However, in a decision penned on June 25, 2019 by Supreme Court Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta in the cases Inmates of the New Bilibid Prison vs. Sec. Leila De Lima et al. and Reynaldo Edago vs. Sec. Leila De Lima et al., the SC, in a full court ruling, declared portions of the IRR invalid, and applied its provisions retroactively, meaning, in cases that were concluded before the law was signed.
In both the original and the SC amended version of the law, it excludes “recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and persons charged with heinous crimes” from coverage, and so it remains uncertain whether Sanchez and his co-accused could actually be granted an early release from Bilibid.
It also remains to be seen if Sanchez is actually eligible for parole on good conduct. In 2010, he was caught with P1.5 million worth of shabu hidden inside a Virgin Mary statue in his prison cell during one of the random inspections. Prior to that incident, he was also caught with marijuana and shabu in his cell in 2006. An air-conditioning unit and a flat screen TV were also seized from his cell during an inspection in 2015.
Aside from the Sarmenta-Gomez case, Sanchez is also serving double life sentences for the murder of Nelson and Rickson Peñalosa in 1991. He was already in prison for the former case when the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s conviction for the latter case in August 1999.
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