EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY

> Pardon
> Amnesty
> Reprieve
> Commutation of Sentence

PARDON
* a form of executive clemency granted by the president of the Philippines
as a privilege extended to a convict as a discretionary act of grace. Neither the
legislative nor the judiciary branch of government has the power to set conditions
or establish procedures for the exercise of the Presidential prerogative.
* an act of executive clemency, by a head of a state for the purpose of
exempting an individual from the punishment imposes upon him by a court of
law.
* an act of grace and the recipient is not entitled to it as a matter of right.

KINDS OF PARDON

> ABSOLUTE/PLENARY
> CONDITIONAL/PARTIAL

ABSOLUTE PARDON
* given without any condition attached to it. Its grant carries with total extinction
of criminal liability and designed for the following purposes:
- To do away with the miscarriage of justice;
- To restore full political and civil rights of persons who have already served
their sentence and have waited the prescribed period;
- To keep punishment abreast with current philosophy, concept or practice
of criminal justice system administration.

CONDITIONAL PARDON
* The exemption of an individual, within certain limits or conditions, from
the punishment that the law inflicts for the offense he has committed resulting in
the partial extinction of his criminal liability.
* It is also granted by the President of the Philippines to release an inmate
who has been reformed but is not eligible to be released on parole.

LIMITATIONS ON THE PARDONING POWER OF THE PRESIDENT

* It cannot be extended to cases of impeachment.
* No pardon may be granted in violation of any election law without favorable
recommendations by the Commission on Election.
* It may only be granted by the President after conviction.
* It cannot be exercised to violation of tax laws
* It may not be exercised over civil contempt (as for refusing to answer a proper
question as a witness in a case)

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PETITION OF PARDON

For Absolute Pardon

* Ten (10) years must have elapsed from the date of release of the petitioner
from confinement or confinement
* Five (5) years from the date of expiration of his maximum sentence, whichever
is more beneficial to him.
* However the Board may consider a petition for absolute pardon even before the
grant of final release and discharged under the provisions of sec 6, Act no. 4103 as
amended when the petitioner:
- is seeking an appointive/elective public position or reinstatement in the
government service
- needs medical treatment abroad which is not available locally
- will take any government examination or immigrating.

* The petition for absolute pardon shall be accompanied by the following

requirements:
- Affidavits of at least two (2) responsible members of the community
where the petitioner resides. The affidavits shall, among others, state that the
petitioner has conducted himself a moral and law-abiding manner since his
release from prison and shall indicate the petitioner's occupation and the
community service he has rendered, if any, and
- The clearances from the police, courts and prosecutors office where the
petitioner resides.

For Conditional Pardon

*the petitioner must have served at least one-half of the minimum of his
indeterminate sentence for the following portions of his prison sentence:
- At least two (2) years of the minimum sentence if convicted of murder or
parricide but not sentenced to reclusion perpetua.
- At least one (1) year of the minimum sentence if convicted of Homicide.
- At least nine (9) months if convicted of frustrated homicide;
- At least six (6) months if convicted of attempted homicide.
*However, the following category of prisoners shall not be considered for
conditional pardon:
- The petitioner is eligible for parole.
- The petitioner had been sentenced to another prison term within one (1)
year from the date of his last recommitment to the jail or prison from where he
escaped.
- The prisoner is suffering from mental illness or disorder as certified by a
government psychiatrist.
- The prisoner had violated a conditional pardon, which was previously
granted before the expiration of his maximum sentence.

* In petition for Pardon, the Director of Corrections shall forward the prison
record and carpeta of a prisoner/petitioner to the Board of Pardons and Parole
within the following periods:
- Absolute Pardon- within one (1) month from receipt by the director of the
request made by the Board for the prison record and carpeta;
- Conditional Pardon- at least one (1) month before the expiration of one-
half (1/2) of minimum period of the prisoner’s indeterminate sentence and in
special cases, at least one (1) month before the periods the petitioner becomes
qualified.
- A petition for the grant of either absolute or conditional pardon shall be
favorably endorsed to the Board by the Secretary of National Defense if the crime
committed by the petitioner is against national security such as rebellion,
subversion, or sedition; or by the Commission on Elections, in case of violations of
any election laws, rules and regulations.
- An application for Executive Clemency shall not be considered during the
pendency of an appeal filed by the petitioner from the judgment of conviction.
 CONDITIONS OF PARDON

* The pardonee should live in his designated residence and shall not change his
residence without obtaining consent from the board.
* In cases of temporary need to leave the parole residence, no permission is
required but the whereabouts should be given to the parole/ pardon officer.
* The pardonee shall report to the Municipal Judge (of the town where he will
reside) or to such officer as maybe designated by the Executive Officer of the BPP
during the 1st year once a month and thereafter, once every 2 months or as often
as he may be required by said officer.
* The pardonee shall not indulge in any injurious or vicious habits and shall avoid
persons and places of disreputable character.
* That the pardonee shall not commit any crime

EFFECTS OF PARDON

* Removes penalties and disabilities and restores full civil and political rights.
* It does not discharge the civil liability of the convict to the individual he has
wronged, as the President has no power to pardon a private wrong.
* It does not restore offices, property or rights vested in others in consequence of
the conviction. Under the law, a pardon shall not work the restoration of the right
of suffrage unless such right be expressly restored by the terms of pardon.

AMNESTY
* a special form of pardon exercised by the President.
* a general pardon extended to a certain class of people who are usually
political offenders.
* an act of sovereign power granting oblivion or general pardon for past
offense and rarely, if ever, exercised in favor of single individual is usually exerted
in behalf of certain classes of person who are subjected to trial but not have been
convicted.
* It can be availed of before, during and after the trial of the case, even
after conviction.
* The purpose of amnesty is to hasten a country's return to political
normalcy by putting behind it the animosities of the past through a pardon that
will open the door to living normal lives for groups of people targeted by
amnesty.
* These groups were once involved in political activities during certain
troubled times like war or rebellion and by making a gesture of the state
forgetting past destructive activities of political lives, the country in turn will
ensure its return to normalcy.

PARDON VS. AMNESTY

PARDON
- FORGIVEness; Private Act; granted for
crimes against the peace of the State
- WHO: Individual
- WHEN: AFTER conviction
- CONSENT: President only
AMNESTY
- FORGETfulness; Public Act; granted for
crimes against sovereignty of the State
- WHO: Group (Political Offenders)
- WHEN: BEFORE, DURING, AFTER
Conviction or Investigation
- CONSENT: Concurrence of the
Congress

The Philippines issued THREE amnesty proclamations in the past.

* The first one was under Presidential Proclamation no. 51 by then President
Manuel Roxas amnestying those who collaborated with Japanese during World
War II.
* The second was Proclamation No. 75 issued by then President Elpidio Quirino
extending amnesty to leaders and members of the Hukbo ng Bayan sa Hapon
(HUKBALAHAP) or Huk and Pambansang Kaisahan ng mga Magbubukid (PKM)
which is an organization of peasants fighting for agrarian reform and is part of the
communist underground movement.
* The recent was the proclamation issued by President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino
III extending it to Antonio Trillanes IV, now a Senator and to the members of
Magdalo.

REPRIEVE
* applied to death sentences already affirmed by the Supreme Court.
* Temporary stay of the execution of sentence. In death sentences, the
date of execution of the death convict is held in abeyance for a certain period to
enable the Chief to temporarily stay execution of sentence.
* President can only exercise reprieve when the sentence has become final.

* Generally, it is extended to death penalty prisoners.

 * The date of execution of sentence is temporarily postponed indefinitely
to enable the Chief Executive to thoroughly study the petition of the condemned
man for commutation of sentence or pardon.

COMMUTATION OF SENTENCE
* Reduction of the duration of prison sentence.
* Act of clemency by which a heavier or longer sentence is reduced to a
lighter or shorter term.
* Death sentences or life imprisonment is reduced to a shorter sentence.
* does not forgive the offender but merely reduces the penalty of life
imprisonment or death sentence for a term of years.
* Also benefits inmates sentenced to a fixed or determinate sentence,
which renders him or her ineligible for parole.
* changes the original fixed sentence to a lesser indeterminate sentence,
which will then enable the beneficiary to be released on parole.
* Appropriate to use with convicts sentenced to several counts. The
sentence may be commuted to one single indeterminate sentence through
commutation and rendering the recipient to avail of parole after serving the
minimum sentence.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

* The petitioner must have served at least one-third (1/3) of the minimum of his
indeterminate sentence, or the following portions of his prison sentence
consisting of reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment)
* At least ten (10) years if convicted of robbery with homicide, robbery with rape
or kidnapping with murder
* At least twelve (12) years if given two (2) or more sentences for reclusion
perpetua.
* At least twenty (20) years in case of one (1) death sentence which was
automatically commuted to reclusion perpetua.
* At least twenty-five (25) years in case of two (2) sentences for reclusion
perpetua; provided that at least one (1) of the sentences had been automatically
commuted from death sentence.

DISQUALIFIED
* The petitioner is eligible for parole
* The petitioner had been sentenced to another prison term within one (1) year
from the date of his last recommitment to the jail or prison from where he
escaped
* The petitioner had violated any condition of his discharge on parole or
conditional pardon
* The petitioner is suffering from mental illness or disorder as certified by a
government psychiatrist

In commutation of sentence, the Director of Corrections shall forward the prison

record and carpeta or a petitioner/ prisoner to the Board of Pardons and Parole
within at least one (1) month before the expiration of one-third (1/3) of the
minimum period of prisoner’s indeterminate sentence and in special cases, at
least one (1) month before the periods becomes qualified.

COMMUTATION IS PROVIDED:

* When the convicted person sentenced to death is over seventy years of

age.
* When there is a failure to obtain the vote of affirmation of eight justices
of the Supreme Court en banc.

In both cases the degree of penalty is reduced to reclusion Perpetua.