The Supreme Court (SC) made it clear that imprisonment of more than the maximum penalty is not only cruel but undermines the dignity of a person deprived of liberty (PDL).

This was stated in a decision written by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez dated 15 March 2023 but released on 6 November 2024, wherein the Supreme Court’s Second Division affirmed Jovelyn Antonio’s conviction for qualified theft but ordered her immediate release following the service of her sentence.

The records showed that in 2011, a Regional Trial Court (RTC) convicted Antonio of qualified theft for unlawfully taking money from her employer, GQ Pawnshop.

As the shop’s secretary, Antonio was responsible for verifying the authenticity of pawned items, but she had individuals pawn fake items for which she paid out a total of P585,250 in appraised value to the pawners.

The lower court sentenced Antonio to reclusion perpetua, or at least 30 years in prison, and she was committed to the Correctional Institution for Women on 24 November 2011.

The Court of Appeals in 2014, affirmed her conviction, prompting her to file an appeal before the Supreme Court.

The High Court upheld her conviction, concluding that the prosecution had proven all the elements of qualified theft.

Under Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), there is theft when one, with intent to gain but without violence, intimidation, or force, takes the personal property of another without consent.

The crime is qualified, which increased the penalty when committed with grave abuse of confidence.

The Court found that Antonio took the proceeds from the fraudulent transactions, stole money from her employer, and abused the trust placed in her as GQ Pawnshop’s secretary.

But the SC reconsidered the penalty that could be imposed, since given the amount stolen the penalty for the crime is prison mayor, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years and 8 months.

The SC said that under Article 89, Paragraph 2 of the RPC, criminal liability is extinguished by the service of the sentence as Antonio had been detained since 24 November 2011, or almost 12 years.