[ G.R. No. L-1809. January 23, 1948 ] 80 Phil. 43
[ G.R. No. L-1809. January 23, 1948 ]
NARCISCO ALVAREZ Y CORTES, PETITIONER, VS. THE DIRECTOR OF PRISONS, RESPONDENT. D E C I S I O N
FERIA, J.:
This is a petition for habeas corpus filed by the petitioner against the Director of Prisons on the ground that he is being illegally detained in the New Bilibid Prisons, notwithstanding the fact that the President of the Republic of the Philippines, through the recommendation of the Board of Indeterminate Sentence, granted the petitioner on December 23, 1946, absolute pardon of the crime of murder which he committed and of which he was convicted and sentenced to reclusion perpetua on June 5, 1945, by the Court of First Instance of Manila in criminal case No. 70022.
The Director of Prisons, in his return which, according to section 13, Rule 102, is considered prima facie evidence of the cause of the restraint, alleges that the petitioner, while serving the sentence of reclusion perpetua for the crime of murder above mentioned, escaped from prison on October 21, 1945, and for said evasion he was prosecuted and sentenced on March 22, 1946, by the Court of First Instance of Manila in case No. 73820, to three (3) years, six (6) months and twenty (20) days of prision correccional; that on April 8, 1946, the petitioner again escaped and evaded the service of the same sentence, and for the second evasion he was prosecuted and sentenced on August 20, 1946, to two (2) years, four (4) months and one (1) day of prision correccional in case No. 14862 by the Court of First Instance of Rizal; and that on May 24, 1946, the petitioner was prosecuted for illegal possession of firearm, convicted and sentenced by the Court of First Instance of Manila, in case No. 74312, to six (6) months of imprisonment, and to pay a fine of three hundred pesos (P300), with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency.
Under the commitment orders issued by the respective Courts of First Instance in said cases Nos. 73820, 14862, and 74312, the petitioner is confined in the New Bilibid Prisons to serve a total of six (6) years, four (4) months and twenty-one (21) days of imprisonment, commencing with the date of his pardon of the crime of murder above mentioned.
The petitioner could have successfully set up the defense of double jeopardy in case No. 14683 of the Court of First Instance of Rizal, where he was prosecuted again for the first evasion of sentence of which he had already been convicted by the Court of First Instance of Manila in case No. 73820; but, petitioner did not set up said defense, and he was convicted on August 8, 1946, by the Court of First Instance of Rizal in case No. 14683 and sentenced to two (2) years, four (4) months and one (1) day of prision correccional. And petitioner could also have successfully alleged the same defense in case No. 74311 of the Court of First Instance of Manila, where he was prosecuted for the second time for the evasion of which the petitioner had already been convicted by the Court of First Instance of Rizal in case No. 14862; but the petitioner did not set up said defense, and he was convicted on May 16, 1946 by the Court of First Instance of Manila in Criminal Case No. 74311 and sentenced to two (2) years, four (4) months and one (1) day of prision correccional. As the petitioner has not yet completed the service of the total penalty of six (6) years, four (4) months and twenty (20) days of imprisonment, to which he was sentenced in the cases Nos. 73820, 14862, and 74312, it is not necessary for us to decide now whether or not he has to serve also the sentences rendered in the above mentioned cases Nos. 14683 and 74311.
The penalties imposed upon the petitioner for evasions of service of sentence have not been affected by the absolute pardon granted to him remitting the unserved penalty to which he was finally sentenced for the crime of murder; because petitioner was convicted of evasions of service of sentence before the pardon and while he was serving said sentence of conviction for murder, which was then still in full force.
Petition is therefore denied. So ordered.
Moran, C.J., Pablo, Hilado, Bengzon, Briones, Padilla, and Tuason, JJ., concur.