A friend of President Estrada who is said to be a member of his so-called "midnight Cabinet" bypassed the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) in seeking absolute pardon for a former fellow inmate at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.
Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora admitted yesterday that Caloocan Rep. Luis "Baby" Asistio recommended the pardon for Benigno "Bening" Urquico.
A BPP official who asked not to be named scored Zamora and Asistio, saying Malacañang made it appear that the BPP recommended the pardon when the board had in fact been bypassed.
Asistio and Urquico were co-accused in the kidnapping of Chinese businessman Chua Pao in 1962, along with Pedro Rebullo, Edgardo Pascual, Lorenzo Meneses, Alfredo Caimbon, Federico Zaragoza, and Jose Bello. Their group was then known as the "Big Four."
But Zamora said Urquico was qualified for absolute pardon since he served 13 years of his prison term and after 10 years of having been granted a conditional pardon.
He said Urquico, after having been discharged from prison on Nov. 21, 1977, was granted absolute pardon last Dec. 16 that restored his full civil and political rights.
However, the BPP official said certain officials from the Office of the Executive Secretary made it appear that the board had recommended to the President the absolute pardon for Urquico "even if we did not."
The first page of the 13-page memorandum as approved by the President read: "As recommended by the BPP and pursuant to the authority conferred upon me by the Constitution, I hereby grant the executive clemency to the following individuals, subject to the conditions indicated in the corresponding documents."
The BPP official added that the officials from Zamora's office could be held criminally liable for falsification of public documents and may face 20 years of imprisonment.
Urquico's name was mysteriously included in the list of those who were granted absolute parson by the President last Dec. 16, along with the now controversial Norberto Manero Jr., the convicted killer of Italian priest Tullio Favali in Cotabato in 1985.
In a related development, Zamora also belied allegations that aside from Urquico, the killers of former Tiaong, Quezon Mayor Marcial Punzalan Sr. were given "anomalous pardon" by Malacañang. Punzalan was the father of incumbent Quezon Rep. Marcial Punzalan Jr.
Zamora said both Nelson Añonuevo and Ronillo Añonuevo were given a commutation of sentence on May 27, 1998 and were given conditional pardon on Dec. 9, 1999.
The President has ordered a thorough investigation into the alleged anomaly.