Now the Chiong murder convicts are freed

Just when we thought that we’ve ended our issue with convicted Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez who was serving seven life sentences, but would have been prematurely released if not for the howl by many Netizens in social media complaining about the travesty of justice. To think that it was only a couple of weeks ago when the former mayor Sanchez, who was convicted for the 1993 rape and murder of University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) students Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez would have been released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as announced by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who could have gone free after serving only 26 years in jail. Thankfully, the Justice Department clarified that apparently mayor Sanchez was not eligible for parole.

Suddenly there is another issue of grave importance for us in Cebu when we learned that apparently three of the seven convicts in the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in 1997 have been granted early release in August 2019, according to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) documents. The release orders, dated Aug. 16, said the three had served 40 years upon retroactive application of Republic Act 10592. They are Josman Aznar, Ariel Balansag and Alberto Caño. They were released on Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA), a provision in the Revised Penal Code that shortens jail time for good behavior.

Mind you, this was celebrated murder/kidnapping case in Cebu during the presidency of Joseph “Erap” Estrada. In the news, the mother of the Chiong sisters, Thelma Chiong said that the news of the release of Aznar, Caño and Balansag devastated her. She said “It’s like they killed my children all over again and I’m reliving the nightmare that my family felt 22 years ago.” Chiong added that those convicted in the case of her daughters’ abduction and murder should not have the privilege to avail themselves of early release through the GCTA, citing a provision in Republic Act 9346 that abolished the death penalty in 2006.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson revealed this news saying that the three convicts were “certified to have no other legal cause to be further detained” and “shall be released from confinement.” Sen. Lacson, in a radio interview last Friday, said BuCor had issued release orders for Aznar, Caño and Balansag. In that interview, over Radio dzBB, Lacson said a certain “Marquez” signed the order, not BuCor Chief Nicanor Faeldon himself. Faeldon has denied signing the documents.

But Thelma Chiong blames Faeldon for their release saying, “Four presidents have come and gone, but the Chiong 7 never got a presidential pardon. But here comes Faeldon who easily released them without considering the legal ramifications of his act.”

While Josman Aznar, Caño and Balansag were convicted in the Chiong kidnapping and serious illegal detention cases on May 5, 1999, this was with the conviction of Francisco “Paco” Larrañaga, Rowen Adlawan, and brothers James Andrew and James Anthony Uy. What made this case fresh in the media was that Paco Larrañaga was transferred to a penitentiary in Madrid, Spain after the Department of Justice approved his transfer there, citing the Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. That’s because he was a Spanish citizen.

At this point, I hope that the Justice Department should look and investigate this case because this was the Cebu version of the crime that Calauan mayor Antonio Sanchez committed. To be totally honest about it… not only is Thelma Chiong devastated by this news, ordinary Cebuanos too feel that this was indeed a travesty of justice.

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I read in the front page news of the Philippine STAR that a Beechcraft King Air 350 with aircraft registry number RP-C2296 crashed into a resort in Laguna, killing all its nine passengers. From the inset photo in the Star front page, one can see the King Air with smoke coming out of its wings as it was about to plunge into the resort in a video taken by the resort owner.

Reading the list of fatalities, you can see that the nurse was a Japanese and the patient died with his wife. The King Air was apparently on a medical mission that flew from Dipolog City to proceed to NAIA but unfortunately crashed in Adobo Resort in Miramonte Subdivision in Barangay Pansol’s Purok 6, about two kilometers from Mount Makiling, burning some residential homes in the subdivision.

Meanwhile we await the investigation of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). The inset photo showed the King Air was smoking before it crashed, which means the pilots were really in an emergency situation. The Beechcraft King Air is one of the sturdiest private planes and I don’t recall of King Air planes having crashed in this country.

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