Dear Atty. Angela,

I have been in dispute with my neighbor who constantly trespasses our vacant lot to cultivate plants. I already informed him to stay away as it disrupts our family and we don’t want anyone going near the premises of our home. One day, I was with my wife and we caught him going to our lot and I shouted at him. To my shock, he pointed to both of us, drew a knife, and made a gesture of drawing the weapon across his neck threatening to behead us. Even if he did not say anything, can his act still constitute as grave threats?

Tony

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Dear Tony,

Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) states:

“Art. 282. Grave threats. — Any person who shall threaten another with the infliction upon the person, honor or property of the latter or of his family of any wrong amounting to a crime, shall suffer:

1. The penalty next lower in degree than that prescribed by law for the crime he threatened to commit, if the offender shall have made the threat demanding money or imposing any other condition, even though not unlawful, and said offender shall have attained his purpose. If the offender shall not have attained his purpose, the penalty lower by two degrees shall be imposed.”

Contrary to the common argument that the crime of grave threats must be committed through spoken or written words, the Supreme Court held that this crime may likewise be may be committed through non-verbal gestures.

In the case of Gregory Israel v People, G.R. No. 265736 (2025), the Supreme Court clarified that to convict for grave threats, the RPC requires two elements: the actual speaking or uttering of the threats and the intent to intimidate.

The SC held that Article 282 of the RPC does not differentiate between threats conveyed verbally and those expressed through non-verbal gestures. What matters is the communication of a threat intended to intimidate. Although the second paragraph of the provision specifies that threats can be conveyed orally or in writing, it does not exclude threats conveyed through non-verbal means. Therefore, threats can be either verbal or non-verbal.

The SC further explained that like Article 494 of the 1870 Spanish Penal Code, from which Article 282 of the RPC originated, the provision “embraces the entire range of human interactions” where one person threatens another.

Atty. Angela Antonio