Here’s a practitioner-style explainer on robbery penalties in the Philippines under the Revised Penal Code (RPC) as amended (most notably by R.A. 10951 on amounts/valuation and R.A. 9346 abolishing the death penalty). I won’t use external sources, so I’ll focus on black-letter structure, how courts analyze the facts, and how penalties scale in practice.

1) What “robbery” is (and how it differs from theft)

Robbery (RPC, ch. on Robbery and Brigandage) is the taking of personal property belonging to another, with intent to gain, by means of either:
1. Violence against or intimidation of persons; or
2. Force upon things (e.g., breaking into places, locks, safes).
Theft lacks those means (no violence/intimidation/force upon things).
If the “force” is after the taking (to escape), treatment depends on timing and proof—sometimes it stays as theft with a separate offense (e.g., physical injuries), sometimes it qualifies as robbery (if violence/intimidation accompanied the taking).

2) Two big families of robbery (and why the family determines the penalty)

A. Robbery with violence or intimidation of persons (RPC Art. 294 ff.)

The penalty starts high and escalates with outcomes like homicide, rape, or serious physical injuries—these are sometimes called “robbery-complex” crimes.

Typical scenarios:

Stick-up / gunpoint at an ATM or inside a store,
“Snatch and threaten” with a knife,
Tie-up of victims while valuables are taken.

B. Robbery by force upon things (RPC Arts. 299–302, with Art. 300–305 on definitions)

The penalty depends on where the break-in happened (e.g., inhabited house, public building, place of worship vs. uninhabited/private building), how entry was made (e.g., through an opening not intended for entrance, key duplication, picklocks), whether safes/strongboxes were broken, and the value of the property taken (value brackets modernized by R.A. 10951).

Typical scenarios:

B&E into a residence at night through a window, forcing open a safe,
After-hours break-in at an office or store using false keys.

3) Penalties for robbery with violence or intimidation (Art. 294 and related)

Think of these in tiers, from most severe to least:

Robbery with homicide
- If any person is killed by reason or on the occasion of the robbery (whether intentionally or during the commission/escape), the special complex crime of robbery with homicide applies.
- Penalty: Reclusion perpetua (the death penalty is abolished by R.A. 9346). “Homicide” here is generic—it covers murder, parricide, etc., but the conviction is for robbery with homicide.
Robbery with rape or with intentional mutilation
- Rape or intentional mutilation by reason or on the occasion of the robbery.
- Penalty: also reclusion perpetua.
Robbery with serious physical injuries
- Infliction of serious injuries (e.g., loss of limb, eyesight, permanent deformity; long medical attendance).
- Penalty: typically reclusion temporal (its period varies with aggravating/mitigating circumstances).
Robbery with less serious physical injuries
- Injuries that incapacitate a victim for 10 days or more but are not “serious.”
- Penalty: typically prisión mayor (again subject to modifying circumstances).
Robbery with violence or intimidation (no injuries)
- Intimidation alone (brandishing a weapon, threatening words) or non-injurious violence.
- Penalty: scales from prisión correccional up to prisión mayor, depending on circumstances such as use of a firearm, band, place, and other aggravating factors recognized in the RPC.

Aggravating circumstances that raise the penalty within its range

By a band: participation of at least four armed offenders acting together (see Art. 296 definition).
In an uninhabited place, on a street or highway, or at nighttime when purposely sought to facilitate the crime.
Use of a firearm; disguise; breaking of doors; or dwelling as an aggravating circumstance (when violence/intimidation is used in, or at, the victim’s dwelling).

Attempted or frustrated robbery with violence

Art. 297 treats attempted or frustrated robbery with homicide or serious physical injuries as if consummated—i.e., the same severe penalty as in No. 1 or No. 3 above if those outcomes occur by reason or on the occasion of the robbery attempt.

4) Penalties for robbery by force upon things (Arts. 299–302)

These provisions are location- and method-sensitive and then further value-sensitive (R.A. 10951 updated money thresholds). The baseline hierarchy is:

Art. 299 (Inhabited house, public building, or place devoted to religious worship) Penalty is higher when the offender, to enter or to take the property, uses any of the qualifying methods (e.g., through an opening not intended for entrance, breaking doors/windows/roofs, using false keys/picklocks, spoiling or forcing cabinets/strongboxes). The value of property taken pushes the penalty up or down within the statutory brackets (modern values under R.A. 10951).
Art. 302 (Uninhabited place or private building not covered by Art. 299) Penalties are generally lower than Art. 299 but likewise graduate by value and mode of entry.

Key definitions you’ll see in decisions (Arts. 300–305)

“Inhabited house”: any shelter habitually used as a dwelling, even if the owners are temporarily away; includes dependencies and enclosures closely connected to the dwelling.
“Public building”: offices used for public service or owned by the government.
“Opening not intended for entrance”: windows, roofs, vents, or any aperture not meant for ingress.
“False keys/picklocks”: include authentic keys acquired without the owner’s consent, counterfeit keys, or tools designed to open locks.
“Strongbox/safe”: breaking or forcing them aggravates the penalty.

Practical effect: In force-upon-things robbery, prosecutors line up the place, entry method, target (e.g., safe), and value to land the correct penalty band; defense counsel often contests entry method and value proof to lower it.

5) Valuation and the R.A. 10951 adjustment

While the RPC originally pegged penalties to antiquated peso values, R.A. 10951 modernized those thresholds. In both robbery by force upon things and theft, the higher the fair market value (or the greater the damage), the higher the penalty period within the article’s range.

Practice tips on valuation

Receipts/appraisals or current market value at the time and place of the crime are used.
If only a portion is recovered or values are uncertain, credible testimony + reasonable estimates (e.g., brand/model/condition) are common; lack of proof can keep the penalty in a lower bracket.
Tools and damage to doors/safes can be separately proven to trigger the higher modes under Arts. 299/302.

6) Related and “special” forms you should know

Robbery with homicide/rape/mutilation are special complex crimes: one felony with a single indivisible penalty (reclusion perpetua), regardless of the number of victims of the collateral felony (e.g., multiple homicides still yield one count of robbery with homicide, affecting damages but not multiplying the felony).
Robbery in band (Art. 296) aggravates penalties; if only some are armed, proof must show four or more armed acting together.
Violent taking of a vehicle is typically carnapping under a special law (not the RPC), which carries different penalties—prosecutors will charge the special law in lieu of RPC robbery when its elements are met.
Brigandage/highway robbery is also treated under special laws (separate from ordinary RPC robbery).

7) Stages of execution & participation (and their impact on penalties)

Stages: attempted, frustrated, consummated.
- In force-upon-things robbery, interruption before taking may be attempted or frustrated depending on whether all acts of execution were performed.
- In violence/intimidation robbery, Art. 297 (noted above) can collapse the staging when homicide/serious injuries occur.
Participation: principals by direct participation; by inducement; accomplices; accessories.
- Use of firearms, acting in band, dwelling, nighttime, recidivism, habituality—these raise the penalty within the article’s range.
- Voluntary desistance (before taking) and mitigating circumstances (e.g., minority, lack of intent to cause so grave a wrong, restitution) can lower it.

8) Civil liability (always rides with the criminal case)

Conviction for robbery carries civil liability:

Restitution of property (or payment of its value if unrecovered),
Reparation for damage to doors/safes/structures,
Moral/exemplary damages in violent robberies (especially where victims suffer trauma or injury),
Interest from demand/judicial default. Civil liability can be enforced in the criminal case or via a separate civil action (if reserved).

9) Prescription (how long the State has to prosecute)

Robbery with violence/intimidation often carries penalties whose prescriptive periods are long (e.g., crimes punished by afflictive penalties prescribe in 15 years; by reclusion perpetua, do not prescribe while the offender remains in the Philippines, subject to rules on temporary absence).
Force-upon-things robbery has prescription pegged to the maximum penalty actually imposable on the facts (after considering value, method, and place).

Always compute prescription based on the gravest imposable penalty on the charge, not a generic label.

10) Charging and proof (what moves the needle on penalty)

For prosecutors (and for defense counsel anticipating them), the penalty band usually turns on whether the State can prove, beyond reasonable doubt, the following:

For violence/intimidation robbery
- Instrumentality (firearm/knife/club) and how intimidation was conveyed;
- Resulting injuries (medical certificates; duration of medical attendance/incapacity);
- If death/rape/mutilation occurred “by reason or on the occasion of the robbery” (nexus of events).
For force-upon-things robbery
- Place: inhabited house/private building/public building/place of worship;
- How entry was made: opening not intended for entrance; breaking doors/windows/roofs; false keys/picklocks; removal/forcing of safes/strongboxes;
- Value of items taken at the time/place of the crime.
Aggravations
- By a band (≥4 armed acting together), nighttime purposely sought, uninhabited place, dwelling, disguise, recidivism—each proven by competent evidence to legitimately raise the penalty within its statutory range.

11) Sentencing mechanics (how courts choose the exact term)

Courts identify the proper article (294 vs. 299/302), then the correct bracket (e.g., with homicide → reclusion perpetua; with serious injuries → reclusion temporal; force-upon-things at a given value tier), then apply the Indeterminate Sentence Law (ISL) if applicable to fix a minimum and maximum within the proper ranges (ISL doesn’t apply to reclusion perpetua).
Mitigating (plea of guilty, voluntary surrender, minority, passion/obfuscation) and aggravating (dwelling, by a band, use of firearm, nighttime purposely sought, disguise, recidivism) circumstances move the sentence down or up within the article’s period.

12) Practical takeaways

Robbery with homicide/rape/mutilation → reclusion perpetua; no death penalty.
Robbery with serious injuries → reclusion temporal; with less serious injuries → prisión mayor; intimidation alone → prisión correccional to prisión mayor (subject to aggravations).
Force-upon-things robbery → penalties rise with place/method (Art. 299 higher than 302) and with value (thresholds updated by R.A. 10951).
“By a band,” firearms, dwelling, nighttime purposely sought → expect higher period within the range.
Valuation proof matters: weak proof keeps the penalty in lower brackets; solid appraisals push it higher.
Civil damages ride with conviction and can be substantial in violent robberies.

If you want, tell me the scenario (violence vs. force-upon-things, injuries, where/how, approximate value), and I’ll map it to the exact penalty bracket and draft a sentencing grid showing the indeterminate sentence computation and civil liability exposure.