After the verdict, the two boys gamely granted interviews with reporters.
"Masaya na. Matagal siyang makukulong, Doon na siya mamamatay," (I’m happy now. He will spend a long time in jail, where he will die), replied Jeson Kevin when asked by reporters how he felt about the guilty verdict on kidnapper Ernesto Uybuco.
Susan, the mother of the victims, thanked the judge for rendering a guilty verdict on Uybuco.
"I’m happy. At least justice prevailed. Although we waited that long, it’s a great relief on our part," she said.
She lamented, however, that because of the incident, her boys could not enjoy a normal child’s life.
"They have to be escorted every time they would go out," the mother said.
Anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang See said justice was finally served after nine long years.
She explained that the Dichaves case was chosen as a test case in the 1994 National Summit on Peace and Order.
"It was a well-documented case. In fact, it was among the earliest cases where the victims cooperated with the police within the first hour of the abduction. The police were able to monitor the ransom negotiations, to videotape and photograph the ransom payoff and above all, a helicopter was hired to monitor the safe release of the two kids who were held hostage," she said.
See said that as young boys of 3 and 5 in 1993, the Dichaves brothers hardly felt their parents’ trauma and agony in negotiating with the criminals.
"The parents know that they were playing God, and any mistake will cost them the very lives of the people they love most, their only kids, who were both in the hands of the kidnappers," she said – Cecille Suerte Felipe