One more convict in Ninoy murder up for parole

Sen. Benigno Simeon Aquino III, only son of the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino, disclosed that the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) had started the review for the petition for parole of another convicted killer of his father.

Aquino said the BPP sent him a letter informing him that the plea for parole of Felizardo Taran y Alay-ay is being reviewed by the board. The BPP has sought Senator Aquino’s comment on the application for parole of the convict.

A few weeks ago, President Arroyo pardoned M/Sgt. Pablo Martinez, another convict in the double murder of the late former senator Aquino and fall guy Rolando Galman.

Mrs. Aquino ordered the release of Martinez, who is already 70 years old, for humanitarian reasons because of his age.

The Aquinos assailed the pardon of Martinez as part of the political vendetta against the Aquinos, who supported calls for the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo at the height of the “Hello, Garci” controversy that implicated the President in alleged irregularities in the 2004 presidential elections.

Taran, now 58 years old and suffering from diabetes and hypertension, asked the BPP to grant him parole due to his health condition.

Court records showed that Taran was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison and to pay P134,000 as actual and compensatory damages and P750,000 as exemplary damages to the Aquinos.

Taran started serving his sentence at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa on June 10, 1990, almost six years after the Aquino assassination.

“To date, he has already served 29 years and eight months, including good conduct time allowance and credit for preventive imprisonment of six years, three months, and 18 days,” said Reynaldo Bayang, BPP executive director, in his one-page letter to Sen. Aquino.

Bayang said the ailing Taran has the right to apply for parole.

In another BPP case, the family of De La Salle University student Eldon Maguan, who was shot dead in a traffic altercation in 1991, opposed yesterday the application for commutation of sentence of the victim’s convicted killer businessman Rolito Go.

Maguan’s mother Rosario asked Judge F. Catris-Chua Cheng to reject the petition of Go’s sister Julie Sy, which was filed at the BPP last June 12, seeking a commutation of the convict’s sentence of life in prison.

In September 2006, President Arroyo turned down for lack of merit the pardon for executive clemency sought by Go, who was convicted by a Pasig court for Maguan’s murder in November 1993.

Rosario said they will ask the judge to immediately turn down Go’s petition for commutation of sentence because the convict had only served 11 years in prison and has not shown sincere remorse.

“The health considerations or illnesses he may claim are generally a part of life of most aging individuals. The illness he claims are treatable despite his incarceration,” Mrs. Maguan stressed.

She also revealed that despite Go’s brutality, he has shown no remorse and has even harassed and threatened “not only our family but also Special Prosecutor for the Ombudsman Dennis Villa-Ignacio, who was then the government prosecutor.”

In his letter to the BPP that was forwarded to the sala of Judge Chua Cheng, Go apologized to the Maguan family on the death of their beloved son and made a proposal as to the terms of payment of the damages to the Maguan family.

BPP acting chairperson Teresita Domingo said Go showed no remorse and has not even indemnified the family of the victim.

Invited to appear before Chua Cheng’s court are Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta, Maguan’s private lawyer Jose Flaminiano, Marikina City Prosecutor Antonio Amante, Sy, and Rosario and Grace Maguan, Eldon’s sister. – With Delon Porcalla, Non Alquitran