Monday, February 09, 2004 (Philippines)

JUDGE MARTIN OCAMPO. The late judge gave all seven accused in the Chiong case life sentences after he found them guilty of the kidnapping and serious illegal detention, with rape and murder, of Marijoy Chiong, and of the kidnapping and serious illegal detention of Jacqueline. But the Supreme Court said the judge should have gone for the death penalty. (Sun.Star File) THE decision to send six of the Chiong seven to death by lethal injection came despite three associate justices’ objections to the death penalty. While the Supreme Court (SC) did not reveal the names of the three anti-death justices in the decision, it stressed that the three submitted to the validity of Republic Act 7659, which imposes the death penalty for heinous crimes, and to the ruling that the death penalty “be lawfully imposed” in this case. Similarly, the three judges did not issue dissenting opinions on the decision that, as a result, was deemed to be per curiam or handed down “as a body.” [full story]

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