GR 95523; (March, 1998) (Digest)
G.R. No. 95523 March 26, 1998
REYNALDO GONZALES y RIVERA, petitioner, vs. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS and PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Reynaldo Gonzales y Rivera was convicted for illegal possession of firearm by the trial court on October 28, 1988. The Court of Appeals affirmed this conviction on July 12, 1990. While petitioner’s petition for review on certiorari was pending before the Supreme Court, Republic Act 8294 was enacted, lowering the penalty for illegal possession of firearm. In a decision dated August 18, 1997, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction but modified the penalty pursuant to the new law, reducing it to an indeterminate sentence of four years and two months as minimum to six years as maximum. The Court, computing the period from the trial court’s conviction on October 28, 1988 to the promulgation of its decision on August 18, 1997, found that petitioner had already served nine years, nine months, and twenty-three days, which exceeded the maximum penalty, and ordered his immediate release. Subsequently, on September 10, 1997, the Bureau of Corrections informed the Court that based on its records, petitioner had only served one month and twelve days of preventive imprisonment because, after his conviction and the forfeiture of his bail bond, he could not be located until his arrest on September 16, 1993, and was only committed to the Bureau of Corrections on July 4, 1997.
ISSUE
Whether the Supreme Court’s initial computation of petitioner’s preventive detention period was correct, warranting a modification of its earlier order for his immediate release.
RULING
The Supreme Court resolved to modify the dispositive portion of its August 18, 1997 decision. It affirmed the conviction and the modified penalty but recalled the order for petitioner’s immediate release. The Court found that petitioner had not yet fully served the indeterminate penalty imposed, as the correct period of preventive imprisonment was only one month and twelve days, not the previously computed nine years, nine months, and twenty-three days. Consequently, the order for release was recalled.