement to the people to deposit their money in banking
institutions and to discourage private hoarding so that the same may
be properly utilized by banks in authorized loans to assist in the
economic development of the country.
Section 2. 1 All deposits of whatever nature with banks or banking
institutions in the Philippines including investments in bonds issued by
the Government of the Philippines, its political subdivisions and its
instrumentalities, are hereby considered as of an absolutely
confidential nature and may not be examined, inquired or looked into
by any person, government official, bureau or office, except upon
written permission of the depositor, or in cases of impeachment, or
upon order of a competent court in cases of bribery or dereliction of
duty of public officials, or in cases where the money deposited or
invested is the subject matter of the litigation.
Section 3. It shall be unlawful for any official or employee of a
banking institution to disclose to any person other than those
mentioned in Section two hereof any information concerning said
deposits.

Section 4. All Acts or parts of Acts, Special Charters, Executive Orders,

Rules and Regulations which are inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act are hereby repealed.
Section 5. Any violation of this law will subject offender upon
conviction, to an imprisonment of not more than five years or a fine of
not more than twenty thousand pesos or both, in the discretion of the
court.
Section 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: September 9, 1955

Footnote
1

This Section and Section 3 were both amended by PD No. 1792

issued January 16, 1981, PD 1792 was expressly repealed by Sec
135 of R.A. No. 7653, approved June 14, 1993. The original
sections 2 and 3 of R.A. No.1405 are hereby reproduced for
reference, as follows; "Sec 2 All deposits of whatever nature with
banks or banking institutions in the Philippines including
investments in bonds issued by the Government of the
Philippines, its political subdivisions and its instrumentalities, are
hereby considered as of an absolutely confidential nature and
may not be examined, inquired or looked into by any person,
government official, bureau or office, except upon written permission of the depositor, or in cases of impeachment, or upon
order of a competent court in cases of bribery or dereliction of
duty of public officials. or in cases where the money deposited or
invested is the subject matter of the litigation," "Sec. 3. It shall
be unlawful for any official or employee of a banking institution
to disclose to any person other than those mentioned in Section
two hereof any information concerning said deposits."

REPUBLIC ACT No. 4200

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT AND PENALIZE WIRE TAPPING AND OTHER
RELATED VIOLATIONS OF THE PRIVACY OF COMMUNICATION,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, not being authorized by
all the parties to any private communication or spoken word, to tap
any wire or cable, or by using any other device or arrangement, to
secretly overhear, intercept, or record such communication or spoken
word by using a device commonly known as a dictaphone or
dictagraph or dictaphone or walkie-talkie or tape recorder, or however
otherwise described:
It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in
the act or acts penalized in the next preceding sentence, to knowingly
possess any tape record, wire record, disc record, or any other such
record, or copies thereof, of any communication or spoken word
secured either before or after the effective date of this Act in the
manner prohibited by this law; or to replay the same for any other
person or persons; or to communicate the contents thereof, either
verbally or in writing, or to furnish transcriptions thereof, whether
complete or partial, to any other person: Provided, That the use of such
record or any copies thereof as evidence in any civil, criminal
investigation or trial of offenses mentioned in section 3 hereof, shall
not be covered by this prohibition.
Section 2. Any person who willfully or knowingly does or who shall
aid, permit, or cause to be done any of the acts declared to be unlawful
in the preceding section or who violates the provisions of the following
section or of any order issued thereunder, or aids, permits, or causes
such violation shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by
imprisonment for not less than six months or more than six years and
with the accessory penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification from

public office if the offender be a public official at the time of the

commission of the offense, and, if the offender is an alien he shall be
subject to deportation proceedings.
Section 3. Nothing contained in this Act, however, shall render it
unlawful or punishable for any peace officer, who is authorized by a
written order of the Court, to execute any of the acts declared to be
unlawful in the two preceding sections in cases involving the crimes of
treason, espionage, provoking war and disloyalty in case of war, piracy,
mutiny in the high seas, rebellion, conspiracy and proposal to commit
rebellion, inciting to rebellion, sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition,
inciting to sedition, kidnapping as defined by the Revised Penal Code,
and violations of Commonwealth Act No. 616, punishing espionage and
other offenses against national security: Provided, That such written
order shall only be issued or granted upon written application and the
examination under oath or affirmation of the applicant and the
witnesses he may produce and a showing: (1) that there are
reasonable grounds to believe that any of the crimes enumerated
hereinabove has been committed or is being committed or is about to
be committed: Provided, however, That in cases involving the offenses
of rebellion, conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion, inciting to
rebellion, sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition, and inciting to
sedition, such authority shall be granted only upon prior proof that a
rebellion or acts of sedition, as the case may be, have actually been or
are being committed; (2) that there are reasonable grounds to believe
that evidence will be obtained essential to the conviction of any person
for, or to the solution of, or to the prevention of, any of such crimes;
and (3) that there are no other means readily available for obtaining
such evidence.
The order granted or issued shall specify: (1) the identity of the person
or persons whose communications, conversations, discussions, or
spoken words are to be overheard, intercepted, or recorded and, in the
case of telegraphic or telephonic communications, the telegraph line or
the telephone number involved and its location; (2) the identity of the
peace officer authorized to overhear, intercept, or record the
communications, conversations, discussions, or spoken words; (3) the
offense or offenses committed or sought to be prevented; and (4) the
period of the authorization. The authorization shall be effective for the
period specified in the order which shall not exceed sixty (60) days
from the date of issuance of the order, unless extended or renewed by
the court upon being satisfied that such extension or renewal is in the
public interest.
All recordings made under court authorization shall, within forty-eight
hours after the expiration of the period fixed in the order, be deposited

with the court in a sealed envelope or sealed package, and shall be

accompanied by an affidavit of the peace officer granted such
authority stating the number of recordings made, the dates and times
covered by each recording, the number of tapes, discs, or records
included in the deposit, and certifying that no duplicates or copies of
the whole or any part thereof have been made, or if made, that all
such duplicates or copies are included in the envelope or package
deposited with the court. The envelope or package so deposited shall
not be opened, or the recordings replayed, or used in evidence, or their
contents revealed, except upon order of the court, which shall not be
granted except upon motion, with due notice and opportunity to be
heard to the person or persons whose conversation or communications
have been recorded.
The court referred to in this section shall be understood to mean the
Court of First Instance within whose territorial jurisdiction the acts for
which authority is applied for are to be executed.
Section 4. Any communication or spoken word, or the existence,
contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of the same or any
part thereof, or any information therein contained obtained or secured
by any person in violation of the preceding sections of this Act shall not
be admissible in evidence in any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative or
administrative hearing or investigation.
Section 5. All laws inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are
hereby repealed or accordingly amended.
Section 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved: June 19, 1965