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Article 202. Prostitutes; Penalty. - For the purpose of this article, women who, for money or profit, habitually indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct, are deemed to be prostitutes.

Any person found guilty of any of the offenses covered by this article shall be punished by arresto menor or a fine not exceeding Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000). and in case of recidivism, by arresto mayor in its medium period to prision correccional in its minimum period or a fine ranging from Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000) to Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000), or both, in the discretion of the court.


REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10158       March 27, 2012

AN ACT DECRIMINALIZING VAGRANCY, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE ARTICLE 202 OF ACT NO. 3815, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE REVISED PENAL CODE

Who are considered VAGRANTS:
1. Those who have no apparent means of subsistence and who have the physical ability to work yet neglect to apply themselves to some useful calling;
2. Persons found loitering around public and semi-public places without visible means of support;
3. Persons tramping or wandering around the country or the streets with no visible means of support;
4. Idle or dissolute persons lodging in houses of ill-fame;
5. Ruffians or pimps and those who habitually associate with prostitutes (may include even the rich); and
6. Persons found loitering in inhabited or uninhabited places belonging to others, without any lawful or justifiable reason, provided the act does not fall within any other article of the RPC

PROSTITUTES - women who habitually(not just 1 man) indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct for money or profit (If a man indulges in the same conduct, the crime committed is vagrancy.)

DISSOLUTE – lax, unrestrained, immoral (includes the maintainer of a house of prostitution)

RUFFIANS – brutal, violent, lawless

Any person found wandering in an estate belonging to another, whether public or private, without any lawful purpose, also commits vagrancy, unless his acts constitute some other crime in the Revised Penal Code.

If fenced and with prohibition of entry - Trespass to dwelling

If fenced and entered to hunt/fish - Attempted theft

If not fenced and with no prohibition of entry - Vagrancy