Free ‘Abadilla 5’ during Pope’s visit, Aquino urged

Tension is writ all over the faces of the five accused in the killing of former PC Colonel and Ilocos Norte Vice Gov. Rolando Abadilla as they await the promulgation of the case by Judge Jaime Salazar on Aug. 11, 1999, in Quezon City. The judge found the five guilty but they have steadfastly professed innocence. On Tuesday, May 27, 2014, the confessed gunmen in Abadilla’s killing were shot dead in Muntinlupa. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes has appealed to President Aquino to grant the “Abadilla 5” clemency during Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines next week.

“We hope the papal visit will be an occasion for real clemency and mercy,” Reyes said in a phone interview, urging Aquino to put the five men on top of the list of inmates to be pardoned during the Pope’s visit.

The Pope arrives next Thursday for a four-day visit.

According to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the President, as a gift to Pope Francis, is planning on pardoning the aged and ailing inmates at the national penitentiary.

De Lima has visited the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to go over the names of the inmates applying for a presidential pardon or executive clemency.

Reyes said the Abadilla 5—Lenido Lumanog, Augusto Santos, Cesar Fortuna, Joel de Jesus and Rameses de Jesus—who were convicted in the 1996 killing of Lt. Col. Rolando Abadilla have been waiting for clemency from the President since 2012.

They have been praying for the past several Christmases that the President would notice their situation, he said.

Reyes said the five had been given reason for hope after the Board of Pardons and Parole recommended their release in 2011, and after De Lima recommended a conditional pardon or executive clemency in 2012.

“May I once more appeal for compassion on behalf of these five innocent men. I know it will not take too much of your time to finally sign the documents which will give these five innocent men the freedom they have long deserved,” Reyes said in an open letter to the President.

“While we go to great lengths to save the lives of convicted citizens sentenced to die in other countries, couldn’t we look in our own backyard and save lives, especially of the innocent?” he added.

The Supreme Court affirmed in February 2011 the Court of Appeals ruling upholding the lower court’s conviction of the five men.

The five insisted they were innocent and accused their police captors of torturing them into admitting the crime.

Abadilla, who headed the dreaded Metrocom Intelligence and Security Group which tortured political prisoners during martial law, was ambushed while his car was stuck in traffic on Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, on June 13, 1996.

The communist hit squad, the Alex Boncayao Brigade, claimed responsibility for the killing.