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THIRD DIVISION
G.R. No. 121424.
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS OF MAURO MAGTIBAY y PENTINIO, Chairman SEDFREY A. ORDOEZ, Comm. NARCISO C. MONTEIRO, Comm. MERCEDES V. CONTRERAS, Comm. NASSER A. MAROHOMSALIC, Comm. VICENTE P. SIBULO, Director EMMANUEL C. NERI and the COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, Petitioners, v. Director VICENTE VINARAO, BUREAU OF CORRECTIONS, Respondent.
G.R. No. 104992.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MAURO MAGTIBAY, Accused-Appellant.
R E S O L U T I O N
PANGANIBAN, J.:
Before us is a Petition for Habeas Corpus filed by the Commission
on Human Rights, for the immediate release of Mauro P. Magtibay, the
accused-appellant in G.R. No. 104992, entitled "People vs. Mauro Magtibay," pending before this Court. In the latter case (which has been
consolidated with the instant case per Resolution of this Court dated September
4, 1995), accused-appellant is contesting his conviction by the Regional Trial
Court of Batangas City, Branch III for violation of Sec. 4, Art. II of R.A. No.
6425, otherwise known as The
Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, as amended.
The accused-appellant was caught in
flagrante delicto selling ten (10) grams of dried marijuana leaves during a
buy-bust operation conducted on
Petitioners now seek the immediate release of accused-appellant on the ground that the latter has already served the term of imprisonment applicable to his offense as provided under R.A. 7659, otherwise known as "An Act to Impose Death Penalty on Certain Heinous Crimes."
By way of background: R.A. 7659,
which took effect on December 31, 1993, partly amended R.A. No. 6425, by providing, inter alia, that if the quantity of the prohibited drugs involved
is less than 750 grams, the penalty
of imprisonment is reduced to a range of from prision correctional to reclusion perpetua depending on the
quantity of marijuana involved; in contrast, Sec. 4, Art. II of R.A. 6425
formerly provided for imprisonment ranging from 12 years and one day to 20
years of prision mayor. Pursuant to the new legislation, this
Court ruled in People vs. Simon, (234
SCRA 555, 573 [
On
IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, the Petition in G.R. No. 121424 is hereby GRANTED, and the accused-appellant Mauro P. Magtibay is hereby ORDERED RELEASED IMMEDIATELY, unless he is being detained on some other legal charge. The Petition in G.R. No. 104992 is DISMISSED for being moot and academic.
SO ORDERED.
Narvasa, C.J. (Chairman), Davide, Jr., Melo, and Francisco, JJ., concur.
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