Republic Act No.

7438 elder brothers and sisters, his spouse, the

municipal mayor, the municipal judge, district
school supervisor, or priest or minister of the
AN ACT DEFINING CERTAIN RIGHTS OF PERSON
gospel as chosen by him; otherwise, such
ARRESTED, DETAINED OR UNDER CUSTODIAL
extrajudicial confession shall be inadmissible
INVESTIGATION AS WELL AS THE DUTIES OF
as evidence in any proceeding.
THE ARRESTING, DETAINING AND
INVESTIGATING OFFICERS, AND PROVIDING
(e) Any waiver by a person arrested or detained
PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF
under the provisions of Article 125 of the Revised
Penal Code, or under custodial investigation, shall
Section 1. Statement of Policy be in writing and signed by such person in the
presence of his counsel; otherwise the waiver shall be
It is the policy of the Senate to value the dignity of null and void and of no effect.
every human being and guarantee full respect for
human rights. (f) Any person arrested or detained or under custodial
investigation shall be allowed visits by or conferences
Section 2. Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or with any member of his immediate family, or any
Under Custodial Investigation; Duties of Public medical doctor or priest or religious minister chosen
Officers. by him or by any member of his immediate family or
by his counsel, or by any national non-governmental
(a) Any person arrested detained or under custodial organization duly accredited by the Commission on
investigation shall at all times be assisted by Human Rights of by any international non-
counsel. governmental organization duly accredited by the
Office of the President.
(b) Any public officer or employee, or anyone acting
under his order or his place, who arrests, detains or NOTE: The person's "immediate family" shall include
investigates any person for the commission of an his or her spouse, fiancé or fiancée, parent or child,
offense shall inform the latter, in a language known to brother or sister, grandparent or grandchild, uncle or
and understood by him, of his rights to: aunt, nephew or niece, and guardian or ward.
 Remain silent and to have competent and As used in this Act, "custodial investigation" shall
 Independent counsel, preferably of his own include the practice of issuing an "invitation" to a
choice, who shall at all times be allowed to person who is investigated in connection with an
confer privately with the person arrested, offense he is suspected to have committed, without
detained or under custodial investigation. prejudice to the liability of the "inviting" officer for any
 If such person cannot afford the services of violation of law.
his own counsel, he must be provided with a
competent and independent counsel by the Section 3. Assisting Counsel
investigating officer.
Assisting counsel is any lawyer, except:
(c) The custodial investigation report shall be reduced
to writing by the investigating officer, provided that  Those directly affected by the case
before such report is signed, or thumbmarked:  Those charged with conducting preliminary
investigation or
If the person arrested or detained does not know  Those charged with the prosecution of
how to read and write, it shall be read and crimes.
adequately explained to him by his counsel or by the
assisting counsel provided by the investigating officer The assisting counsel other than the government
in the language or dialect known to such arrested or lawyers shall be entitled to the following fees;
detained person.
(a) The amount of One hundred fifty pesos (P150.00)
Otherwise, such investigation report shall be null and if the suspected person is chargeable with light
void and of no effect whatsoever. felonies
(d) Any extrajudicial confession made by a person (b) The amount of Two hundred fifty pesos (P250.00)
arrested, detained or under custodial investigation if the suspected person is chargeable with less grave
shall be: or grave felonies;
 In writing and signed by such person in the (c) The amount of Three hundred fifty pesos
presence of his counsel or (P350.00) if the suspected person is chargeable with
 In the latter's absence, upon a valid waiver, a capital offense.
and in the presence of any of the parents,

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The fee for the assisting counsel shall be paid by the
city or municipality where the custodial investigation is
conducted, provided that if the municipality of city
cannot pay such fee, the province comprising such
municipality or city shall pay the fee: Provided, That
the Municipal or City Treasurer must certify that no
funds are available to pay the fees of assisting
counsel before the province pays said fees.

In the absence of any lawyer, no custodial

investigation shall be conducted and the suspected
person can only be detained by the investigating
officer in accordance with the provisions of Article 125
of the Revised Penal Code.

Section 4. Penalty Clause

(a) Any arresting public officer or employee, or any

investigating officer, who fails to inform any person
arrested, detained or under custodial investigation of
his right to remain silent and to have competent and
independent counsel preferably of his own choice,
shall suffer a fine of Six thousand pesos (P6,000.00)
or a penalty of imprisonment of not less than eight (8)
years but not more than ten (10) years, or both. The
penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification shall
also be imposed upon the investigating officer who
has been previously convicted of a similar offense.

The same penalties shall be imposed upon a public

officer or employee, or anyone acting upon orders of
such investigating officer or in his place, who fails to
provide a competent and independent counsel to a
person arrested, detained or under custodial
investigation for the commission of an offense if the
latter cannot afford the services of his own counsel.

(b) Any person who obstructs, prevents or prohibits

any lawyer, any member of the immediate family of a
person arrested, detained or under custodial
investigation, or any medical doctor or priest or
religious minister chosen by him or by any member of
his immediate family or by his counsel, from visiting
and conferring privately with him, or from examining
and treating him, or from ministering to his spiritual
needs, at any hour of the day or, in urgent cases, of
the night shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of
not less than four (4) years nor more than six (6)
years, and a fine of four thousand pesos
(P4,000.00).lawphi1©

The provisions of the above Section notwithstanding,

any security officer with custodial responsibility over
any detainee or prisoner may undertake such
reasonable measures as may be necessary to secure
his safety and prevent his escape.

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