Rights group hits Abadilla 5 life sentence
By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:55:00 04/18/2008
MANILA, Philippines—The Court of Appeals’ affirmation of the murder convictions of the five men charged with the ambush-killing in 1996 of then Ilocos Norte Vice Gov. Rolando Abadilla has drawn criticism not only from their lawyer but from a Hong Kong-based human rights group.
Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Thursday said there were actually two witnesses who had testified in the case, with one identifying Cesar Fortuna, Rameses de Jesus, Lenido Lumanog, Joel de Jesus and Augusto Santos as Abadilla’s killers, and the other saying the opposite.
However, Fernando said, the appellate court’s judgment did not discuss the testimony of the other witness, and relied only on the account of security guard Freddie Alejo.
“This judgment is only taking the evidence of one. There’s no mention of other evidence. If there’s contradicting evidence, the court should have discussed that and said this is why they believe in that man and not the other one,” Fernando said on the phone.
He described the murder of Abadilla as a politically important issue, and stressed that the appellate court should have considered the evidence of the contradictory identification.
Fernando pointed out that it was easy for a “trained witness” to answer questions.
He said the appellate court should have considered certain circumstantial evidence and not relied on the testimony of one eyewitness alone.
Without parole
On April 1, the appellate court upheld the Quezon City Regional Trial Court decision finding Fortuna et al. liable for Abadilla’s murder, saying their identification by one eyewitness was sufficient to show their guilt.
The appellate court reduced their death sentences to reclusion perpetua (or up to 40 years in prison) without parole.
The communist hit squad Alex Boncayao Brigade had earlier said it killed Abadilla as “part of its resolve to render revolutionary justice to tens of thousands of people who were victimized by martial rule.”
But Fernando contested the sentence of reclusion perpetua without benefit of parole, saying none of the five men had committed any other serious crime. He said the sentence could have been reduced and the five convicts afforded the opportunity of parole.
April Fools
Soliman Santos, legal counsel of Lumanog and Augusto Santos, pointed out that not only did it take the court many years to decide, the verdict handed down was also unjust.
In his preliminary comment on the issue, Santos noted the date of the decision as coinciding with the western holiday April Fools’ Day.
“The ‘Abadilla 5’ must feel like they have been made fools of again by the Philippine criminal justice system. For them, this has become a case not so much of justice delayed as of injustice delayed,” he said in a statement.
Santos said he would not blame his clients if they had just pleaded guilty so that they could be granted executive clemency.
He cited the case of the nine junior Army officers, all part of the Magdalo group that pulled off the daylong “Oakwood mutiny” in July 2003.
Going Magdalo way
“One cannot fault them if, like some Magdalo officers, they would rather now just plead guilty if they could and so place their hopes instead on a subsequent presidential pardon in hopefully less time/years it would take to exhaust the judicial process,” Santos said.
The case was on trial for three years, and on appeal for eight years. It is expected to be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
In the Magdalo case, the nine officers changed their plea to “guilty” of charges of coup d’etat two weeks ago. Within days of their conviction, the defense and military establishments announced that a recommendation of executive clemency would be submitted to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
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