Sandigan eases prison sentence of Carlos Garcia

MANILA, Philippines — While affirming his conviction, the Sandiganbayan appears to have reduced its sentence against former military comptroller Carlos Garcia in connection with his illegal amassing of wealth amounting to P303 million from 1993 to 2004.

In a 13-page resolution promulgated yesterday, the anti-graft court’s Second Division partly granted Garcia’s motion for reconsideration and lifted the imposition of “subsidiary imprisonment” in case he fails to pay a fine of P406.3 million for direct bribery.

The Second Division retained the imposition of subsidiary imprisonment in case Garcia fails to pay a fine of P1.5 million for money laundering.

The Sandiganbayan said while the amount of fines imposed on Garcia for both offenses must be retained, a careful study of its original decision yielded a realization that there was no longer a need to impose subsidiary imprisonment for direct bribery since his conviction also carries with it a sentence of up to eight years in prison.

The resolution was penned by Second Division chairman Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr. with the concurrence of Associate Justices Michael Frederick Musngi and Arthur Malabaguio.

The court said the imposition of subsidiary imprisonment in case of failure to pay P1.5 million fine for the other complaint was “appropriate” as Garcia was only meted six years in prison for the offense, which does not exceed prision correccional.

Last July, the Second Division sentenced Garcia to up to eight years in prison for direct bribery and another six years for money laundering, for a total of 14 years in prison.

Although it was not stated in the decision, it appeared that Garcia would be considered to have served the prison terms as records showed that he has been detained at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City since 2011.