This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2013-07-31 |
REYES, J. |
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| The RTC, however, sentenced the accused-appellant to an imprisonment of twenty (20) years and one (1) day to forty (40) years of reclusion perpetua, giving the impression that the penalty of reclusion perpetua can be divided into periods when in fact it is a single and indivisible penalty. In People v. Diquit,[51] this Court held that reclusion perpetua is an indivisible penalty, it has no minimum, medium, and maximum periods. It is imposed in its entirety regardless of any mitigating or aggravating circumstances that may have attended the commission of the crime.[52] Consequently, in this case, the CA should have rectified the error committed by the RTC as to the penalty imposed on the accused-appellant. The CA should have been more circumspect in scrutinizing the appealed decision, specifically the propriety of the penalty imposed, since the very purpose of appeal is to amend or correct errors overlooked by the lower court. In this case, therefore, the accused-appellant should simply and appropriately be sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua, without any specification of duration.[53] | |||||