Title
People vs. Tolentino
Case
G.R. No. 48740
Decision Date
Aug 5, 1942
Faustino Tolentino, a habitual delinquent, appealed an additional penalty for theft. The Supreme Court modified the sentence, imposing ten years and one day for his fifth conviction, considering his guilty plea.
recidivist defendant
sentence for theft
additional penalty

Case Summary (G.R. No. 48740)

Factual Background and Procedural History

In the municipal court of Manila, as in the Court of First Instance to which the case was appealed, both defendants entered a plea of guilty to the charge of theft of the seven shirts belonging to Cosme Famorca. On the basis of their admissions, the Court of First Instance treated both defendants as recidivists. It sentenced them to suffer two months and one day of arresto mayor and ordered them to pay the corresponding civil indemnity to the offended party.

For Faustino Tolentino y de Dios, the Court of First Instance imposed an additional penalty of six years and one day of prision mayor for habitual delinquency. The other defendant did not appeal.

The Appeal and the Single Issue Raised

Only Faustino Tolentino y de Dios appealed to the Supreme Court. The only issue raised was the correctness of the additional penalty—specifically, whether the trial court correctly treated the appellant as a fifth (or “fifth or additional”) offender for purposes of the additional penalty under Article 62, paragraph 5 of the Revised Penal Code, or instead as a lesser offender category.

The Allegations of Habitual Delinquency and Prior Convictions

The information alleged that the accused was a habitual delinquent, alleging prior convictions by final judgments rendered by competent courts. The text of the information, as reproduced in the record, identified earlier convictions involving crimes of theft and estafa, along with the dates of commission, sentencing, and release.

Among those prior convictions were: a qualified theft and subsequent theft and estafa judgments, each with its own sentencing dates, release dates, and penalties, including terms such as arresto mayor, prision correccional, and prision correccional components coupled with obligations to indemnify the offended party. The information later reflected that Faustino Tolentino y de Dios had already been sentenced multiple times, including for theft-related offenses and an estafa conviction.

Trial Court’s Treatment of the Conviction Number

The trial court imposed the additional penalty under Article 62(5)(b), treating the present case as involving only the appellant’s fourth conviction rather than his fifth. This decision effectively determined the category and range of the additional penalty imposed for habitual delinquency.

Positions of the Parties

The Solicitor General recommended affirmance. It argued that the appellant’s fourth previous conviction alleged in the information should be disregarded because the date of release in connection with that conviction was allegedly not shown. On that theory, the case would properly fall under the effects for a fourth conviction under Article 62(5)(b).

By contrast, the counsel for the appellant relied on the trial court’s implied finding that the case constituted only the appellant’s fourth conviction. Counsel contended that the appellant should be sentenced under Article 62(5)(a), as if it were only his third conviction, by reasoning that the first conviction should be treated merely as an aggravating circumstance and thus be disregarded as an element of habitual delinquency.

The Court’s Construction of Article 62, Paragraph 5

The Court rejected the appellant’s main theory. It considered the proposed interpretation unwarranted because it would mean that an accused could not be sentenced for habitual delinquency unless he had at least three previous convictions, treating the first conviction as only an aggravating circumstance and disregarding it for habitual delinquency. The Court held that such a reading of the Habitual Delinquency Law could not be sustained.

The Court quoted the text of Article 62, paragraph 5. It emphasized that habitual delinquency effects are triggered upon a third, fourth, and fifth or additional conviction, with prescribed additional penalties that progress from prision correccional to prision mayor, and, in the most severe stage, from prision mayor in its maximum period to reclusion temporal in its minimum period. It also highlighted the statutory condition for habitual delinquency: within ten years from the date of release or last conviction for the crimes of robo, hurto, estafa, or falsificacion, the offender must be found guilty of those crimes a third time or oftener.

Recidivism as Aggravation in Fixing the Principal Penalty

The Court addressed the relationship between habitual delinquency and recidivism. It held that a habitual delinquent is necessarily a recidivist, and, therefore, in imposing the principal penalty, the aggravating circumstance of recidivism must be taken into account.

In fixing the penalty that is “the penalty provided by law for the last crime” under Article 62(5)(a), (b), and (c), the Court stated that the sentencing court could not disregard Articles 14(9) and 64 of the Revised Penal Code. Article 14(9) defines recidivism as an aggravating circumstance, and Article 64 supplies the rule on the application of aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

The Court reaffirmed its earlier holdings in People vs. Melondrez, People vs. Espina, and People vs. De Jesus as a correct interpretation of the Habitual Delinquency Law. It held, however, that for the purpose of fixing the additional penalty, recidivism could not be taken as an aggravating circumstance, because it is inherent in habitual delinquency.

Rejection of the Solicitor General’s Theory on Disregarding the Fourth Prior Conviction

The Court likewise rejected the Solicitor General’s recommendation to disregard the appellant’s previous fourth conviction for lack of proof of its release date. The Court held that the previous fourth conviction could not be disregarded solely because the date of release in connection with that conviction had not been shown.

The Court reasoned that since the fourth time the appellant was sentenced was on September 30, 1935, to suffer a term of two months and one day of arresto mayor plus an additional penalty of two years, four months, and twenty-one days of prision correccional, it necessarily followed that release occurred less than ten years before August 13, 1941, the date of commission of the present offense.

The Court further found that the trial court’s and Solicitor General’s stance was untenable because, if the fourth previous conviction were disregarded, then the appellant would not qualify for any additional penalty for habitual delinquency, as the prior third conviction and its release would have taken place more than ten years prior to the commission date.

Determination That This Was the Fifth Conviction

Having found that the fourth previous conviction could not be excluded, the Court concluded that the present conviction was in fact the appellant’s fifth conviction. Accordingly, it held that the appellant should be sentenced under Article 62(5)(c).

Adjustment of the Additional Penalty and Effect of the Guilty Plea

The Court modified the sentence by increasing the additional penalty. It directed that the appellant suffer an additional penalty of ten years and one day of prision mayor, thereby imposing the appropriate range for a fifth or additional conviction under Article 62(5)(c).

In determining the specific degree of the additional penalty, the Court held that it had to be imposed in its minimum degree because the appellant’s plea of guilty constituted a mitigating circumstance.

Disposition

The Court affirmed the appealed sentence with modification. It increased the habitual delinquency additional penalty to ten years and one day of prision mayor. It also awarded costs.

Separate Opinion (Dissent)

Justice Bocobo dissented. He argued that, on a fifth conviction for robbery, theft, estafa, or falsification, the prior convictions should not be treated as an aggravating circumstance of recidivism in fixing the principal penalty, because the same prior convictions were also counted in determining the additional penalty for habitual delinquency.

Justice

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