Ex-Batangas guv Leviste granted parole

MANILA, Philippines - Former Batangas governor Antonio Leviste is set to be released today from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) after being granted parole along with at least 30 other inmates.

Superintendent Venancio Tesoro, NBP officer-in-charge, said the prisoners were granted with parole on November 19 and their final certificates of discharges were released on Thursday.

Aside from being able to serve the minimum required sentence, Tesoro said the decision to grant Leviste with parole was also due to his old age of 73.

"Most likely, the board took that factor (old age) as a matter of course," Tesoro said in a phone-patch interview on ANC.

A Makati court sentenced the former Batangas governor from a minimum of six years to a maximum of 12 years imprisonment for killing his former aide.

He was committed to the NBP on Jan. 26, 2009.

But Tesoro said Leviste's good conduct and allowance merited him the completion of the minimum required sentence.

Tesoro said Leviste will be released anytime now but it doesn't mean that he has absolute freedom.

"He will have to report regularly to the parole officer in the area for the rest of the time that he has to serve up to the maximum sentence, which is 12 years."