Friday, November 02, 2007
Chiongs still hope to find Jacqueline’s body
A DECADE after the brutal death of her daughters, Thelma Chiong has yet to achieve closure.
“I may have found justice, but I have no satisfaction because Jacqueline’s body has not been found. I wish we will find it,” Thelma told Sun.Star Cebu.
She clarified, however, that she has accepted the fate of Jacqueline and Marijoy.
The Chiong sisters were kidnapped on July 16, 1998. Two days later, Marijoy’s body was found at the foot of a cliff in Carcar, Cebu.
Appearance
Thelma said she has long been convinced that Jacqueline is dead.
Jacqueline’s name appears on the marker of Marijoy’s grave at the Queen City Memorial Gardens.
Thelma explained that they included the name in 2000 after dreaming that Jacqueline wanted them to do so.
“Nagpakita na iyang kalag nako. Og magpakita sila, pirmi sila kuyog (She showed herself to me. When they (Marijoy and Jacqueline) appear, they are always together),” Thelma said.
Thelma visited her daughters’ grave the other day to make sure it was clean.
The Chiong family also visited Jacqueline and Marijoy’s grave yesterday and is expected to visit again today.
Tradition
Her husband Dionisio earlier said it has become a family tradition to spend All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day at the cemetery at the North Reclamation Area.
Thelma said that for years now, only white and yellow flowers were offered to Jacqueline and Marijoy to symbolize their favorite colors.
Conviction
Jacqueline was 21 when she and Marijoy, 19, were abducted.
Josman Aznar, Francisco Larrañaga, Rowen Adlawan, Ariel Balansag, Alberto Caño, and brothers James Andrew and James Anthony Uy were convicted of the crime, and are serving life sentences at the National Bilibid Prison.
The eighth suspect, Davidson Rusia, was acquitted after the late Judge Martin Ocampo, who was hearing the case, granted the prosecution’s motion to make Rusia a state witness.
In 2005, the Supreme Court affirmed the guilt of Aznar, Adlawan, Caño, Balansag, James Andrew Uy and Larrañaga.
But instead of double life terms, the High Court ordered their death by lethal injection.
James Anthony Uy, who was 16 at the time the crime was committed, was spared from death but will serve two life terms instead.
But they all escaped the death sentence after President Arroyo commuted all final and executory death sentences to life terms in 2006. (KNT)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (November 2, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
