Art. 227. Officer breaking seal.

— Any public officer charged with the custody of papers or

property sealed by proper authority, who shall break the seals or permit them to be broken,
shall suffer the penalties of prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods,
temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos.

One should always respect the privacy of another person especially in a more
professional workplace environment. There are documents that have seals to create
awareness that it is officiated by the government and as well create restrictions.This article
emphasizes on the idea that a public officer breaking the seal of a document is a crime that
has a severe penalty. The penalty is a bit harsh but it makes sense since some documents
are not allowed to be seen by other public officers that are not addressed to. There could be
a possibility that a person may leak it to the mainstream and could create chaos in a way.

An example of this is when a greedy congressman wants to foresee a document that is

directed to a bill he does not approve of. The messenger who was about to send it to
another congressman was forced by him to grab the document. The greedy man bribed the
messenger with money although she let go, she will tell the truth at the end. He did not care
about the consequences that's why he rips the wax seal from the envelope and opens the
document. Due to his raging emotions he broke the seal of the document and unfortunately
there are witnesses to his actions (the messenger who sent it and CCTV footage). He will be
arrested and a possible impeachment may occur as well as paying off the fine.

Art. 228. Opening of closed documents. — Any public officer not included in the provisions of
the next preceding article who, without proper authority, shall open or shall permit to be
opened any closed papers, documents or objects entrusted to his custody, shall suffer the
penalties or arresto mayor, temporary special disqualification and a fine of not exceeding
2,000 pesos.

Back again on the idea of respect and privacy, this article is related to the first on the
idea of prohibition of opening certain closed documents that is not direct towards them. It is a
safe measure to proceed with this regulation to create a system towards how formal closed
documents are given to certain people that are included. There may be vital information in
the documents that could create potential threat towards a person or create chaos if leaked.
The penalties may be a little lighter than Article 227 but it is still a big consequence that will
impact the career of the public officer associated. This foresees that even higher positions of
public officers are still validated by the law and need to be followed by them.

An example of this is a senator that is curious about the content of a bill that is about
to be signed towards the Executive Branch of the country. He went towards the office where
the document is located and took it. He opens a closed document that is directed to the
president although he is not included on seeing the document. With that he did not know that
there is CCTV footage of him opening the official document. The senator will now undertake
a resignation due to his disqualification as well as paying the associated fine towards the
crime.