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THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
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OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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First Regular Session 
1 
S.B. No. 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Section 4 of the Probation Law provides that ‘ho application for probation shall 
be entertaiued or granted if the defendant has perfected the appeal from the judgment of 
conviction.” The effect of such provision is to deny to one who appeals the right to apply 
for probation. 
There are, however, instances where the judgment of conviction erroneously 
imposes a non-probationable penalty, in which case the accused appeals the judgment for 
the sole purpose of reducing the penalty within probationable limits. In one case, 
Francisco v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 108747, 16 April 1995, the Supreme Court, 
while conceding,that in such cases the appeal “should not bar the accused from applying 
for probation,” nevertheless held that under the present state of the law, “appeal and 
probation are cdnsidered mutually exclusive” and, therefore, probation would still be 
unavailable to tl?e accused. Inequitous as this situation may appear, the law as it stands 
should be followed. 
To remedy the inequitous situation described above, this bill seeks to amend the 
Probation Law by adding an excepting clause in Par. 1, Sec. 4 thereof. The proposed 
amendment will jgive an accused the right to apply for probation despite his appeal from 
the judgment of !conviction, if his appeal is for the sole purpose of reducing the penalty 
within probationable limits and the appellate court modifies the judgment by imposing a 
probationable penalty. 
I 


THIRTEENTH ~ONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
1 
1 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
AMENDING SECTION 4 OF THE PROBATION LAW OF 1976, 
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 968, AS AMENDED 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House OfRepresentatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assendled: 
SECTION 1. Section 4, Par. 1, of the Probation Law, as amended, is hereby 
further amended to read as follows: 
“Section 4. Grant of Probation. - Subject to the 
provisions of this Decree, the trial court may, after it shall 
have convicted and sentenced a defendant, and upon 
application by said defendant within the period for perfecting 
an appeal, suspend the execution of the sentence and place 
the defendant on probation for such period and upon such 
terms and conditions as it may deem best: Provided, That no 
application for probation shall be entertained or granted if the 
defendant has perfected the appeal from the judgment or 
conviction, EXCEPT, HOWEVER, WHEN THE APPEAL 
IS FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF REDUCING THE 
PENALTY WITHIN THE PROBATIONABLE LIMIT AND 
THE APPELLATE COURT MODIFIES THE APPEALED 
JUDGMENT BY IMPOSING A PROBATIONABLE 
PENALTY, IN WHICH CASE THE RECORDS OF THE 
CASE SHALL BE TRANSMITTED TO THE LOWER 
C,OURT WHERE THE APPLICATION FOR PROBATION 
MAY BE FILED. 
I 
“xx xx xx” 
SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days froin the date of its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved. 
FN: 285