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Monday,
July 25, 2005
Trader
says justices...... committed 'errors'
Miguel del Gallego also
apologizes for his crusade
By Grecar Nilles
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
LIKE the families of the men sentenced to death for the kidnapping and
killing of the Chiong sisters, businessman Miguel del Gallego refuses to
surrender in the fight to clear Francisco Juan “Paco” Larrañaga and
six others.
While admitting that they may have already
lost any legal option to save Larrañaga from a possible lethal injection,
del Gallego said he will continue to expose the “errors committed by the
Supreme Court (SC).”
One of these errors, he said, was the
alleged act of four SC justices of telling members of the Spanish press
weeks before the resolution was promulgated last July 21 that Larrañaga
and his co-accused were found guilty and that the ruling has already
become final.
He named four justices who allegedly told
the Spanish press last July 8 that they have already decided with finality
on the Chiong 7’s fate. (Sun.Star Cebu is withholding the names of the
four justices pending their comment on the matter.)
“I don’t think it was fair for them to do that. I
did not tell anyone here in the Philippines hoping that they just made a
mistake,” del Gallego said.
But while he criticized and questioned the
High Tribunal’s decision, del Gallego, who maintains a website purposely
to raise awareness about the case, apologized to the SC justices for his
crusade, saying he is “just trying to save the lives of five innocent
young men.”
Final
The SC en banc recently upheld with
finality the conviction of Larrañaga, Josman Aznar, Rowen Adlawan,
Alberto Caño, Ariel Balansag, and brothers James Andrew and James Anthony
Uy for kidnapping and serious illegal detention with homicide and rape.
In the recent SC resolution, only the Uy
brothers were spared from death by lethal injection.
Instead, the High Court directed the Office
of the Solicitor General to check the claim of James mmmm
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JUSTICE, FINALLY. Thelma Chiong leads relatives and supporters in visiting
the marker in Tan-aan, Carcar town where the body of Marijoy, one of her
two daughters who were abducted, raped and killed, was found. Jacqueline
remains missing up to this day. The visit came days after the Supreme
Court ruled with finality the imposition of the death penalty on five men
who allegedly committed the crime eight years
ago.
(SUN.STAR/AMPER CAMPAÑA)
Andrew that he was a
minor when Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong were abducted, molested and
killed last July 16, 1997.
James Anthony was only meted a life
imprisonment term for being 17 years old at the time of the incident.
On the other hand, if James Andrew can
prove that he was a minor at the time of the incident, he will be spared
from a possible death sentence.
Del Gallego, in an interview, said the
recent SC resolution only showed that the justices did not read the legal
briefs submitted by the defense. Conscience
“The fact that the SC said in their
decision that the exclusion of University of the Philippines professor
Jerome Bailen as defense witness because he was an archeologist, not a
finger print expert, only showed that the SC Justices did not read their
brief,” said del Gallego.
“That part of the decision only showed
that the SC did not know what they are talking about. Bailen was with a
team, among them a fingerprint expert in the name of Reynaldo Marcelo,”
del Gallego told Sun.Star Cebu.
Resigning to the fact that there are no
more legal options left for them, del Gallego said their only hope now is
for the prosecution witnesses to revisit their consciences and to tell the
truth about what happened.
“But we would not approach the witnesses
because we might be accused of paying or influencing them. It should come
from them. I know they are God-fearing. I hope they realize what they did,
and the lives they are sending to death. I hope they would come out to
finally tell the truth,” del Gallego said.
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