GR 58637; (November, 1981) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-58637 November 16, 1981
DELMAR VENERANDA y ALIMANGGO and SERGIO BORJA y ABAD, petitioners, vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
FACTS
Petitioners Delmar Veneranda and Sergio Borja pleaded guilty to the crime of Qualified Theft involving fish worth Forty Pesos (P40.00) before the Municipal Court of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. During arraignment, the trial judge conducted a searching inquiry, asking if they understood the consequences of their plea, to which they affirmed. The court convicted them both. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, it sentenced Borja to an indeterminate penalty of 4 years, 9 months, and 11 days of prision correccional as minimum to 8 years of prision mayor as maximum, considering his plea of guilty as a mitigating circumstance. For Veneranda, the court imposed 6 years, 8 months, and 1 day as minimum to 10 years of prision mayor as maximum, offsetting his plea of guilty with the aggravating circumstance of recidivism.
Both accused appealed directly to the Supreme Court, questioning the propriety of the penalties imposed. The appeal was accepted directly as it raised only a legal question regarding the correct application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law, despite the offense falling under the concurrent jurisdiction of inferior and first instance courts.
ISSUE
Whether the trial court correctly applied the Indeterminate Sentence Law in imposing the penalties on the accused.
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the penalty for Borja but modified the sentence for Veneranda. For qualified theft of P40.00, the prescribed penalty under Article 310 of the Revised Penal Code is prision mayor, two degrees higher than the penalty for ordinary theft of the same amount under Article 309. For Borja, with the mitigating circumstance of plea of guilty, the penalty should be in the minimum period of prision mayor (6 years and 1 day to 8 years). Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum term must be within the range of the penalty next lower in degree, which is prision correccional (6 months and 1 day to 6 years). The court held that Borja’s sentence of 4 years, 9 months, and 11 days as minimum to 8 years as maximum was correctly within this statutory range, and found no reason to disturb the trial court’s discretion.
For Veneranda, with recidivism offsetting his plea of guilty, the penalty should be in the medium period of prision mayor (8 years and 1 day to 10 years). However, the trial court erred in fixing the minimum of his indeterminate sentence at 6 years, 8 months, and 1 day, which exceeds the maximum of prision correccional (6 years). The Indeterminate Sentence Law mandates that the minimum term must be within the range of the penalty next lower in degree. Therefore, the maximum of the minimum term cannot exceed 6 years. The Supreme Court modified Veneranda’s sentence by reducing the minimum to 6 years of prision correccional, while maintaining the maximum of 10 years of prision mayor.