Baptist bishop seeks clemency for Rolito Go

MANILA, Philippines - The head of the Baptist church in Manila is calling on outgoing President Arroyo to grant convicted murderer Rolito Go’s petition for executive clemency – a move that the family of his victim, Eldon Maguan, strongly opposed.

In his letter to Mrs. Arroyo, Bishop Reuben Abante said Go has served a total of 24 years in jail, and he must be pardoned so he could rebuild his life and be reunited with his wife and eight children, including the eldest, who is a special child.

Abante said Go’s children “acknowledged the fault of their father.”

Go shot dead De La Salle University engineering student Eldon Maguan at the height of a traffic altercation in Greenhills, San Juan City in 1991.

“He served his time and he has been a model prisoner,” said Abante, who serves as head of the Lighthouse Baptist Church, whose congregation includes Go’s relatives.

In 2006, Abante said then justice secretary Raul Gonzalez wrote President Arroyo about Go’s “excellent” behavior as a model prisoner and that he has not violated any prison rule.

Maguans doubt Go has reformed

Eldon’s elder sister, Grace Maguan, said Go should still stay at the maximum facility since he had been serving his sentence for only 13 years and his public statements on his being reformed should be put under serious doubt.

“Our family would like to categorically state that we are totally opposed if Go will be released in the coming Aquino administration,” Grace said.

Grace appealed to president-elect Benigno Aquino III to reject Go’s petition for executive clemency and commutation of sentence because he has clearly not shown sincere remorse for his crime.

According to Grace, Go escaped the Rizal provincial jail in 1996, three days before the Pasig Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pelayo handed down a sentence of a maximum of 30 years for Eldon’s murder. The government put up a P700,000 reward for his capture.

She said he was in hiding for two years and that makes him ineligible for any pardon or clemency, as stated in the Board of Pardons and Parole’s guidelines. Grace said Go’s past blatant defiance of the law must not be overlooked.

The board denied Go’s last urgent petition for executive clemency in September 2006 for lack of merit. Go has applied for executive clemency three times since he was brought to the New Bilibid Prisons.

Officials of the Bureau of Corrections placed Go in a minimum security compound as a live-out inmate in March last year, which surprised the Maguan family.

Grace said Go should still stay at the maximum facility and is not qualified to be a live-out inmate.

Grace also laughed off a statement by Go’s sister, Julie, claiming that her brother has been diagnosed with diabetes, heart ailment, asthma and hypertension. She said “health considerations or illnesses Go may claim to possess are generally a part of the life of aging individuals.”