IF REPORTS that there is an order to release three of the seven men convicted of kidnapping and killing the Chiong sisters in 1997 are true, Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa (Cebu City, south district) said this should be revoked and officials who authorized it should be sent to jail.
Abellanosa said all those convicted for the rape-slay of Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong should remain in prison.
This, after news broke that the order to release Josman Aznar, Ariel Balansag and Alberto Caño had been signed reportedly by a Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) official.
“All those who have been released under the circumstance, including the Chiong sisters’ case convicts, should be sent back to jail, and all those responsible BuCor officials should be sent to jail, too,” Abellanosa said in a text message to SunStar Cebu.
His pronouncement came following CNN Philippines’ report on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019, that it had obtained copies of the release orders of Aznar, Balansag and Caño.
They were released on Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA), a provision in the amended Revised Penal Code that shortens jail time for good behavior.
The release orders, dated Aug. 16, said the three had served 40 years upon retroactive application of Republic Act 10592, or the GCTA law.
Abellanosa said it is clear in the law that those convicted of heinous crimes are not eligible for a shortened sentence, as well as recidivists, habitual delinquents and escapees.
“There is no room for misinterpretation of the GCTA law on the disqualification of those convicted of heinous crimes,” the congressman said.
For Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, 3rd district), there is a need to revisit the law rather than look into specific cases of individual convicts.
“Reading the law, there seems to be a confusion as to whether the exclusion of convicts of heinous crimes applies only to credit for preventive detention and not the good time conduct allowance (GCTA), or whether the exception applies to both. I think more than tackling specific cases of individual convicts, there is a need to revisit the law, to clarify or amend if necessary, for the sake of future cases,” Garcia told SunStar Cebu in a text message on Sunday, Sept. 1.
“Another option would be for the aggrieved parties to go to court to challenge the application of GCTA so that the law would be tested and the courts can interpret and guide future implementation of the law,” Garcia added.
BuCor Director Nicanor Faeldon has denied reports that he signed the release order of the three convicts.
Thelma Chiong, the mother of Marijoy and Jacqueline, sought the resignation of Faeldon for allegedly signing the release orders of the men who illegally detained, raped and killed her daughters.
She also plans to seek the help of President Rodrigo Duterte to prevent the release of those convicted.
Marijoy and Jacqueline were kidnapped outside the Ayala Center Cebu mall on the night of July 16, 1997.
Marijoy’s body was found dead two days on the foot of a ravine in Sitio Tan-awan, Barangay Guadalupe, Carcar City, Cebu. Jacqueline’s body has never been found.
Those convicted in the Chiong case, collectively known as the Chiong Seven, were Aznar, Balansag, Caño, Francisco Juan Larrañaga, Rowen Adlawan, James Anthony Uy and his older brother James Andrew. (RTF, JJL)