Running priest says convicts in Chiong case ‘not guilty’
Wearing green T-shirts saying “Justice for Paco”, around 30 people ran through streets in Cebu City yesterday morning to support a man serving a life sentence in a Spanish prison for a crime that rocked Cebu 15 years ago.
Running priest Rev. Fr. Robert Reyes led the group in reiterating demands to declare Spanish-Cebuano Franciso “Paco” Larrañaga and his six companions innocent of the 1997 rape-slay of Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong.
Fr. Reyes presided over a Mass after the ‘justice run’ from Casino Español to the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus along D. Jakosalem Street in Cebu City.
“I’m happy to run again in Cebu. I don’t mind running again next year until justice is served,” said Fr. Reyes who last ran in Cebu in 2004 for the same cause.
Reyes said he believed Larrañaga was a victim of mistrial and that evidence against the seven young men convicted of the crime was weak.
Cebu businessman Miguel del Gallego, who has led a campaign in support of Larrañaga, said a Spanish judge would allow Larrañaga to avail of probation but required Larrañaga to admit his guilt.
“The Spanish judge wants him to admit to the crime. He (Larrañaga) would rather get a lethal injection than admit to the crime,” Del Gallego said.
Paco’s mother, Margarita, also joined the run.
“We won’t stop fighting so that Paco will be given justice. It’s been 15 years. He was a boy then, 19 years old when they charged him, and he is 35 now and we are fighting for him,” says Margarita.
“The Supreme Court released a decision that he was guilty beyond reasonable doubt, but even the court can commit a mistake,” Reyes said.
“In this country, persistence pays off. It changes public opinion,” he said.
Interest in the case was revived with the screening in Manila of the documentary-film “Give Up Tomorrow” which portrays Larrañaga as a victim of injustice in the Philippines.
The film is directed by New York-based Michael Collins and Paco’s brother-in-law Marty Syjuco and has won awards in international contests like the Sundance Film Festival.
It was screened in the past two Sundays in Manila’s Cinemalaya. Supporters are trying to arrange a private screening in Cebu.
The priest said he believed Larrañaga is innocent of the crime after he talked with witnesses who were with Larranaga the night before the Chiong sisters disappeared.
“I talked to some people in Cravings. He was there,” said the priest, referring to the restaurant-culinary school in Quezon City where Larranaga was a student.
Larrañaga, along with Josman Aznar, Rowen Adlawan, Alberto Cano, Ariel Balansag and brothers James Anthony and James Andrew Uy, were found guilty of kidnapping and illegal detention and were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999.
The High Court later modified the offense to add murder and rape, and upgraded the penalty to death until President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo commuted the sentences to life terms in 2006.
Larrañaga was transferred to a jail in Spain in 2009 due to his dual Spanish-Filipno citizenship.
