The essence of a plea bargaining agreement is the allowance of an accused to plead guilty to a lesser offense than that charged against him. - sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2012/september2012/196231.pdf

See - sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2012/september2012/196231.pdf


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Plea bargaining is a process in criminal cases whereby the accused and the prosecution work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case subject to court approval.73 The essence of a plea bargaining agreement is the allowance of an accused to plead guilty to a lesser offense than that charged against him. Section 2, Rule 116 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure provides the procedure therefor, to wit:

SEC. 2. Plea of guilty to a lesser offense. -- At arraignment,
the accused, with the consent of the offended party and the
prosecutor, may be allowed by the trial court to plead guilty
to a lesser offense which is necessarily included in the
offense charged. After arraignment but before trial, the
accused may still be allowed to plead guilty to said lesser
offense after withdrawing his plea of not guilty. No
amendment of the complaint or information is necessary.
(Sec. 4, Cir. 38-98)


Plea bargaining is allowable when the prosecution does not have
sufficient evidence to establish the guilt of the accused of the crime charged.74 However, if the basis for the allowance of a plea bargain in this case is the evidence on record, then it is significant to state that in its earlier Resolution75 promulgated on January 7, 2010, the Sandiganbayan had evaluated the testimonies of twenty (20) prosecution witnesses and declared
that “the conglomeration of evidence presented by the prosecution is viewed by the Court to be of strong character that militates against the grant of bail.”

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