By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

A 24-year-old man who was armed with a knife when he robbed a poker establishment last year was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, all suspended except for six years.
Christopher Igisomar, according to Superior Court Associate Judge Ramona V. Manglona, has a history of serious criminal convictions.
Igisomar appeared for a change of plea hearing on March 14 with Assistant Public Defender Douglas W. Hartig and entered a plea of guilty to robbery.
Chief Prosecutor Jeffery Warfield Sr. then moved to dismiss with prejudice the other charges.
The government also agreed not to prosecute Igisomar on any other charge arising from his conduct in a traffic case.
Manglona accepted the plea and sentenced Igisomar to a six-year jail term with credit for time served from Oct. 15, 2006.
Igisomar was also sentenced to serve three years of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his suspended sentence in two burglary charges. The three year sentence is to run concurrent with his robbery sentence.
Manglona rejected Igisomar’s first plea agreement which she said was too lenient.
The first agreement recommended that Igisomar be sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, all suspended except for four years with credit for time served.
Igisomar’s first conviction was in 2002 when he pleaded guilty to theft.
While he was on probation for his first conviction, he committed two separate burglaries.
Igisomar pleaded guilty to these two cases and agreed to a revocation of probation in the earlier case.
For these three cases, he received a total sentence of five years imprisonment, all suspended except for two years.
After his release from prison, he was charged with theft of a vehicle. A few months later, he committed armed robbery at Leo’s Poker in Tanapag.
Manglona said the evidence against Igisomar in the robbery case was strong.
There were eyewitnesses, a tape recording of the robbery and the detective’s declaration that a sharp object was held to the victim’s neck.
In sentencing the defendant in the robbery case, Manglona also placed Igisomar on probation for seven years upon his release from the Department of Corrections.
Igisomar will also perform 200 hours of community work service at a minimum rate of eight hours a month and pay restitution in the amount of $960.
Igisomar will pay a court assessment fee of $100, an annual probation service fee of $100 and a fine of $1,000.
He will write a letter of apology to the victim, Gemma Aguila, and stay away from Leo’s Poker.
His review hearing was set for March 11, 2009.