Rape victims’ kin to fight Larrañaga transfer
By Jhunnex Napallacan
Inquirer Visayas
First Posted 21:32:00 09/05/2009
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The family of the raped and murdered Chiong sisters decided on Saturday they would have to take action to prevent the impending transfer of convict Francisco Juan "Paco" Larrañaga to Spain.
Thelma Chiong said she has gotten over her initial shock and will now do everything to ensure that the justice her family struggled to achieve in the long trial of Larrañaga and his co-accused in the rape and murder of her daughters Jacqueline and Marijoy in 1997 will not be in vain.
Chiong told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday that she will start by questioning the authority of Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera in approving the transfer of Larrañaga to a jail in Spain.
Chiong, who only learned of the Department of Justice's decision when reached for comment by the Inquirer Friday night, said initially she was very angry but believed she could not do anything anymore to stop the transfer since it was a decision made by the Philippine government, through the DOJ.
But after a sleepless night, she said she decided she could not just sit still and watch one of the men convicted of her daughters' rape and murder to be allowed to leave the country.
Chiong said she reached the decision to fight back after she attended an early morning Mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral and after she visited the tomb of Marijoy at the Queen City Memorial Gardens here. Jacqueline's body was not found.
Chiong said she sat for a long time at her daughter's grave before she decided she would need to act to ensure that those convicted of her daughters' rape-slay should serve their sentence here in the Philippines.
But she said she also told her daughters that if in the end Larrañaga would be brought to Spain, they did their best to get justice for them.
What saddened her most, Chiong said, was the fact that the new development happened when her two daughters would have celebrated their respective birthdays next week.
Marijoy was born on September 8, 1976 and Jacqueline on September 9, 1974.
Chiong said she believed that Devenadera overstepped her authority when she approved Larrañaga's transfer because it was based on the RP-Spain Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement.
Since the treaty was approved by the Senate, Chiong said she believed that the transfer should have been approved by President Macapagal Arroyo or by the Senate president, not just at the level of the justice secretary.
Chiong said she once referred that same treaty, proposed then by Senator Miriam Santiago, to Chief Justice Renato Puno and the latter, she said, told her that the judiciary could not do anything about it.
Chiong said she plans to write Devanadera a letter on Monday to raise her points.
Aside from the authority issue, Chiong said, she would also demand to know who would be the Filipino prisoner from Spain that will also be sent here in exchange for Larrañaga.
"If there's one, the prisoner must be facing serious cases like Paco, not just petty criminals," she said.
Chiong said she will also ask why her family was not informed about the DOJ's decision. Her family, she said, has every right to be informed because her daughters were the victims.
Chiong said she would also ask if Larrañaga could qualify for the prisoner-exchange stipulated under the treaty as she believed he is not Spanish by birth since he was born and grew up in the Philippines.
The family of Larrañaga has earlier said they have established his Spanish citizenship by virtue of his father. The Spanish government has even asked the Philippine government for clemency for Larrañaga when the latter and his co-accused were meted out the death sentence by the Supreme Court in February 2004, which was upheld with finality by the High Tribunal in 2005.
Larrañaga and his five other co-convicts are however now serving life in prison after President Arroyo, in 2006, commuted all death sentences to life terms.
Chiong said even the fact alone of the commutation of the death sentence was already a hard blow for her family. The thought that Larrañaga would be going to Spain, even if it would still be to a jail, would be the height of injustice, she said.
Chiong said she was now thinking of taking legal action against Devanadera such as filing for disbarment on the basis of ignorance of the law, but that would depend upon the advise of the lawyers who prosecuted the case.
One of the private prosecutors in the Chiong murder case, lawyer Honorato Hermosisima Jr., however, refused to be interviewed in depth.
He said he did not know the facts surrounding the action of the DOJ.
Furthermore, he said, he would not want to issue any comment to avoid "opening the wounds of the past."
Chiong, who is also the national vice-chair for the Visayas of the Crusade Against Violence, said she will consult her members if they would want to hold an indignation rally over the DOJ's decision.
But she said she was also fully aware that holding a rally could be futile since a decision has already been made.
Chiong said she did not believe Malacañang had no hand in the DOJ's decision because she knew that Margarita Larrañaga, Paco's mother who belongs to the influential Osmeña clan, had an audience with President Arroyo.
Chiong said the Larrañagas and Osmeñas are influential, that the Philippines even made a treaty with Spain just for Paco.
She asked why the country did not even have a treaty for exchange of prisoners with the United States or South Korea where they have many Filipino citizens living there.
Margarita Larrañaga, reached for comment on Saturday, said she was very happy with the decision to transfer her son to Spain, as it has better prison facilities.
She maintained she had no prior knowledge of the DOJ's decision but she said they had expected it to come out soon as they had a pending petition with the DOJ for Paco to be transferred to Spain.
Compared to the Philippines, she said, Paco could be in a "friendly environment" in Spain. Also, she said, the prison system in Spain would allow her son to continue his studies.
Once Paco is transferred to Spain, Margarita said, her family would continue to work for her son's freedom.
Margarita Larrañaga said that to this day, she still believes in her son's innocence.
"My son was in jail for 12 years even if he is innocent. He did not deserve to be incarcerated even for a day," she said.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22233.0
Topic: Cebu rapist going to Spain (Read 5467 times)