Seares: Sanchez puzzler: 360 years sentence, 26 served, and he overstayed by 9?

AT FIRST, when news of former Calaun, Laguna mayor Antonio Sanchez’s early release from jail broke out, skeptical people were surprised. Administration critics suspected the wily hand of Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo who as a lawyer had defended Sanchez.

Sanchez, with six henchmen, in 1995 was convicted of the rape-slay of UP student Eileen Sarmenta and her boyfriend Allan Gomez. In 1996, the mayor, with three cohorts, was found guilty of killing Nelson Penalosa, a leader of Sanchez’s political rival, and his son. The Supreme Court upheld both convictions in 1999.

Seven reclusion perpetuas for each of the accused in the crimes against Sarmenta and Gomez, Two reclusion perpetuas for each of the accused in the Penalosa murder. A total of nine reclusion perpetuas for Sanchez and others involved in the two cases. Forty (for each reclusion perpetua) times nine equals 360 years behind bars.

Delight in big numbers

Court beat reporters and headline writers delight in summing up the years in the jail sentence. In Sanchez’s story, the figure 360 was prominently displayed (and now resurrected), as if he would actually spend several decades in prison and still not fully serve the full sentence.

That makes the journalists feel good, when their story is given more weight, as if the Sanchez case hadn’t sagged already by the overload. And that boosts the impression of justice being served, comforting to relatives and friends of the victim: “The mayor was going to rot in jail.”

Partly the reason many people were confused and upset by the news this week that Sanchez would walk away any day now from detention.

Not explained enough

Three things the news media may not have explained enough in stories where multiple reclusion perpetuas are imposed:

[1] Multiple sentences are served simultaneously, not one after the other, as government lawyers scrambled to explain.

[2} A convict’s stay in jail cannot exceed 40 years, no matter how many reclusian perpetuas are slapped by the court.

[3] Even the 40-max is shaved off by GCTA or good conduct time allowance.

And it’s No. 3 that further whittled down the term of Sanchez and thousands of other convicts this year.

Republic Act 10592 increased the GCTA for each convict per month. Sanchez, who reportedly now says “Praise the Lord” every chance he gets, has amassed a lot of “pogi” points. While RA 10592 was passed in 2013 yet, the Supreme Court opened the gateway for Sanchez and other convicts similarly situated in its ruling last July that interprets the law to be retroactive. Meaning, even those who were in jail before the law was passed would benefit from it.

What must be disturbing

It’s not the retroactive effect that must be disturbing. It is the placing of people yoked with a lot of reclusion perpetuas–indicating extraordinary savagery and heinousness–on the same level as those convicted of only one crime, not savage or heinous.

Sanchez raped a girl abducted by his goons from a school campus who wanted her as a gift for their boss. Then the thugs gang-raped her before killing her and her boyfriend. He also ordered a political rival’s supporter killed and included the son for good measure.

After serving 26 years. Sanchez, those computing his GCTA say, has overstayed since he already collected 49 years, nine years more than the max 40.

Should they amend the law to provide him compensation or should they just thank him for the excess service?

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