Case vs Strunk to be refiled

Rod Lawrence Strunk, principal suspect in the November 2001 murder of actress Nida Blanca, may now be a free man in California, but the long arm of the law may yet catch up with him.

The Department of Justice will refile the petition to extradite him to Manila and seek a new United States court to hear it.

"All is not lost. We can still get Mr. Strunk back here to face charges in connection with Nida Blanca’s death," Justice Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez, who is handling extradition cases, told a Senate hearing yesterday.

"We will address all the concerns of the extradition judge who (first) handled the case. We will send all the evidence, as much evidence as we could gather, in support of refiling the petition," she told senators.

Gutierrez said US justice attaché in Manila, Jeffrey Cole, said it was possible to refer the case to another court.

Last Nov. 12, US magistrate Gregory Hollows of Sacramento, California denied the Philippines’ extradition request for Strunk for insufficient and inconsistent evidence.

The dismissal prompted Blanca’s daughter, Kaye Torres, and her lawyer, former Commission on Elections chairwoman Harriet Demetriou, to denounce Gutierrez and NBI Director Wycoco for allegedly mishandling the case.

They even called for the resignation or replacement of Wycoco, whom they accused of putting political color on the case.

Responding to questions raised by Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senators Francis Pangilinan and Rodolfo Biazon, Gutierrez said Hollows did not properly appreciate the evidence that the DOJ submitted.

"The judge raised some concerns, and we are now addressing these," she said, adding that Philippine authorities were dependent on the advice of the US justice officials because of their lack of knowledge of American laws.

She said they would even request that a new court handle the revised extradition petition.

Drilon, a former justice secretary, later told reporters that he was satisfied with how the justice department handled the Strunk extradition case.

"I am also heartened to hear that the government can make a refiling, and that a new court can hear the refiled case," he said.

Drilon appealed to Torres, Demetriou, and Blanca’s family and friends to cooperate with the DOJ in gathering more evidence for a revised petition.

"I am urging them to sit down and discuss this matter dispassionately," he said.

Demetriou has accused Gutierrez and Wycoco of withholding some vital pieces of evidence that could have convinced the US judge to allow the extradition of Strunk.

For her part, Torres said the judge and the American prosecutor handling the case expressed surprise about the supposed lack of enthusiasm of the government in pursuing the extradition case against Strunk.

But Gutierrez told yesterday’s hearing that they submitted all available evidence and that Demetriou was involved in the preparation of the package that contained such evidence and the extradition petition before it was sent to US prosecutors through diplomatic channels.

Wycoco supported Gutierrez’s testimony, saying Torres’ lawyer was even present in "case conferences" the NBI and the Philippine National Police, which jointly investigated Blanca’s death, held.

Biazon surmised that US authorities did not allow the extradition of Strunk because the suspect is an American.

"If he were a Filipino, it would have been easier for the US to send him back to Manila," he said.

Gutierrez said under the RP-US extradition treaty, the nationality of a person sought to be extradited is not a ground for grant or rejection of a petition.

"We expect US authorities to do their reciprocal obligation under the treaty," she said.

Earlier, Gutierrez explained an appeal or a motion for reconsideration might no longer be possible in an extradition case since a decision was usually considered "as good as final."

"But they (US officials) assured us that we could refile the case. It’s like an appeal but the legal procedures there and the system are different from ours," she said.

The undersecretary said the US DOJ was also bent on having Strunk extradited. Gutierrez added Cole said the US prosecutor handling the case was equally surprised and dismayed when the court ruled that there was not enough evidence to warrant Strunk’s extradition.

This was despite the fact that Strunk was put under provisional arrest since May and was not allowed to post bail until the hearings on the petition for extradition were finished.

Gutierrez and Wycoco said after ordering Strunk detained for more than six months, the US court was inconsistent when it ruled there was no probable cause to prove the former B-movie actor was behind the killing and should face trial in the country.

"In fact, Mr. Cole said the handing prosecutor was confident we would win and it was just a matter of appreciation of evidence," Gutierrez said.

She said the DOJ would send a team from the NBI to again present the prosecution’s case against Strunk before US authorities.

"If that is what Kaye Torres and the family want, then we will do that," she said.

Gutierrez noted she herself would go to the US if summoned to appear for the prosecution.

Blanca, one the country’s most beloved actresses, was found stabbed to death in her car in a parking lot that housed the offices of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, of which she was a member. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe