Parole denied anew for Rowe killers

The Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) turned down anew the appeals for parole of the two communist hit men convicted for the 1989 assassination of US army Col. James Rowe.

The BPP turned down before the Holy Week the parole bid of Juanito Itaas, 37, and Donato Continente, 39, who were convicted for the murder of Rowe, an official of the Joint US Military Assistance Group (JUSMAG), and the wounding of his Filipino driver Joaquin Binoya on April 21, 1989 in Quezon City.

The rejection of their parole bids dashed the hopes of the two men who were found to have been assassins of the Alex Boncayao Brigade, the urban hit squad of the communist New People’s Army.

The two men were convicted on the testimony of witness Miriam Zulueta, who saw them ambush Rowe’s car which had just exited the former JUSMAG compound on Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City.

In August last year, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of Itaas, the reputed gunman, but downgraded the sentence of Continente to 12 to 14 years.

The SC ruled that Continente was only an accessory to the crime and scheduled him for release in 2003.

Itaas, however, deplored the rejection of their parole appeals and claimed he was "qualified" for parole because he had already been in jail for 13 years.

In an interview with The STAR earlier this month, Itaas, the supposed gunman, was confident his life sentence would be commuted, paving the way for parole after serving a portion of his shortened sentence.

Itaas said he was qualified to have his sentence of reclusion perpetua commuted to a sentence of no longer than 20 years. Once his sentence is commuted, Itaas claimed he could qualify for parole after serving one-third, or about six or seven years, of the shortened sentence.

Itaas’ wife, who requested not to be identified, said the BPP "runaround" was connected to the ongoing joint RP-US "Balikatan 02-1" military exercises.

She said the BPP blamed the New Bilibid Prison for failing to provide sufficient documents but the prison said the BPP never told them of the reason for the rejection of Itaas’ commutation bid.

"Perhaps it is because of the Balikatan that we were given the runaround. My husband has long qualified for the commutation and parole," she said, claiming Itaas’ release would embarrass the government.

In the ongoing peace talks with the government, the communist National Democratic Front (NDF) had hinted that the release of Itaas and Continente would be considered a "confidence-building measure" that would bolster the talks.