FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
7 JIJI. 26 r’ ? -’ 6 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Section 4 of Presidential Decree No. 968, also known as the Probation Law of 1976, 
provides that “no application for probation shall be entertained 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 considered mutually exclusive” and, therefore, 
probation would still be unavailable to the accused. Iniquitous as this situation may appear, the 
law as it stands should be followed. 
To remedy the iniquitous 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 give 
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.” 
’ This bill was originally filed during the Thirteenth Congress, First Regular Session. 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
7 ‘1111 
20 r’ -: 5 
First Regular Session 
1 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
AMENDING SECTION 4 OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 968, OTHERWISE KNOWN 
AS THE PROBATION LAW OF 1976, AS AMENDED, ON THE GRANT OF PROBATION 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Section 4, Paragraph 1, of Presidential Decree No. 968, otherwise known 
as 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 COURT WHERE THE 
APPLICATION FOR PROBATION MAY BE FILED. 
xx xx xx” 
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SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days from the date of its publication 
in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
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Approved, 
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