Court resets reopening of death convicts’ case

The reopening of the kidnap-for-ransom case against death convicts Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan was reset yesterday to Feb. 25.

Judge Reuben de la Cruz, of the Marikina Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 272, ordered the postponement at 8 a.m. yesterday after the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) filed a motion to defer the arraignment of the case against Lara, Licayan and two other accused Pedro Mabansag and Noel de los Reyes.

The Supreme Court postponed the scheduled execution of Lara and Licayan last Jan. 30.

Mabansag and De los Reyes, who were arrested late last year, cleared Lara and Licayan of any involvement in the kidnapping of their victims.

The High Court expects PAO chief Persida Acosta to present new evidence within the 30-day period.

Acosta said she will present two major arguments — the lack of due process by the regional trial court that convicted Lara and Licayan and the new testimony of Lara‘s wife, Joy, to which the lower court allegedly failed to give due attention.

President Arroyo has stood firm on her decision not to intervene in the execution of death convicts and ended the four-year moratorium on the death penalty following pressures exerted by the business sector.

Arroyo is hoping that the execution of death convicts will send a strong signal to the business community that the government is serious in curbing criminality.

Meanwhile, despite the confusion over rules and orders, officials of the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) ordered yesterday the return of Lara and Licayan to isolation tomorrow morning.

NBP chief Superintendent Venacio Tesoro ordered his men to bring back the convicts to the isolation area at the death row building inside the maximum security compound of the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City. – Non Alquitran, Edu Punay