After 6 deferments, decision on Chuang kidnap-slay case set on Monday
MANILA, Philippines—Will justice finally be served for the families of a five-year-old girl and her nanny who were killed in a kidnapping case 14 years ago?
After being reset six times, the promulgation of judgment is set Monday, December 22, on the kidnapping and double homicide case against two men accused of killing Eunice Kaye Chuang and her then 27-year-old nanny Jovita Montecino.
Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 5 Judge Emily San Gaspar-Gito is expected to issue the decision on the kidnap-slay case that happened in 2000.
Last Friday, the promulgation of judgment on the Chuang case was postponed after Manila RTC Branch 21 Acting Presiding Judge Mona Lisa Tiongson-Tabora rescheduled it on Monday in order to attend to court duties in Makati City.
The promulgation was postponed six times: October 2012, January 2013, May 20, May 30 and June 27 in 2014.
Chuang and Montecino went missing on October 17, 2000, after Monico Santos, a taxi driver, fetched them from Philippine San Bin School in Binondo, Manila.
Article continues after this advertisementSantos was hired by the Chuang family to take the child and her nanny to and from school.
Article continues after this advertisementSee Pwe Eng, Chuang’s grandmother, said that she saw another man get into the taxi. The man was later identified as Santos’ cousin and co-accused, Francis Canoza.
The victims died of suffocation after being gagged, tied and hidden in the ceiling of Santos’ house in Malolos, Bulacan. Both bore signs of torture and medico-legal findings revealed that Montecino was also sexually abused.
Santos later admitted that she kidnapped the five-year-old girl in exchange of a P300,000 ransom in order to repair his home.
Santos and Canoza are detained in the Manila City Jail.
Teresita Ang-See, founding chair of the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order, described on Sunday the Chuang case as “the most gruesome and horrible” in the organization’s experience. Ang-See seeks the public’s support during the promulgation of judgment on the 14-year-old case.
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