MANILA, Philippines?One of seven men convicted of raping and killing two sisters in Cebu City in 1997 has been removed from the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City and flown to presumably better prison conditions at the Centro Penitencario in Spain.

Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera announced at a news conference that Francisco ?Paco? Larrañaga, 33, left the country escorted by Spanish Interpol agents Tuesday morning. His departure was made possible under the RP-Spain Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement.

Devanadera said Larrañaga?a great grandson of President Sergio Osmeña Sr. who was convicted in 1999 along with six others of the abduction, rape and murder of Jacqueline and Marijoy Chiong?still had to serve 28 years of his 40-year sentence at the prison in Madrid.

?He?d be 61 by [the end of his sentence],? she said of the Spanish-Filipino convict who had already served 12 years.

Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon in Cebu and informed of Larrañaga?s departure, the sisters? father said the convict?s transfer to the Spanish prison was ?dubious.?

?What?s happening with our government? They did not follow the procedure. Where is justice?? Dionisio Chiong said.

He said his family had filed at the Cebu Regional Trial Court an opposition to a motion seeking the lifting of the hold-departure order issued on Larrañaga in 1997.

?I don?t think it was resolved by the judge (Simeon Dumdum of Branch 7),? Chiong said, adding that the court had yet to schedule a hearing on his family?s motion.

In effect during trial

As it happened, Judge Dumdum ruled on Monday that the hold-departure order issued on Larrañaga was no longer in effect.

A day later, the National Bureau of Investigation?s Interpol agents presented the convict to their Spanish counterparts at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Larrañaga left Manila on board KLM Flight KL-804 at around 10:45 a.m., according to Ferdinand Sampol, Bureau of Immigration head at the NAIA. The plane was bound for Amsterdam, where Larrañaga was to take a connecting flight to Madrid.

Devanadera said that upon his arrival in Spain, Larrañaga would be taken ?directly to the prison facility of Centro Penitencario ? in Madrid to continue serving the sentence imposed on him in the Philippines.?

In his ruling, Judge Dumdum said there was no more need to lift the hold-departure order on Larrañaga because it was meant to be in effect only during his trial.

?The court agrees with the public prosecutors,? Dumdum said. ?As per entry of judgment, these cases became final and executory on Aug. 15, 2005, on which date the [hold-departure] order issued ... on Sept. 26, 1997, lost its force, and became functus officio, automatically without need of court action.?

Lost cause

Thelma Chiong, the sisters? mother, was attending a seminar for Eastern Visayas judges and fiscals on Tuesday in Leyte and could not be reached on her phone.

Dionisio Chiong said his wife was also angered by the new development.

He said he and his wife were resigned that the convict would eventually be flown to Spain because of the Larrañagas? influence but that they were surprised by the haste with which it was done.

He added that he and his wife had accepted that stopping Larrañaga?s transfer was a lost cause.

When she was informed by the Philippine Daily Inquirer early last month of Larrañaga?s impending transfer to a Spanish prison, Thelma Chiong said she was ?almost speechless with rage.?

She said the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was ?truly criminal-friendly? and ?cheated? her family ?of the justice we worked hard to achieve.?

The convict claims Spanish citizenship by virtue of his father.

His mother, Margarita Larrañaga, told the Inquirer in Cebu early last month that he would get a chance to continue his studies under Spain?s prison system.

She reiterated her belief in her son?s innocence and said she would continue to work for his freedom.

Eyewitness account

During the trial of Larrañaga et al., an eyewitness said the sisters Jacqueline, 22, and Marijoy, 20, were abducted by the seven men at Ayala Center Cebu on July 16, 1997, taken to a house and alternately raped by six of them.

The witness said the sisters were then taken out of the house, Marijoy was pushed off a cliff and Jacqueline was taken back to the city the next day.

Marijoy?s broken body was found two days after the abduction. Jacqueline has not been found to this day.

On May 5, 1999, Cebu RTC Judge Martin Ocampo found Larrañaga, Josman Aznar, Rowen Adlawan, brothers James Andrew and James Anthony Uy, van driver Alberto Caño and conductor Ariel Balansag guilty of the kidnapping of the sisters and sentenced them to two life terms each.

In February 2004, the Supreme Court upheld the convictions and sentenced Larrañaga and five others to die by lethal injection. (James Anthony Uy, a minor at the time of the crimes, was spared the death sentence.)

However, instead of merely affirming the convictions, the high court also said the seven were guilty of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with homicide and rape.

On Easter Sunday 2006, Ms Arroyo commuted all death sentences to life terms.

Note verbale

Larrañaga?s family, through the Yorac Arroyo Chua and Coronel law firm, asked the Department of Justice to allow his transfer to a Spanish penal facility under the RP-Spain Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement.

The Spanish and Philippine Senates ratified the agreement in November 2007.

Devanadera on Tuesday said the Spanish government informed the Philippine government last month that it was prepared to accept Larrañaga into its penal system.

?We received the note verbale on Sept. 16 and yet we waited for the court order ... That took more than two weeks,? she said, adding:

?The Spanish government ? has expressly made the statement that there will be no conversion of the sentence imposed by the Philippine judicial authorities on Larrañaga.

?[The Spanish government] is bound by the terms of the judgment of conviction, and no justification whatsoever exists to revise the decision handed down by the Philippine judicial authorities.? With reports from Jhunnex Napallacan in Cebu City and Jerome Aning in Manila