As far as justice can see (last of two parts)

There are steps towards Executive Clemency or Presidential Pardon that are seen to by the Department of Justice. Crusade Against Violence believes that Claudio Teehankee Jr. should not have been eligible for pardon if only for the fact that one or two important steps were not completed and that, therefore, the name of Claudio, Jr. should not even have been written and submitted for President Arroyo’s consideration.   Meantime, every other lawyer will tell you that these “steps” are actually “guidelines” meant for “ordinary folk” — unwritten in stone and could be superceded anytime by the President. Take the case of former President Erap Estrada. After conviction, an almost immediate pardon. No one had to be notified or had to be appeased. Also, considering Claudio Teehankee’s sister is a close GMA friend (a former PMS member who had since entered the convent), and for more than one reason — Claudio, Jr. is certainly not “ordinary folk”. 

The Teehankee family had to take rekindled public indignation over the midnight approval of President Gloria Arroyo’s Presidential Pardon for Claudio Teehankee Jr.. As if the Teehankee matriarch, Pilar Teehankee, now 89 years old has not suffered enough from public humiliation and lifelong burden from public disapproval alongside her son’s conviction, she now has to face the media’s resurrected appetite for blood on the matter of her son’s release — seen as “another case of money’s weight” in the balance of the Philippine justice system.

Ambassador Manuel Teehankee, from Switzerland, emailed a Settlement Agreement duly signed on Nov. 19, 1999 by members of the Teehankee family and Anders Hultman, husband of Maureen’s mother Vivian Hultman and stepfather of the murdered teenager. The agreement provides a rundown of all compensation due the Hultmans to be paid by the Teehankees as a matter of court ruling — and not as a settlement. Number 9, referred to by Amb. Teehankee as the No Objection Clause, specifically states that “The Teehankee Family has expressed their deepest regret and sympathy to the Hultmans and Chapmans. The Hultmans recognize that Claudio Teehankee Jr. has shown and exhibited genuine remorse and has been serving time in good behavior. The Hultmans, through their duly authorized representative herein, shall not object nor interpose any objection to the application for such parole or the commutation of shortening the sentence of Claudio Teehankee Jr. or to such other similar proceedings or reliefs provided that the same shall be in accordance of law.”

It would seem that, then, the Hultmans did recognize the possibility of the Teehankees seeking all possible judicial reliefs for the possible parole or Executive Clemency for their son and brother as long as all court-ordered compensations were paid and that the minimum requirements for eligibility of earlier release be complied with. A reporter who covered the court proceedings on the double murder of Hultman and friend Roland Chapman said he remembers the Hultmans hastily signed the agreement because they were hurrying to pay for hospital bills, tie loose ends and get the hell out of the Philippines. While there is nothing provided for in the agreement that would indicate the Hultmans may have signed on something they might have overlooked it might be understandable that they never thought the day would indeed come that the killer of their daughter would once again be free — willing, able and healthy even at past 60 years old. Their Maureen died when she was sixteen — at the height of her dreams of becoming a successful fashion designer. She would have been in her early thirties today.

Ambassador Teehankee also sent a Notice to the Public, apparently published in the Philippine Star in 2004, notifying that a number of names of convicts were being considered for Parole or Executive Clemency and that whosoever had objections should make known their justifications to the Bureau of Pardons and Parole. Claudio Teehankee Jr.’s name was in the list. Teehankee also sent us a copy of the Notice to the Offended Party, supposedly sent out in January 2004 , apparently meant to reach the Chapmans, Leinos and Hultmans, similarly notifying that Claudio Teehankee Jr. was, in fact, being studied and considered for possible parole or pardon —— and that, should there be objections to the same, they should let objections be known to the authorities. There are struggles between one computation or another as to whether Teehankee had already served his minimum jail sentence for two life term sentences along with the penalties for the injuries of Jussy Leino. Some say 18 years is more than enough while others claim he should serve at least 40 years. But Teehankee is not being given a chance at Parole which would require a minimum sentence served. He has been given a Presidential Pardon, synonymous to Executive Clemency. Even if he had serves only a day in prison, the President has the power to set a convict free. The powers of God Himself, lent and dispensed for a privileged moment.

It would seem that the Teehankees do have reason to claim that they had complied with all requirements for a possible pardon. But those who are not quick to forgive and forget — and would put their money where their mouth is —— claim that there is a way to reverse the pardon. 1) The Hultmans claim they had not duly received nor seen the notice supposedly sent to them by the Teehankees. “What notice? We have not received any such notice? When was it sent?”, Vivian Hultman said over the phone. Shouldn’t this step be accomplished first before proceeding with sending Teehankee’s name for pardon approval? 2) Is Claudio Jr. remorseful at all? Last year Anders Hultman visited Claudio, Jr. in prison and, as recent as last year according to the Hultmans, Claudio would still not admit to the crime. Doesn’t the Settlement Agreement and No Objection Clause qualify that the Hultmans should recognize Claudio Jr. as genuinely remorseful? What is there for PGMA to pardon, then?

For now, just as with most other huge headliners, the attention to the Teehankee release had considerably died down. If their luck keeps up, Claudio Jr. might just have that opportunity to quietly slip out of the public eye and begin his golden years in peace away from public outrage.

The Hultmans may want to go the way of the Chapmans who packed up and left and practically disappeared. Of course, for those who opt to navigate the road less traveled, it would be either greater disappointment or the greater justice, at last. Justice, not just in a country such as ours, often goes only as far as the aggrieved decide and persevere to pursue it. Justice only sees what we fight for it to see. We define it.