De Leon vs Director of Prison, 31 Phil 60
G.R. No. L-10038, March 31, 1915
Criminal Case
Digest
Digested Cases
Criminal Law
Facts:
1. That some time prior to the 11th day of January, 1904, the said
Marcelo de Leon and others were charged with the crime of illegal detention,
were arrested, tried, found guilty of said crime, and sentenced to life imprisonment
by the trial court;
2. From the sentence of the lower court Marcelo de Leon, together with
the others, appealed to this court where, after a consideration of the cause,
the sentence of the lower court was modified and he (Marcelo de Leon) was
sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of eighteen years of reclusion
temporal, with the legal accessory penalties, and to pay the costs;
3. On the 19th day of November, 1909, the Honorable W. Cameron Forbes,
Acting Governor-General, extended to the defendant a conditional pardon
4. That the plaintiff, Marcelo de Leon, was transferred to the Iwahig
Penal Colony, but for some reason or other was later transferred again to
Bilibid;
5. That on the 17th day of November, 1913, the Honorable Francis Burton
Harrison, Governor-General, issued a conditional pardon to the plaintiff, the
condition being that he should not be guilty of any crime or infraction of the
law, the punishment for which should be a year or more of imprisonment, during
the rest of the unexpired time of his sentence of imprisonment already imposed;
6. On the 15th day of June, 1914, by a letter from the Honorable Ignacio
Villamor, Executive Secretary, to the Director of Prisons, it appears that the
Governor-General, by reason of representations made to him by the prison
authorities, directed the cancellation of the conditional pardon signed by him
under date of November 17, 1913;
7. The said conditional pardon of His Excellency the Governor-General of
the 17th of November, 1913, had never been delivered nor communicated to the
plaintiff, neither had the same been accepted by him
Issues: Whether or not the conditional pardon should be granted to the convict
if it is not yet been delivered or accepted by the convict?
Held: Conditional pardon is certainly a contract between two parties: the
Chief Executive, who grants the pardon, and the convict, who accepts it. It
does not become perfected until the convict is notified of the same and accepts
it with all its conditions.
Pardon was neither delivered nor accepted before it was canceled by the
order of the Governor-General. The same being canceled before delivery or
acceptance, it was without force or effect and the petition for the writ of
habeas corpus based upon the same must be denied.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the lower court is hereby
affirmed, with costs.
