DOJ creates new panel for Olalia slay case

MANILA, Philippines - Leonor Alay-ay nearly 26 years ago.

In Department Order 860, Secretary Leila de Lima tapped high-level prosecutors to join the DOJ team handling the case before the Antipolo regional trial court “to doggedly and effectively pursue the conviction of the guilty parties and to give a heightened degree of focus commensurate to the importance of finding justice in the celebrated crime.”

Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela, Assistant State Prosecutors Hazel Valdez and Benito Oliver Sales III and Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Maria Ronatay were named members of the panel.

“The Olalia double murder case is imbued with public interest demanding only the most thorough and meticulous prosecution from the DOJ,” De Lima said in a statement.

Olalia and Alay-ay were abducted on Nov. 12, 1986, tortured and murdered by alleged members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Separate charges were recommended to be filed before a trial court by the DOJ against Eduardo “Red” Kapunan Jr., Oscar Legaspi, Ricardo Dicon, Cirilo Almario, Filomeno Crizaldo Maligaya, Edger Sumido, Jose Bacera, Jr., Dennis Jabatan, Freddie Sumagaysay, Fernando Casanova, Gene Paris, Gilberto Galicia, and Desiderio Perez.

The trial was stalled when Kapunan and Legaspi appealed the DOJ resolution and elevated their plea before the Supreme Court (SC). They claimed that the amnesty granted to them by former President Fidel Ramos via Proclamation 347 dated March 23, 1995 extinguished their criminal liability.

After 14 years, the SC ruled that there is prima facie evidence against Kapunan and Legaspi for the double murder since the amnesty granted them was covered by specified limitations.

Last Feb. 3, the trial court hearing the case issued warrants for the arrest of all the accused.

On Oct. 6, Kapunan surrendered and has since been in the custody of the Philippine Army. To date, only Kapunan and Perez have surrendered; Perez surrendered last July 24.

De Lima also ordered the DOJ panel of prosecutors “to vehemently oppose any motion of Kapunan to be placed under continuing military custody,” and to urge the trial court to order the transfer of Kapunan, preferably, to the National Bureau of Investigation.

“His (Kapunan’s) continued military detention is untenable, questionable and indefensible. For one thing, he is not anymore in active service that can justify the Philippine Army’s custody of him,” she pointed out.