People vs. Patriarca
September 29, 2000

Case Doctrine: 

The person released under an amnesty proclamation stands before the law precisely as though he had committed no offense. Par. 3, Art. 89, Revised Penal Code, provides that criminal liability is totally extinguished by amnesty; the penalty and all its effects are thus extinguished.

Facts: 

Patriarca was a member of the NPA. He charged with the crime of murder for the death of Alfredo Arevalo before RTC Sorsogon docketed as Criminal Case No. 2773. He was also charged with murder for the killing of one de Borja and a certain Cadag under Informations docketed as Criminal Cases Nos. 2665 and 2672, respectively. In 1998, the RTC found him guilty in Criminal Case No. 2773 and sentenced him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua. Patriarca appealed the decision to the SC.

Patriarca applied for amnesty under Proclamation No. 724 entitled "Granting Amnesty to Rebels, Insurgents, and All Other Persons Who Have or May Have Committed Crimes Against Public Order, Other Crimes Committed in Furtherance of Political Ends, and Violations of the Article of War, and Creating a National Amnesty Commission." In 1999, his application was favorably granted by the National Amnesty Board concluding that his activities were done in pursuit of his political beliefs.

Issue: 

What is the effect of the grant of amnesty to the conviction of the accused-appellant?


Held: 

Amnesty commonly denotes a general pardon to rebels for their treason or other high political offenses, or the forgiveness which one sovereign grants to the subjects of another, who have offended, by some breach, the law of nations. Amnesty looks backward, and abolishes and puts into oblivion, the offense itself; it so overlooks and obliterates the offense with which he is charged, that the person released by amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he had committed no offense.

Paragraph 3 of Article 89 of the Revised Penal Code provides that criminal liability is totally extinguished by amnesty, which completely extinguishes the penalty and all its effects.

The Supreme Court took judicial notice of the grant of amnesty upon Patriarca. It held that once amnesty is granted, it is binding and effective and that it serves to put an end to the appeal. The Supreme Court acquitted Patriarca of the crime of murder in Criminal Case No. 2773 and ordered the dismissal of Criminal Cases Nos. 2665 and 2672. (People vs. Patriarca, Jr. G.R. No. 135457, September 29, 2000)