Sandiganbayan junks 71-year-old retired cop’s plea for hospital arrest

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan 5th Divison denied a 71-year-old former policeman’s request for hospital or house arrest and a shorter sentence, saying a plea not to be jailed because of old age has no basis in the law.

Retired senior superintendent Salvador Duran Sr was found guilty of involvement in a ghost purchase of about P10 million worth of “combat, clothing, and individual equipment” carried out in 1992.

He was arrested at his residence by National Bureau of Investigation agents only last October 15.

In his petition submitted on October 26, Duran requested for detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, saying he is suffering from several ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, and osteoarthritis.

But the Sandiganbayan said the petition was defective to begin with since a copy was not given to the prosecutor with a required notice of hearing 3 days before the set date.

The anti-graft court added that even if the petition was compliant, “there exists no law or rule which authorizes the service of sentence of imprisonment of a convict by final judgment by hospital/house confinement.”

It said that hospital arrest was allowed for former presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo because their plunder cases were still pending then, unlike Duran who had been convicted.

The retired cop also cannot cite his age, said the Sandiganbayan.

“The mitigating circumstance…applies only when the offender is 70 years old at the time of the commission of the crime. Here, when the crime was committed in August 1992, accused Duran Sr was only 45 years old,” the anti-graft court said. (READ: Too old for jail? At least 4,500 senior citizens incarcerated in PH)

The Sandiganbayan’s guilty verdict in 2009 was first affirmed by the Supreme Court (SC) in 2011, and became final and executory in June 2015.

“There is no rule or law that authorizes the reduction of the penalty of the accused meted in the decision of the court. The judgment having become final and executory…the issuance of mittimus is hereby ordered to commit accused Salvador Duran Sr for service of sentence,” the anti-graft court said.

Found guilty along with Duran were retired superintendents Van Luspo and Arturo Montano, as well as private defendant Margarita Tugaoen. But Luspo later won his appeal before the SC and was acquitted.

Prosecutors had presented evidence that supply contracts for the combat equipment were awarded to 4 trading companies owned by Tugaoen.

Former Philippine National Police (PNP) director general Cesar Nazareno was also named a co-accused in the case but died in 2007, two years before the case was resolved. Meanwhile, ex-PNP director for comptrollership Guillermo Domondon was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Those found guilty were also ordered to pay P10 million to the PNP. – Rappler.com