Candao v. People

Summary

This Supreme Court Resolution dated February 1, 2012 denied petitioners' motion for reconsideration of the October 19, 2011 Decision that affirmed their conviction for malversation of public funds. Three public officers were found guilty of malversing over P21 million in government funds. The main issue in this resolution was the correction of penalty computation for malversation under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code. The Court clarified how to properly divide reclusion temporal maximum to reclusion perpetua into three periods when the prescribed penalty is not naturally composed of three periods, following Article 65. The Court maintained the conviction but corrected the sentencing guidelines, ordered restitution of the full amount malversed, and granted the benefit of the three-fold rule. The case demonstrates proper application of penalty computation rules in serious corruption cases involving substantial public funds.