Sanchez wife: Ex-mayor is innocent; no plan to indemnify victims
Members of the family of former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez arrive at the Senate for the GCTA hearing. Standing in the middle is Sanchez’s wife Elvira. INQUIRER photo / Marianne Bermudez
MANILA, Philippines — The wife of convicted rapist and murderer former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez was firm in saying that their family would not pay the P11.3 million in damages to the family of her husband’s victims.
Facing a Senate inquiry on Tuesday concerning a law that nearly resulted in the premature release of the former mayor, Sanchez’s wife, Elvira, insisted on the high-profile convict’s innocence.
“Lagi po namin sinasabi…bakit naman po kami magbabayad wala naman pong kasalanan ang aking asawa?” Elvira told Senator Franklin Drilon who asked them if they plan to pay the P11.3 million in damages to the families of murdered University of the Philippines-Los Baños students Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez.
But Drilon refuted her and said: “Pero sinabi ng Korte Suprema, may kasalanan ang asawa niyo.”
“Kasama sa hatol yung P12 milyon na sinabi ng Korte Suprema na dapat bayaran ng inyong asawa. Wala kayong intensyong bayaran ito?” he added.
Responding to the query, Elvira said: “Actually, your honor, wala po kaming talagang intensyon.”
“Kasi po nagsasabi po ako ng totoo. Yung sinasabi po nilang araw, petsa na sinabing ni-rape si Eileen at pinatay si Allan, nasa amin po ang asawa ko,” she went on.
In 1995, then Pasig Regional Trial Court Judge Harriet Demetriou found Sanchez and six of his henchmen guilty in the brutal killing of Sarmenta and Gomez.
The court imposed the penalty of seven reclusion perpetua, each equivalent to 40 years in prison, on each of the seven men. It also ordered them to pay P11.3 million in damages to the families of the two students.
The Supreme Court affirmed the court’s conviction of the seven men in 1999.
But Drilon said: Sinabi niyo rin yan sa husgado ngunit hindi naniwala ang husgado. /jpv
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