Navy Ensign Philip Pestaño
The family of a young sailor found dead 16 years ago in his ship’s cabin yesterday welcomed the Ombudsman’s decision to charge 10 Philippine Navy officers with murder as “Divine Intervention,” and a family lawyer vowed to seek the extradition of one of the accused from the United States.
Separately, the Navy chief, Vice Admiral Alexander Pama, said he had ordered the relief of six of the officers who are still on active duty and who had been linked to the case, while pledging to “respect the rights of the accused.”
“After 16 years, the wheels of justice are finally turning,” lawyer Harry Roque, counsel for the family of Navy Ensign Philip Pestaño, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“It is a sign of Divine Intervention so that (Philip) will find justice,” Pestaño’s father Felipe said in a telephone interview. Pestaño’s parents, whose roots are in Capiz province, are now based in Manila. Philip was the third of five children.
Dismissal order
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, reversing the ruling of her resigned predecessor, Merceditas Gutierrez, has ordered the filing of murder charges against the 10 officers for the Sept. 27, 1995, death of Pestaño. The Ombudsman also ordered their dismissal from the service for grave misconduct.
The 24-year-old Pestaño was found with bullet wounds in the head in his cabin aboard the BRP Bacolod City before the ship docked in Manila. It appeared he was killed to prevent the disclosure of a shipment of undocumented lumber aboard the ship in exchange for drums of fuel oil, according to the Ombudsman ruling.
The Navy officers had claimed he committed suicide. The Ombudsman noted that forensic and other pieces of evidence ruled out suicide.
Pestaño’s family believed he was killed. Felipe has said his son told him about the illegal activities on the ship and planned to blow the whistle on his erring superiors.
‘Truth will out’
Felipe’s sister, Rebecca Pestaño-Smith, called the Ombudsman ruling “a very long overdue” decision. “Sixteen years is a long time. But we are grateful to know that the case has been given attention … There is now light at the end of the tunnel,” Smith said in a separate interview.
Smith is based in Mabolo, Cebu City.
Felipe, 71, said his family had never given up hope of finding justice for his son. “We held on to the belief that the truth will come out no matter how hard they will cover it up,” he said.
The Navy spokesperson, Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay, said only six of the 10 accused are still in active service—Commander Reynaldo Lopez, Hospital Man 2 Welmenio Aquino, Lt. Cmdr. Luidegar Casis, Lt. Cmdr. Alfrederick Alba, Machinery Repairman 2 Sandy Miranda and Lt. Cmdr. Joselito Colico.
Three other accused—Capt. Ricardo Ordoñez, Lt. Cmdr. Ruben Roque, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Mil Igcasan Leonor—have retired, while Petty Officer 1st Class Carlito Amoroso was honorably discharged in 1999, according to Tonsay.
American citizenship
Roque said he would seek the extradition of retired Lt. Cmdr. Ruben Roque, who has reportedly left for the United States and is seeking American citizenship.
“We will go to the extent of seeking his extradition if he does not return, and ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel his Philippine passport,” Roque said in an interview.
He said he would also seek the issuance of hold-departure orders against the other accused still in the Philippines.
“This case shows that sometimes it only takes the appointment of the right person to the right position to turn things around,” Roque said, referring to Ombudsman Morales.
He noted that the case began during the term of former Ombudsman Aniano Desierto and the Pestaños even had to go to the United Nations Committee on Human Rights to seek justice.
Records erased
Roque challenged the Navy to “correct the egregious harm it has perpetuated for many years” against the Pestaño family by cooperating with prosecutors in bringing the accused “to the bars of justice.”
Lawyer Romel Bagares, Roque’s associate, said he had information that Commander Lopez “is now serving as executive officer of the Philippine Navy’s newest fighting ship, a decommissioned US Coastguard cutter renamed BRP Gregorio Del Pilar.”
Bagares said the Pestaños also once tried to get from the Navy the records of another accused and alleged triggerman—Amoroso—but they found out that his “records had been erased.”
Roque said that still another accused—Lt. Cmdr. Colico—had “gone Awol and hasn’t been heard from.”
‘We will abide’
Pama said he had already received a copy of the Ombudsman’s order for the filing of murder charges against the 10 officers and their dismissal.
“On the basis of the order we received, I have already initiated actions to relieve the named active personnel from their present assignments and reassign them here in what we call our receiving station for whatever needs to be done,” he said.
Pama said the relief of the six officers from their posts was done “both for the purposes of administrative requirement and to allow them to explain whatever their actions were.”
Pama said there was still a need to study the other legal aspects of the case, such as whether the Navy would provide lawyers for the accused or if it would be up to them to look for counsel.
“We have to go through the process. We will abide by all the laws, rules and regulations and orders of the court,” Pama said.
Asked if the six would be detained, he said the Navy would have to seek legal advice on that point.
Up to the President
Tonsay said it would be up to President Aquino to approve the dismissal of the six.
“They are commissioned officers so we will follow due process. We will recommend their dismissal once we have a copy of the order, and the Commander in Chief will decide whether to uphold our recommendation,” he said.
Tonsay added though that this would likely be just “ministerial” and that the six would be dismissed from the service in a matter of days.
“Upon receipt of the order, we will fully comply with all the directives stated in the order,” said the Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs chief, Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr.
Hard look at new evidence
Interviewed on the phone, Tonsay said it was “very clear” from Pama’s orders that, “first, we must respect the rule of law. Second, obey policies based on legal and administrative procedures, and third, respect the rights of the accused.”
Ombudsman Morales indicated that fresh evidence presented by Pestaño’s parents was crucial to the reversal of the dismissal order earlier handed down by Gutierrez.
“There was a hard look at the evidence and there was a consideration of additional evidence that the complainant-spouses showed,” Morales told reporters. “The conclusion was that there is a prima facie case for murder against the respondents.”
In her January 10 order, Morales said the circumstances surrounding the young officer’s death belied the earlier finding that he had committed suicide. His wounds did not appear self-inflicted, she said.
The evidence included the ship’s “unusual dogleg route” from Sangley to the Navy headquarters, which took two hours on the day of Pestaño’s death, instead of the usual 45 minutes.
The unexplained delay raised the presumption that the trip was “occasioned by the time it took respondents to create the suicide scenario,” the Ombudsman said. With a report from TJ Burgonio