THE Sandiganbayan on Tuesday reversed its previous commitment order to transfer former Camarines Norte governor Casimiro “Roy” Padilla from the provincial jail to the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.
In a March 28 resolution, the anti-graft court’s First Division granted Padilla’s plea to stay at the provincial jail, and not at the NBP.
The anti-graft court anchored its reversal on a May 13, 2013 decision of the Supreme Court citing Padilla’s “voluntary surrender.”
“Having considered the mitigating circumstance of voluntary surrender under Article 13 Paragraph 7 of the Revised Penal Code, the Court modifies the penalty stated in its [Sandiganbayan] decision dated November 27, 2012,” the high court’s resolution read.
In 2012, the Sandiganbayan sentenced Padilla to a minimum of four months and one day to a maximum of four years and two months of imprisonment.
But the Supreme Court reduced Padilla’s sentence to a minimum of four months to a maximum of two years of imprisonment for his failure to return to the provincial government a .45 caliber pistol and ammunition.
In a motion, Padilla, the brother of action star and television host Robin Padilla, invoked the Revised Administrative Code that a convicted person sentenced to a maximum of three years of imprisonment or a fine of not more than P1,000 shall be considered a provincial prisoner, and not a national prisoner.
The First Division on Tuesday issued a supplemental mittimus, directing the transfer of Padilla to the provincial jail from Muntinlupa City.
“Wherefore, in view of the foregoing, the Court issues this Supplemental Mittimus directing the Bureau of Corrections to turn over the person of accused Casimiro ‘Roy’ Padilla to the custody of the Provincial Jail in Camarines Norte for the continuation of the service of the sentence imposed upon the accused, which started to run on March 21, 2016,” the First Division said.
The former governor was charged with malversation of public property for his failure to return to the provincial government a .45 caliber pistol and ammunition amounting to P7,462 issued by the Philippine National Police in 1992.