People v.

Abilong, L-1960, 26 November 1948

Facts: The appellant was charged with evasion of service of sentence as he willfully and unlawfully
entered the City of Manila while under the sentence of two years, four months and one day of
destierro.

Issue: Whether or not the appellant, evading a sentence of destierro is criminally liable under the
provisions of the Revised Penal Code, particularly article 157 of the said Code.

Held: Yes. Even if the word imprisonment in the said article does not pertain to the current situation
of the appellant, him being sentenced to destierro, the Spanish text of the said article will uphold.
The Spanish text mentions of “Privacion de libertad”, which literally means "deprivation of liberty
or freedom" and is seen as the more applicable phrase for the case of the appellant. Therefore, the
appellant is still guilty of evasion of service of sentence under article 157 of the Revised Penal
Code (Spanish text), because during the period that he was prohibited from entering the City of
Manila, he entered the said city.