Philippines’ Revised Penal Code (RPC) punishing “unjust vexation” has been included in a list of “craziest laws in the world,” published by RVCJ Media, one of India’s leading websites on viral content.
This law was also published by Online Magazine Thought Catagolg in 2013 in the list of “ridiculous laws around the world”.
Unjust vexation is a crime based on Article 287 of the RPC, which states that “any other coercion of unjust vexation shall be punished by arresto menor or a fine ranging from P5 to P200 pesos, or both.”
In Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Atty. Persida Acosta column published in The Manila Times , she said, “The acts of your neighbor in shouting at you and calling you names fall squarely in the crime of unjust vexation. However, since the penalty for unjust vexation is imprisonment of one to 30 days only or payment of fine of five to 200 pesos and you are both living in the same barangay, you need to go to your barangay first for conciliation proceedings before you may be able to file a criminal complaint against him.”
In 2009, the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, filed Senate Bill No. 3327 to amend Article 287 of the Revised Penal Code due to its inability to define “unjust vexation.”
“Unlike the crimes of theft, murder and rape that are specifically defined in the Revised Penal Code, the definition of the crime of unjust vexation is conspicuously absent,” Santiago said in a statement.
In the bill, Santiago defined unjust vexation as “any person who commits a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes substantial emotional distress in such a person and serves no legitimate purpose shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum period or a fine ranging from P500 to P5,000, or both.”
Another law cited by RVCJ Media was Singapore’s 1992 ban on the sale of chewing gums since these are hard to clean up. The ban was revised in 2004 to allow the sale of chewing gums for health reasons.
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