Chiong: Glo won't pardon five sentenced suspects

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

Thelma Chiong, head of the Cebu-based Crusade Against Violence, said she is confident Arroyo will turn down any request for executive clemency by those already sentenced to death by the Supreme Court.

The SC last Thursday reaffirmed its February 3, 2004 decision imposing death penalties to Francisco "Paco" Larrañaga, Josman Aznar, Rowen Adlawan, Alberto Caño and Ariel Balansag.

But the SC 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 SC a copy of James Anthony's birth certificate to prove this claim. Yu's younger brother, James Andrew, who was only 16 years old when the Chiong sisters was kidnapped, was already sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Former National Bureau of Investigation regional director Florencio Villarin described the SC decision over dyLA as a "miscarriage of justice" because he said 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 who replaced Villarin before the latter retired from the service, while Galaneda and Estrera were appointed as court judges, in Dumaguete and Toledo City, respectively.

After the sisters were abducted, they were brought first to a house in Guadalupe where they were raped. From there, the group brought the sisters to the south bus terminal, then to Carcar via van-for-hire.

Marijoy's body was recovered the following day at the bottom of a cliff in Guadalupe, Carcar. Jacqueline's body was never found. - Rene U. Borromeo