ACT No. 1757
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT GAMBLING, TO REPEAL ARTICLE EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND ONE OF THE CIVIL CODE AND ARTICLES THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE AND FIVE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINE OF THE PENAL CODE.
By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1 to 6 (inclusive)1
Section 7. [The playing at and the conducting of any game of monte, jueteng, or any form of lottery or policy or any banking or percentage game, or the use of any mechanical invention or contrivance to determine by chance the winner or loser of money or of any representative of value or of any valuable consideration or thing, is hereby prohibited, and]2 any person taking any part therein or owning or operating any such mechanical invention or contrivance shall be punished as provided in section three3 hereof. It shall be no defense to any criminal action under this section that the defendant acted as the agent of another or that he had no interest in the result. Any person losing any money or any representative of value or any valuable consideration or thing at any such game or by means of any such mechanical invention or contrivance, or his heirs, executors, administrators, or judgment creditors, may, within three years thereafter, recover the money, consideration, or thing lost or the value thereof in a suit against the banker or the person conducting or owning such game or mechanical invention or contrivance, or against any person having any interest therein or against the person at the time in charge, control, or possession of the premises in which the loss occurred and knowingly permitting such game or the operation of such mechanical invention or contrivance, and all of such persons shall be jointly and severally liable in such action.
Section 7½. Any person who shall knowingly and without good reason have charge or possession of, or carry with him any number, list, memorandum, note, annotation, or device that shall in any manner pertain or have pertained to any game of "jueteng" that has been held, is being held, or is to be held at any future time, shall be punished as provided in section three4 of this Act.
Upon a second conviction for having played "jueteng" or having had in his possession any paper or device pertaining thereto, the person so convicted, if not a citizen of the Philippine Islands or the United States, may be sentenced to be deported.5
Section 8. Any person who shall lose any money or any representative of value or any valuable consideration or thing in any gambling house or other place where gambling is prohibited, or his heirs, executors, administrators, or judgment creditors, may, within three years thereafter, recover the same and an additional amount equal to the value of the loss in an action at law against the owner, tenant, or person in charge, possession, or control of such gambling house or prohibited place and knowingly permitting gambling to be carried on therein or knowingly permitting the operation of any mechanical gambling device or invention therein, and all of such persons shall be jointly and severally liable in such action.
Section 9. No wager or other gambling contract shall be enforceable at law, and any promissory note, check, order for the payment of money, I. O. U., vale, promise to pay, "chit," or contract or agreement given for money with which to gamble or for money lost at gambling or as a stake shall be void, except as to persons purchasing the same for a valuable consideration in good faith before maturity and not knowing and having no knowledge of facts sufficient to put them upon notice that such promissory note, check, order for the payment of money, I. O. U., vale, promise to pay, "chit," or contract or agreement was given in consideration of a gambling debt or for money lost at gambling or as a stake. Any conveyance or transfer of any property, real or personal, valuable thing, chose in action, franchise, or privilege, made for the purpose of gambling or as a stake or to pay gambling losses or debts, shall be void, and the subject of such transfer or its value may, within three years after the actual date of the conveyance or transfer or after the date the transfer took effect, be recovered by suit brought by the grantor, or his heirs, executors, administrators, or judgment creditors, against transferee and all persons holding under him or purchasing from him having knowledge of facts sufficient to put them upon notice as to the nature of the consideration of the original transfer.
Section 10. Upon any investigation or proceeding for violation of this Act no person shall be excused from giving testimony upon the ground that such testimony would tend to convict him of a crime, but such testimony can not be received against him upon any criminal investigation or proceeding: Provided, however, That no person so testifying shall be exempt from prosecution or punishment for perjury committed in the course of any proceeding or investigation had by virtue of this Act.
Section 11 and 12.6
Section 13. The court convicting a person of the violation of any of the provisions of this Act shall order the confiscation of the money, articles, instruments, appliances, and devices used in gambling. Articles, instruments, appliances, and devices capable only of being used for gambling shall be destroyed under the order of the court. Money and the proceeds of the sale of confiscated articles which are capable of being used otherwise than for gambling purposes shall be accounted, for accredited and disposed of in the same manner as the proceeds of fines imposed by the court. The provisions of this section shall be applicable in cases of conviction of the violation of municipal ordinances prohibiting gambling.7
Section 14. Article eighteen hundred and one of the Civil Code and articles three hundred and forty-three and five hundred and seventy-nine of the Penal Code, and all Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent or in conflict with this Act, are hereby repealed.
Section 15. 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-sixty, nineteen hundred.
Section 16.10 This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, October 9, 1907.
Footnote
* As amended by Act 2212 and Act 3242.
1 Repealed by Act 3815, article 367, approved December 8, 1930.
2 Words in brackets were repealed by Act 3815, article 367, approved December 8, 1930.
3 The penalty provided in section 3 is "fine of not less than ten pesos nor more than five hundred pesos or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. In case of a second conviction both fine and imprisonment shall be imposed."
4 Ibid. See Article 192 2(c) of the Revised Penal Code.
5 Section 7 ½ was inserted by Act 3242, section 1, approved November 27, 1925.
6 Repealed by Act 3815, article 367, approved December 8, 1930.
7 Section 13 was inserted as an amendment by Act 2212, section 1, enacted February 3, 1913.
8 Originally section 13, renumbered by Act 2212, section 1, enacted February 3, 1913.
9 Originally section 14, renumbered by Act 2212, section 1, enacted February 3, 1913.
10 Originally section 15, renumbered by Act 2212, section 1, enacted February 3, 1913.
The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation
