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* EN BANC.
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discretion of the trial court. But, as the Court has held in Concerned
Citizens v. Elma, 241 SCRA 84 (1995), „such discretion may be
exercised only after the hearing called to ascertain the degree of
guilt of the accused for the purpose of whether or not he should be
granted provisional liberty.‰ It is axiomatic, therefore, that bail
cannot be allowed when its grant is a matter of discretion on the
part of the trial court unless there has been a hearing with notice to
the Prosecution.
Same; Same; Same; In resolving bail applications of the accused
who is charged with a capital offense, or an offense punishable by
reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment, the trial judge is expected to
comply with the guidelines outlined in Cortes v. Catral, 279 SCRA 1
(1997).·In resolving bail applications of the accused who is charged
with a capital offense, or an offense punishable by reclusion
perpetua or life imprisonment, the trial judge is expected to comply
with the guidelines outlined in Cortes v. Catral, 279 SCRA 1 (1997),
to wit: 1. In all cases, whether bail is a matter of right or of
discretion, notify the prosecutor of the hearing of the application for
bail or require him to submit his recommendation (Section 18, Rule
114 of the Rules of Court, as amended); 2. Where bail is a matter of
discretion, conduct a hearing of the application for bail regardless of
whether or not the prosecution refuses to present evidence to show
that the guilt of the accused is strong for the purpose of enabling
the court to exercise its sound discretion; (Section 7 and 8, supra) 3.
Decide whether the guilt of the accused is strong based on the
summary of evidence of the prosecution; 4. If the guilt of the
accused is not
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imperiling his health and life would not serve the true objective
of preventive incarceration during the trial.
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age. The majority has not set specific bases for finding that the
medical condition of petitioner entitles him to treatment different
from all those who are now under detention and undergoing trial for
plunder. There is no showing as to how grave his conditions are in
relation to the facilities that are made available to him. There is
also no showing as to whether any of his medical ailments is
actually aggravating in spite of the best care available. If his health
is deteriorating, there is no showing that it is his detention that is
the most significant factor or cause for such deterioration. Usually,
when there is a medical emergency that would make detention in
the hospital necessary, courts do not grant bail. They merely modify
the conditions for the accusedÊs detention. There is now no clarity as
to when special bail based on medical conditions and modified
arrest should be imposed.
Same; Same; Same; View that bail is not a matter of right
merely for medical reasons.·Bail is not a matter of right merely for
medical reasons. In People v. Fitzgerald, 505 SCRA 573 (2006): Bail
is not a sick pass for an ailing or aged detainee or prisoner needing
medical care outside the prison facility. A mere claim of illness is
not a ground for bail. It may be that the trend now is for courts to
permit bail for prisoners who are seriously sick. There may also be
an existing proposition for the „selective decarceration of older
prisoners‰ based on findings that recidivism rates decrease as age
increases.
Same; Same; Same; View that before the ink used to write and
print the majority opinion and this dissent has dried, friends,
family, and colleagues of petitioner already strongly predict that he
would report immediately for work. This strongly indicates that the
major-
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BERSAMIN, J.:
The Case
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Antecedents
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13 Id., at p. 13.
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not strong.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, accused Juan Ponce
EnrileÊs Motion to Fix Bail dated July 7, 2014 is DENIED for lack
of merit.
SO ORDERED.14
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B. The prosecution failed to show clearly and
conclusively that Enrile, if ever he would be
convicted, is punishable by reclusion perpetua;
hence, Enrile is entitled to bail as a matter of
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right.
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C. The prosecution failed to show clearly and
conclusively that evidence of EnrileÊs guilt (if
ever) is strong; hence, Enrile is entitled to bail
as a matter of right.
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D. At any rate, Enrile may be bailable as he is not
a flight risk.16
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1.
Bail protects the right of the accused
to due process and to be presumed innocent
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2.
Bail may be granted as a matter
of right or of discretion
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23 Leviste v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 189122, March 17, 2010, 615
SCRA 619, 628.
24 As amended by A.M. No. 00-5-03-SC, December 1, 2000.
25 Section 6, Rule 114 of the Rules of Court.
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3.
Admission to bail in offenses punished
by death, or life imprisonment, or reclusion
perpetua is subject to judicial discretion
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4.
EnrileÊs poor health justifies
his admission to bail
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34 Id., at p. 18.
35 Rollo, pp. 252-253.
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36 Id., at p. 260.
37 Worthy to mention at this juncture is that the Court En Banc, in
People v. Genosa (G.R. No. 135981, January 15, 2004, 419 SCRA 537), a
criminal prosecution for parricide in which the penalty is reclusion
perpetua to death under Article 246 of the Revised Penal Code,
appreciated the concurrence of two mitigating circumstances and no
aggravating circumstance as a privileged mitigating circumstance, and
consequently lowered the penalty imposed on the accused to reclusion
temporal in its medium period.
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lier time many years ago when he had been charged with
rebellion with murder and multiple frustrated murder, he
already evinced a similar personal disposition of respect for
the legal processes, and was granted bail during the
pendency of his trial because he was not seen as a flight
risk.40 With his solid reputation in both his public and his
private lives, his long years of public service, and historyÊs
judgment of him being at stake, he should be granted bail.
The currently fragile state of EnrileÊs health presents
another compelling justification for his admission to bail,
but which the Sandiganbayan did not recognize.
In his testimony in the Sandiganbayan,41 Dr. Jose C.
Gonzales, the Director of the Philippine General Hospital
(PGH), classified Enrile as a geriatric patient who was
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JUSTICE MARTIRES:
That you will not be able to address in an emergency
situation?
DR. SERVILLANO:
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Considering the report of the Medical Director of the Quezon
Institute to the effect that the petitioner „is actually suffering from
minimal, early, unstable type of pulmonary tuberculosis, and
chronic, granular pharyngitis,‰ and that in said institute they „have
seen similar cases, later progressing into advance stages when the
treatment and medicine are no longer of any avail‰; taking into
consideration that the petitionerÊs previous petition for bail was
denied by the PeopleÊs Court on the ground that the petitioner was
suffering from quiescent and not active tuberculosis, and the
implied purpose of the PeopleÊs Court in sending the petitioner to
the Quezon Institute for clinical examination and diagnosis of the
actual condition of his lungs, was evidently to verify whether the
petitioner is suffering from active tuberculosis, in order to act
accordingly in deciding his petition for bail; and considering further
that the said PeopleÊs Court has adopted and applied the well-
established doctrine cited in our above quoted resolution, in several
cases, among them, the cases against Pio Duran (case No. 3324) and
Benigno Aquino (case No. 3527), in which the said defendants were
released on bail on the ground that they were ill and their
continued confinement in New Bilibid Prison would be injurious to
their health or endanger their life; it is evident and we consequently
hold that the PeopleÊs Court acted with grave abuse of discretion in
refusing to release the petitioner on bail.48
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49 Bravo, Jr. v. Borja, No. L-65228, February 18, 1985, 134 SCRA
466, where the Court observed:
To allow bail on the basis of the penalty to be actually imposed would
require a consideration not only of the evidence of the commission of the
crime but also evidence of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
There would then be a need for a complete trial, after which the judge
would be just about ready to render a decision in the case. As
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DISSENTING OPINION
LEONEN, J.:
I dissent.
This Petition for Certiorari should not be granted. The
action of the Sandiganbayan in denying the Motion to Fix
Bail was proper. Bail is not a matter of right in cases where
the crime charged is plunder and the imposable penalty is
reclusion perpetua.
Neither was there grave abuse of discretion by the
Sandiganbayan when it failed to release accused on bail for
medical or humanitarian reasons. His release for medical
and humanitarian reasons was not the basis for his prayer
in his Motion to Fix Bail1 filed before the Sandiganbayan.
Neither did he base his prayer for the grant of bail in this
Petition on his medical condition.
The grant of bail, therefore, by the majority is a special
accommodation for petitioner. It is based on a ground never
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3 Ponencia, p. 294.
4 Id.
5 Id.
6 Petition for Certiorari, Annex I, pp. 4-5.
7 Id., at p. 5.
8 Id., at pp. 6-7.
9 Petition for Certiorari, Annex J.
10 Petition for Certiorari, Annex K.
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[I]t is only after the prosecution shall have presented its evidence
and the Court shall have made a determination that the evidence of
guilt is not strong against accused Enrile can he demand bail as a
matter of right. Then and only then will the Court be duty-bound to
fix the amount of his bail.
To be sure, no such determination has been made by the Court.
In fact, accused Enrile has not filed an application for bail.
Necessarily, no bail hearing can even commence. It is thus
exceedingly premature for accused Enrile to ask the Court to fix his
bail.19
II
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....
SECTION 13. All persons, except those charged with offenses
punishable by reclusion perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong,
shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, or be
released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to
bail shall not be impaired even when the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus is suspended. Excessive bail shall not be required.
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23 See Gimenez v. Nazareno, 243 Phil. 274, 278; 160 SCRA 1, 4 (1988)
[Per J. Gancayco, En Banc].
24 See Rev. Rules of Crim. Proc., Rule 114, Sec. 3.
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(1) In capital cases like the present, when the prosecutor does
not oppose the petition for release on bail, the court should, as a
general rule, in the proper exercise of its discretion, grant the
release after the approval of the bail which it should fix for the
purpose;
(2) But if the court has reasons to believe that the special
prosecutorÊs attitude is not justified, it may ask him questions to
ascertain the strength of the stateÊs evidence or to judge the
adequacy of the amount of bail;
(3) When, however, the special prosecutor refuses to answer
any particular question on the ground that the answer may involve
a disclosure imperiling the success of the prosecution or
jeopardizing the public interest, the court may not compel him to do
so, if and when he exhibits a statement to that effect of the Solicitor
General, who, as head of the Office of Special Prosecutors, is vested
with the direction and control of the prosecution, and may not, even
at the trial, be ordered by the court to present evidence which he
does not want to introduce · provided, of course, that such refusal
shall not prejudice the rights of the defendant or detainee.28
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26 Id., at p. 644.
27 Id.
28 Herras Teehankee v. Director of Prisons, 76 Phil. 756, 774 (1946)
[Per J. Hilado, En Banc].
323
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33 336 Phil. 214; 269 SCRA 220 (1997) [Per J. Romero, Second
Division].
34 Id., at pp. 221-227; pp. 227-233, citing People v. Sola, 191 Phil. 21;
103 SCRA 393 (1981) [Per CJ. Fernando, En Banc], People v. San Diego,
135 Phil. 514; 26 SCRA 522 (1968) [Per J. Capistrano, En Banc], People
v. Dacudao, 252 Phil. 507; 170 SCRA 489 (1989) [Per J. Gutierrez, Jr.,
Third Division], People v. Calo, Jr., 264 Phil. 1007; 186 SCRA 620 (1990)
[Per J. Bidin, En Banc], Libarios v. Dabalos, A.M. No. RTJ-89-286, July
11, 1991, 199 SCRA 48 [Per J. Padilla, En Banc], People v. Nano, G.R.
No. 94639, January 13, 1992, 205 SCRA 155 [Per J. Bidin, Third
Division], Pico v. Combong, Jr., A.M. No. RTJ-91-764, November 6, 1992,
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215 SCRA 421 [Per Curiam, En Banc], De Guia v. Maglalang, A.M. No.
RTJ-89-306, March 1, 1993, 219 SCRA 153 [Per Curiam, En Banc],
Borinaga v. Tamin, A.M. No. RTJ-93-936, September 10, 1993, 226 SCRA
206, 216 [Per J. Regalado, En Banc], Aurillo, Jr. v. Francisco, A.M. No.
RTJ-93-1097, August 12, 1994, 235 SCRA 283 [Per J. Padilla, En Banc],
Estoya v. Abraham-Singson, A.M. No. RTJ-91-758, September 26, 1994,
237 SCRA 1 [Per Curiam, En Banc], Aguirre v. Belmonte, A.M. No. RTJ-
93-1052, October 27, 1994, 237 SCRA 778 [Per J. Regalado, En Banc],
Lardizabal v. Reyes, A.M. No. MTJ-94-897, December 5, 1994, 238 SCRA
640 [Per J. Padilla, En Banc], Guillermo v. Reyes, Jr., 310 Phil. 176; 240
SCRA 154 (1995) [Per J. Regalado, Second Division], Santos v. Ofilada,
315 Phil. 11; 245 SCRA 56 (1995) [Per J. Regalado, En Banc], Sule v.
Biteng, 313 Phil. 398; 243 SCRA 524 (1995) [Per J. Davide, Jr., En Banc],
and Buzon, Jr. v. Velasco, 323 Phil. 724; 253 SCRA 601 (1996) [Per J.
Panganiban, En Banc].
35 344 Phil. 415; 279 SCRA 1 (1997) [Per J. Romero, En Banc].
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With such succinct but clear rules now incorporated in the Rules
of Court, trial judges are enjoined to study them well and be guided
accordingly. Admittedly, judges cannot be held to account for an
erroneous decision ren-
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dered in good faith, but this defense is much too frequently cited
even if not applicable. A number of cases on bail having already
been decided, this Court justifiably expects judges to discharge their
duties assiduously. For a judge is called upon to exhibit more than
just a cursory acquaintance with statutes and procedural rules; it is
imperative that he be conversant with basic legal principles. Faith
in the administration of justice can only be engendered if litigants
are convinced that the members of the Bench cannot justly be
charged with a deficiency in their grasp of legal principles.37
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37 Id., citing Basco v. Rapatalo, 336 Phil. 214, 237; 269 SCRA 220,
243-244 (1997) [Per J. Romero, Second Division].
38 448 Phil. 45; 400 SCRA 37 (2003) [Per J. Ynares-Santiago, First
Division].
39 Id., at p. 48; p. 41.
40 Id., at pp. 49-50; p. 46.
41 Id., at pp. 56-57; p. 48.
42 Id., at p. 56; p. 47.
43 389 Phil. 372; 334 SCRA 1 (2000) [Per J. Ynares-Santiago, First
Division].
44 Id., at pp. 375 and 388; p. 13.
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53 219 Phil. 432; 134 SCRA 466 (1985) [Per J. Plana, First Division].
333
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55 Ponencia, p. 305.
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58 A.M. No. RTJ-92-876, September 19, 1994, 236 SCRA 505 [Per
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Curiam, En Banc].
59 Id., at pp. 521-522, citing 20 Am. Jur., Evidence, Sec. 17, 48, King
v. Gallun, 109 U.S. 99, 27 L. ed. 870, and 31 C.J.S., Evidence, Secs. 6-7,
823.
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bail despite imperiling his health and life would not serve the true
objective of preventive incarceration during trial.60 (Emphasis in
the original)
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60 Ponencia, p. 310.
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to the Court within thirty (30) days from receipt hereof. The
necessary medical examination/s and/or procedure/s as determined
the said doctor/s shall be undertaken at PGH or any government
hospital, which the medical team may deem to have the
appropriate, suitable and/or modern equipment or medical
apparatus and competent personnel to undertake the procedure/s,
ALL AT THE PERSONAL EXPENSE OF ACCUSED JUAN
PONCE ENRILE. Pending the completion of the aforesaid medical
examination/s and/or procedure/s and submission of the required
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68 536 Phil. 413; 505 SCRA 573 (2006) [Per J. Austria-Martinez, First
Division].
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VII
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705, Ex parte Smith, 2 Okla. Crim. Rep. 24, 99 Pfc. 893, and Max
Rothman, Burton Dunlop, and Pamela Entzel, Elders, Crime and The
Criminal Justice System, pp. 233-234 (2000).
70 Ponencia, p. 311.
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71 See Rev. Rules of Crim. Proc., Rule 114, Sec. 9, which states:
SEC. 9. Amount of bail; guidelines.·The judge who issued the
warrant or granted the application shall fix a reasonable
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amount of bail considering primarily, but not limited to, the following
factors:
(a) Financial ability of the accused to give bail;
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74 550 Phil. 63, 72; 521 SCRA 470, 482 (2007) [Per J. Sandoval-
Gutierrez, En Banc].
75 Ponencia, pp. 305-306.
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82 Rev. Pen. Code, Art. 294(2), as amended by Rep. Act No. 7659
(1993), Sec. 9.
83 Rev. Pen. Code, Art. 297.
84 Rev. Pen. Code, Art. 266-A, as amended by Rep. Act No. 8353
(1997), Sec. 2.
85 Rev. Pen. Code, Art. 266-A(1)(d), as amended by Rep. Act No. 8353
(1997), Sec. 2.
86 Rev. Pen. Code, Art. 266-A(2), as amended by Rep. Act No. 8353
(1997), Sec. 2.
87 Rev. Pen. Code, Art. 266-B(1), as amended by Rep. Act No. 8353
(1997), Sec. 2.
88 Rep. Act No. 6539 (1972), Sec. 14, as amended by Rep. Act No.
7659 (1993), Sec. 20 and Rep. Act No. 9346 (2006), Sec. 1.
89 Rep. Act No. 9165 (2002), Sec. 5.
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90 Rep. Act No. 9165 (2002), Sec. 11, 1st par. (3)(4)(5)(7)(8).
91 Rep. Act No. 9165 (2002), Sec. 11, 2nd par. (1).
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92 Rep. Act No. 9165 (2002), Sec. 11, 2nd par. (2).
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