Abadilla 5 kin look to Duterte to end 20-year prison ordeal

THE RELATIVES of the five men imprisoned for the more than 20 years for the killing  of the former chief of the Metrocom Intelligence and Security Group, Col. Rolando Abadilla, have appealed to President-elect Rodrigo Duterte for their release.

In an open letter to Duterte, the relatives said the so-called Abadilla 5 were “unjustly” imprisoned, asserting that they were arrested without warrants, tortured and made to suffer a grave miscarriage of justice.

The letter was signed by members of the families of  Cesar Fortuna, Joel de Jesus, Rameses de Jesus, Augusto Santos and Lenido Lumanog.

Reached by the Inquirer, Lumanog said the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, the civilian anticrime group, would help them convey the letter to Duterte.

Lumanog lamented the dismissal last month  by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court of the torture case filed against several police officers over their treatment , ironically because “the accused have a right to a speedy trial.”

“It hurts. It was the government’s fault for taking too long to file the case but we are the ones suffering,” Lumanog, who is under hospital arrest at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

He said it took the Department of Justice six years to investigate their torture complaint before the DOJ turned it over to the Ombudsman, who then sat on the case for nine years.

It took another two years for the DOJ to finally file the case in court, Lumanog said.

He said he had high hopes Duterte would act on their plea. “President Duterte talks directly to the point, and I can see that he has a heart,” Lumanog said.

“When the communist hit squad Alex Boncayao Brigade claimed  responsibility for the Abadilla killing, Lumanog and his coaccused were optimistic they would be cleared. But their case went up to the highest court,” the relatives said in their letter.

Abadilla was ambushed while his car was stuck in traffic on Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, on June 13, 1996.

“Mayor (Duterte), we beg your good heart for mercy and consideration for our husbands and fathers by returning their long-lost freedom,” the letter said.

The Board of Pardons and Parole recommended the release of the Abadilla 5 in 2011. Then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima recommended a conditional pardon or executive clemency for them in 2012.

“(But) President Aquino just slept on it,” the letter said.