GMA won’t pardon 5 convicts, says rape-slay victims’ ma

CEBU — The mother of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong who were abducted and killed on July 16, 1997 is confident that President Arroyo will not grant executive clemency to five of the seven convicts in the case who have been sentenced to death.

Thelma Chiong, head of the Cebu-based Crusade Against Violence, said she believes that Mrs. Arroyo will turn down any request for executive clemency.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its Feb. 3, 2004 decision imposing the death penalty on Francisco "Paco" Larrañaga, Josman Aznar, Rowen Adlawan, Alberto Caño and Ariel Balansag.

But the tribunal decided to hold in abeyance its decision in the case of James Anthony Uy who claimed that he was still 17 years old when the incident took place.

The National Statistics Office has been ordered to submit to the Supreme Court a copy of Uy’s birth certificate to prove this claim.

Uy’s younger brother, James Andrew, who was only 16 years old when the Chiong sisters were kidnapped, was meted 20 years in jail.

Former National Bureau of Investigation regional director Florencio Villarin described the Supreme Court’s decision as a "miscarriage of justice," saying that Larrañaga was not involved in the case.

He said state prosecutors Primo Miro, Teresita Galaneda, Jose Ramon Duyongco and Cesar Estrera, who handled the case, were "in a hurry to be promoted" for their efforts in prosecuting the case.

Miro is now the deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas. Duyongco became NBI regional director, replacing Villarin before the latter retired from the service, while Galaneda and Estrera were appointed as judges in the cities of Dumaguete and Toledo, respectively.

After the Chiong sisters were abducted, they were brought first to a house in Guadalupe where they were raped. From there, the group brought them to the south bus terminal, and then to Carcar on board a rented van.

Marijoy’s body was recovered the following day at the bottom of a cliff in Guadalupe, Carcar town. Jacqueline’s body was never found. — Freeman News Service