Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Pinoy convicted of killing U.S. official freed from prison (12:28 p.m.)
MANILA -- An alleged communist assassin convicted of killing a U.S. Army colonel in the Philippines was released Tuesday after serving a 14-year prison term, officials said.
Washington called the sentence "too short," but grudgingly accepted the release, the Associated Press said.
Donato Continente, 43, denied any role in the April 21, 1989, communist guerrilla ambush on Col. James Nicolas Rowe, whose car was raked with bullets near his office in the Manila suburb of Quezon City, killing him and wounding his driver.
"I'm innocent. I did not take part in that incident," Continente said after stepping out of the national penitentiary in suburban Muntinlupa city, holding a bag of clothes and accompanied by his wife and son.
A small group of human rights activists welcomed him with placards, handshakes and hugs. Continente, in an orange shirt that read, "Free all political prisoners," said he planned to work for the release of about 260 detainees, including another activist convicted for Rowe's murder.
The U.S. government said in a statement, "The murder of Col. Nicholas Rowe, who was helping the Philippines fight terrorism, was an appalling crime. While we believe that 14 years is too short for such a crime, we accept the action of the Philippine judicial system."
The communist New People's Army claimed responsibility for the attack on Rowe, a senior officer at the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group, which provides training and logistical support for the Philippine military. Continente, a leftist activist, contended that police tortured him to confess he was part of a team that monitored Rowe's movements.
Rowe, a native of McAllen, Texas, was a decorated Vietnam War veteran who was held in a cage for five years by the communist Viet Cong until he escaped in 1968. He wrote a book about the ordeal titled "Five Years to Freedom."
Continente and co-defendant Juanito Itaas, who has admitted being a member of the communist New People's Army, were sentenced to life in prison in 1991. The Supreme Court later affirmed Itaas' sentence and reduced Continente's to 14 years after establishing he was only an accomplice.
The two men were caught at the center of diplomatic wrangling between Washington and Manila. U.S. officials opposed early release or pardon, but the Philippine government has been under pressure to release them as demanded by communist guerrillas in peace talks.
The human rights group Karapatan alleged that Washington had managed to block moves to release Continente earlier.
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