Case Digest: Francisco v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 108747, April 6, 1995
Criminal Law | Probation Law Pablo C. Francisco , President of ASPAC Trans. Co., was charged with multiple grave oral defamation in five (5) separate Informations instituted by five (5) of his employees for insulting his employees over four days. MeTC: Convicted in 4 out of 5 cases and sentenced by the to 1 year and 1 day to 1 year and 8 months of prision correccional for each count, totaling 16 counts . RTC: Affirmed the conviction but reduced each sentence to a straight 8 months due to a mitigating circumstance analogous to passion or obfuscation. Francisco did not appeal further but filed for probation after the RTC decision became final. MeTC : Denied his application for probation. Court of Appeals: Dismissed his petition. Whether Francisco is still eligible for probation after appealing his conviction to the RTC, which reduced his sentence to within the probationable limit . Francisco is not eligible for probation . Probation and appeal are mutually exclusive remedies...