DEL CASTILLO v TORRECAMPO (394 SCRA 221) December 18, 2002 (Digest)

Prescription of Penalty

37. DEL CASTILLO v TORRECAMPO  (394 SCRA 221)  December 18, 2002

G.R. No. 139033

Facts:

                10 years after the petitioner was found guilty for violating the Election Code (whereby he was never apprehended and remained at large), he filed before the trial court a motion to quash the warrant issued for his arrest on the ground of prescription of the penalty imposed upon him. He based his claims on Article 93 of the Revised Penal Code which provides that the period of prescription shall commence to run from the date when the culprit should evade the service of his sentence.

Issue: Whether or not the penalty of the crime committed by Torrecampo already prescribed.

Held: No

Ratio:

                The petition must be denied since under Article 93, prescription shall commence to run from the date the felon evades the service of his sentence, which is inapplicable in the case at bar since the petitioner was never brought to prison and cannot be said to have escaped therefrom.