FIRST
DIVISION
PEOPLE
OF THE PHILIPPINES,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
G. R. No. 73399
February 21, 1997
-versus-
RAMON
ABEDES Y SALGADO,
Accused-Appellant.
R
E S O L U T I O N
VITUG, J.:
Herein accused
Ramon Abedes y Salgado
was charged on 05 October 1984 with selling and delivering two small
plastic
bags, each containing dried marijuana leaves and seeds having a total
weight
of 6.5 grams, as well as a plastic bag of marijuana cake, weighing 17.5
grams, to a Narcom poseur-buyer[1]
in violation of Section 4, Article II, of Republic Act 6425, as amended.
In a decision,
dated 27 June 1985, accused was
convicted by the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, Branch 102; viz:
WHEREFORE, the Court finds accused Ramon
Abedes
y Salgado, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of violation of
Sec. 4, Art. II, of Rep. Act No. 6425, as amended by P. D. 1675.
otherwise
known as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, and pursuant to Sec. 4 of
said
law, hereby sentences him to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment
(30
years) and to pay a fine of P20,000.00, with subsidiary imprisonment,
in
case of insolvency, and to pay the costs.
The 2 tea bags of dried marijuana leaves
and
1 tea bag of marijuana cake are ordered confiscated and forfeited in
favor
of the government, to be disposed of (destroyed) according to the law.
The judgment
was affirmed by this Court[3]in its decision, dated 28 November 1986,
which
concluded:
WHEREFORE, this appeal is hereby DENIED.
The
trial court's decision is affirmed but the portion thereof which reads
30 years should be eliminated (People vs. Gonzales, 58 SCRA 266, 271).[4]
Invoking People
vs. Simon[5]which had ruled that the reduced penalties
prescribed
under the provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act, as amended by R. A.
No.
7659, could be retroactively applied, Ramon Abedes filed the instant
"Urgent
Motion to Modify Decision." Conformably with the second paragraph of
Section
20, Article IV of R. A. No. 6425, as amended by Section 17 of R. A. No.
7659 and as construed and applied in the aforesaid case of People vs.
Simon,
the newly prescribed penalty for his offense would only be prision
correccional.
Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the range of indeterminate
penalty
on Ramon Abedes, modified accordingly, should thereby be from six (6)
months
of arresto mayor as minimum to six (6) years of prision correccional as
maximum.
It appears that
from his initial confinement in
October 1984 up to the present, Abedes has already served at least
twelve
(12) years and three (3) months of imprisonment or well beyond the
maximum
of six (6) years of prision correccional.cralaw:red
In line with this
Court's resolution in Rolando
Angeles y Bombita vs. Director of New Bilibid Prison,[6]dated 04 January 1995, to liberally
construe the
formalities required for habeas corpus, in the invocation of the
retroactive effect of R. A. No. 7659, the Court hereby treats the
instant
motion to be in substantial compliance therewith and directs the
accrual
of the newly prescribed penalty to his benefit.cralaw:red
WHEREFORE, the
instant motion to modify decision
is GRANTED. The immediate release from custody of Ramon Abedes y
Salgado
is hereby ordered unless he should still be detained for some other
lawful
cause.cralaw:red
SO ORDERED.cralaw:red
Padilla,
Bellosillo, Kapunan and Hermosisima,
Jr., JJ., concur.
_______________________________
Endnotes
[1]
Rollo, p. 4.
[2]
Rollo, pp.17-18.
[3]
G.R. No. 73399.
[4]
Rollo, pp. 58-59.
[5]
234 SCRA 555.
[6]
G. R. No. 117568, 240 SCRA 49. |
