The Sandiganbayan Third Division rejected former Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes’ appeal for early release after being convicted of graft in 2017.
According to a Manila Bulletin report, Reyes conspired with Mining Operations Officer IV Andronico Baguyo and issued a Small Scale Mining Permit to Olympic Mines and Development Corporation (OMDC), allowing the firm to operate using heavy equipment and extract beyond the allowable limit of 50,000 dry metric tons of ore per year in accordance to previous permit.
Reyes was sentenced to six to eight years of imprisonment and was allowed to post P60,000 for his provisional liberty as he filed a motion for reconsideration.
However, when he was released from the Puerto Princesa City Jail weeks ago for a different case, the prosecution immediately filed an omnibus motion to revoke his bail and have him sent back to prison. Reyes filed a “Motion to Release Accused after Service of Minimum Penalty” but was denied the month after. He then filed a motion for reconsideration but was overruled by the anti-graft court after finding his arguments devoid of merit and stated that his intentions were ‘misplaced.’
“It must be stressed that the “release after service of minimum imposable penalty” provided in Section 5 of the said issuance is still in the nature of a grant of bail and not a separate mode of liberty to a detention prisoner or convicted prisoner on the ground of service to the minimum penalty imposable,” the resolution read per report.
The Sandiganbayan stressed that the Supreme Court (SC) recognized that the service of the minimum term only entitles the accused to be eligible for parole and does not guarantee immediate release per Reyes’ request.
