Court of Appeals junks US bid to extradite trader

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed a Manila court’s ruling junking the bid of the United States government to extradite a Filipino-American businessman wanted in California for the killing of his wife.

In a 21-page decision released yesterday, the eighth division of the appeals court held that the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 41 was correct in dismissing the extradition petition of the US government filed through the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) against Abelrado Tasa in 2007.

It is not known if it is the first time an extradition bid by the US government was denied in the Philippines.

The CA upheld the RTC’s finding that the US failed to present evidence to prove that Tasa conspired with Timothy Shawn Victor and Jose Daniel Flores in killing his wife, Rebecca, in their house in Lakeside, California purportedly to collect $300,000 in life insurance and reporting to authorities that she was killed by burglars on June 22, 1992. Rebecca’s neck had been slashed and she was stabbed three times.

Authorities found that Tasa, who owned and operated a Taco Time restaurant in California, allegedly hired Flores and Victor – both his employees in the restaurant – to kill his wife in order to collect insurance policy.

Victor was convicted on June 10, 1998 and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

On Sept. 12, 2005, Flores pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to imprisonment for 26 years to life.

The CA ruling, penned by Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr., said ample evidence to establish probable cause in a crime is necessary before an extradition could be approved by either of the signatories to an extradition treaty. Associate Justices Mario Guariña III and Manuel Barrios concurred in the decision.

The CA said the US government “failed to submit any statement from either of the two convicts or from any other person with personal knowledge of Tasa’s participation in the crime.” The US government offered transcripts of the testimonies of two witnesses, which the RTC held to be hearsay, according to the appellate court.

Records show that Tasa is supposed to stand trial for first-degree murder. Tasa fled to the Philippines, but was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation’s Interpol Division operatives in Barangay Tigayon, Kalibo, Aklan based an arrest warrant issued by the Manila RTC. He was released from the custody of the NBI after the Manila RTC denied the US government’s extradition request in 2007.