MANILA, Philippines -- The family of the late Maureen Hultman is "very angry" and "shocked" over President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's grant of executive clemency to the man convicted of her murder.

"We are very sad, very disappointed, and very angry," Andres Hultman said in an interview on QTV-11 television Tuesday evening.

The elder Hultman criticized the secrecy he said surrounded the clemency grant to Claudio Teehankee Jr.

"He was sentenced to life imprisonment?Now he's free. Why was it kept quiet and secret? Why didn't the rules and regulations apply," Hultman said.

Hultman?s statement belied Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita's claim earlier Tuesday that the family did not oppose the clemency grant.

"It was completely unexpected. The possibility was never mentioned to us, that he will be pardoned," Hultman said.

He also expressed dismay over reports that Teehankee's brother, Philippine representative to the World Trade Organization Manuel Teehankee, a former justice undersecretary, asked Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales to push for his brother's pardon.

"What does this say about the country?" he said.

Hultman laughed off reports that Teehankee had apologized for the murder of his daughter, saying, "The last time we talked to him, he denied that he committed the crime."

"We miss everything about her [Maureen]. She was the most lively of our children," he said.