Gerald Leal
SECOND DIVISION
PERFECTO DEL ROSARIO, JR., Petitioner,
G. R. No. L-65004
November 29, 1983 -versus-
HON. ALFREDO A. ROSERO, Respondent. R E S O L U T I O N
MAKASIAR, J.:
The Court resolved to give due course to the petition, to consider the Comment of the Solicitor General as a responsive pleading, and to decide the case.
As recounted by the Solicitor General in his comment, it is undisputed that on February 16, 1983, petitioner was charged with theft of some articles valued at Three Hundred Seventy Five [P375.00] Pesos. Petitioner was detained for failure to post bail. Assisted by CLAO counsel, upon arraignment, petitioner pleaded guilty. In a decision dated May 5, 1983 but promulgated on May 11, 1983 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, respondent Judge Alfredo A. Rosero sentenced him to an indeterminate imprisonment of from six months as minimum, to one year and one month as maximum, and to pay the offended party the sum of P375.00, crediting him, however, with the entire period of his preventive imprisonment.cralaw
Immediately after the sentence was read to petitioner, respondent Judge issued a "Commitment on Final Sentence" that very same day, May 11, 1983, addressed to the Provincial Jail Warden to whom the petitioner was committed. Also, that very same day, May 11, 1983, petitioner prepared his application for probation which was received by the Court on May 18, 1983: On May 20, 1983, respondent Judge denied the application for probation on the ground that "the sentence of conviction became final and executory on May 11, 1983, when the accused actually commenced to serve his sentence."
On June 7, 1983, petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the Order dated May 20, 1983 denying his application for probation, on the ground that his having been whisked to jail on May 11, 1983 did not constitute the commencement of the service of sentence as the judgment