Is Alcohol legal in Philippines?
Also known as: booze
- Legal status
- Not a dangerous drug on the text read: alcohol is not listed in the Dangerous Drugs Board's Updated Lists of Scheduled Controlled Substances as at 06 July 2025, and no Board Regulation adding it appears on the Board's regulations register read on 2 October 2026. This is stated as at the Board's list of 06 July 2025 and the Board's regulations register read at https://ddb.gov.ph/board-regulations/ on 2 October 2026, whose newest entry is Board Regulation No. 5, Series of 2026 and which lists no Board Regulation No. 1, Series of 2026, and it does not rule out a later amendment.
- Consequences if caught
- No RA 9165 penalty attaches while it is unlisted. Searched in all 24 pages of the list: "ethanol" 4 hits; "ethyl alcohol" 0 hits. Every hit for ethanol is part of a longer chemical name, benzenemethanol in the ephedrine, norephedrine and pseudoephedrine rows and piperazineethanol elsewhere; ethyl ether in the 1988 precursor tables is a different substance. Section 93 lets the Board add a drug after notice and hearing, and under section 93(c) no criminal liability arises for an added drug until fifteen days after the last publication of the notice of that hearing. Section 6 of Presidential Decree No. 1619 prohibits "The sale of, and offer to sell, to minors of liquors or beverages containing an alcoholic content of thirty per centum or above (60 proof or above)", punishable by six months and one day to four years and a fine of PHP 600 to PHP 4,000. The Decree also lists ethanol among the compounds whose vapours, inhaled to intoxicate, are an offence under its section 2.
- If prescribed or medical
- Not a medicine question for this site. Beverage licensing, age and sale rules other than section 6 of Presidential Decree No. 1619 sit outside RA 9165 and were not read for this cell.
- Documentation
- No dangerous drug document is needed. Customs allowances and local liquor rules were not read for this cell.
- Republic Act No. 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, enrolled text as published by the Dangerous Drugs Board, sections 3(j), 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16 and 93 and its annex
- ddb.gov.ph
- Dangerous Drugs Board, Updated Lists of Scheduled Controlled Substances as at 06 July 2025, all 24 pages, read on 2 October 2026
- ddb.gov.ph
- Republic Act No. 9346, sections 1 and 2, text read at lawphil.net on 2 October 2026 because the Official Gazette refused the request
- lawphil.net
- Dangerous Drugs Board regulations register
- ddb.gov.ph
- Presidential Decree No. 1619 of 23 July 1979, sections 1 to 3 and 6, text read at lawphil.net on 2 October 2026
- lawphil.net
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Court records
The Supreme Court E-Library publishes decisions back to 1901, but its robots policy does not permit automated access, so we have not verified a court record for this jurisdiction.
Source checked Supreme Court E-Library · 2026-08-27
Other substances confirmed in Philippines
Same substance, other countries
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