Camille Naredo

Members of an inter-agency coordinating committee conduct a walk through on July 15, 2024, as the House of Representatives prepares for the coming State Of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on July 22

Members of an inter-agency coordinating committee conduct a walk through on July 15, 2024, as the House of Representatives prepares for the coming State Of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on July 22. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

CONGRESS-SONA

Agatha Gregorio

ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- Some House lawmakers opposed on Tuesday a proposal to amend Act No. 3815, or the Revised Penal Code requiring judicial authority before using a fictitious name as an alias or pseudonym for some purposes. During a meeting under the House Subcommittee on Penal Laws, ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio said this is a &quot;restriction on basic freedom.&quot; Unless the fictitious name is used for literary, cinema, or other entertainment purposes, judicial authority is needed under the proposed amendment.&quot;Parang nag-i-strikto sa– freedom &#x27;yan, &#x27;di ba? Freedom of expression, &#x27;di ba? For as long as it&#x27;s not causing damage to anyone, so what? &#x27;Di ba? Ako, na-trigger ako nung wording na the use of fictitious names as a pseudonym or alias for literary, cinema, or other entertainment purposes shall be allowed. For other purposes, shall be allowed only with prior judicial authority,&quot; Tinio said.&quot;Restriction &#x27;yan on basic freedom, I think. Who is it for the state to say it allows you to, you know– kung gusto mo tawagin na, I want to be called by this name,&quot; Tinio added.Under the Revised Penal Code, use of a fictitious name will lead to penalties if this is done to conceal a crime, evade the execution of a judgment, or cause damage.Bataan 1st District Representative Antonino Roman III was among lawmakers who questioned the amendment, calling it &quot;unduly burdensome&quot; on free speech.&quot;The criminal purpose so that if you use a fictitious name or a pseudonym or alias for the purpose of concealing a crime, evading execution of judgment, or causing damage then you are criminally liable. So then what is the purpose– if you&#x27;re gonna use it for other purposes, why do you need to secure a judicial authority? It&#x27;s unduly burdensome. It burdens the free speech or liberty in general,&quot; Roman said. Tinio also brought up how restrictions on choosing one&#x27;s name could specifically impact the LGBTQIA community.&quot;&#x27;Di ba sensitive issue ngayon &#x27;to– &#x27;yung choosing your own name, lalo na, halimbawa, LGBT?&quot; Tinio asked.For his part, Department of Justice (DOJ) Deputy City Prosecutor Freddie Nojara explained the amendments were done to &quot;harmonize&quot; the Revised Penal Code and Commonwealth Act No. 142 on aliases.&quot;The amendments as indicated in the use of all caps letters were taken from Commonwealth Act No. 142 or the so-called anti-alias law. So under that law, the use of pseudonym or alias is prohibited because you&#x27;re only supposed to use your name as appearing in your birth certificate. So mayroon kasing– hindi naman siguro overlapping. But there&#x27;s a need to harmonize these two laws using fictitious name and use of alias names. So we incorporated the pertinent provisions of the Commonwealth Act No. 142,&quot; Nojara said.Providing context on the issue, Nojara said the law was enacted because Chinese businessmen back then supposedly used aliases so they would not be held liable.&quot;It will lead, your honor, to confusion if a person will be allowed to use an alias name because he will just hide his identity and he commits a crime without being cited or charged with a particular crime,&quot; Nojara said.&quot;But I submit, your honor, to the wisdom of this Congress pursuant to its plenary power whether to revisit that old law, Commonwealth Act No. 142, because according to the Supreme Court in the 2026 case, this was enacted just for purposes of deterring the practice of some Chinese businessmen nung araw na gumagamit sila nang alias without being held liable for their acts,&quot; Nojara added.House lawmakers then went on to ask about just how relevant Commonwealth Act No. 142 is in today&#x27;s time.

Some House lawmakers opposed on Tuesday a proposal to amend Act No. 3815, or the Revised Penal Code requiring judicial authority before using a fictitious name as an alias or pseudonym for some purposes.

Some House lawmakers opposed on Tuesday a proposal to amend Act No. 3815, or the Revised Penal Code requiring judicial authority before using a fictitious name as an alias or pseudonym for some purposes.

Lawmakers oppose proposed amendment requiring judicial authority for alias, pseudonym use

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Lawmakers oppose proposed amendment requiring judicial authority for alias, pseudonym use

Agatha Gregorio,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 09, 2026 06:55 PM PHT

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alias

pseudonym

House of Representatives

Revised Penal Code

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