Complainant in ‘longest-running kidnap case’ hits delay

MANILA, Philippines—The mother of then 5-year-old Eunice Kaye Chuang who was killed along with her nanny after they were kidnapped almost 14 years ago lamented the postponement yet again of the promulgation of the decision on the case.

“I’m so disappointed about the court decision. It’s been over a decade and up to now, nothing has happened,” Chuang’s mother, Emily, told the Inquirer in a text message on Tuesday.

Chuang and her nanny, Jovita “Bibet” Montecino, were found dead in the house of accused Monico Santos, the taxi driver who was supposed to take them home from school, in 2000.

The two died due to suffocation after they were tied, gagged and hidden in the ceiling.

Judge Mona Lisa Tabora of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 21 was supposed to announce her decision on the kidnapping with double homicide case filed against Santos and his cousin Francis Canoza on Tuesday.

However, she moved the promulgation to May 30, making it the fifth time the longest-running kidnapping case being handled by the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order has been reset, according to the group’s founding chair, Teresita Ang See.

Branch 5 clerk of court Cesario Sudario III cited Tabora’s heavy work load as the reason for the postponement.

He said that Tabora was recently appointed acting judge in Makati in addition to her designation at the Manila RTC Branch 21. She is also a presiding judge in Baguio.

According to Sudario, the Chuang kidnap case was tried in the Manila RTC Branch 5 but the judge recently retired.

When Tabora was designated pairing judge of both Branch 21 and 5, she assumed jurisdiction over the case.

“(Tabora) came in when the case was already finished [and] all the testimonies [had] already been given. There was a draft decision in 2012 but the judge retired so it can’t be promulgated,” Sudario said.

He added that the parties also had to wait for a Supreme Court memorandum which stated that despite the appointment of a new presiding judge for Branch 5, Tabora was the one who should issue a decision on the case.

Chuang and her nanny went missing on Oct. 17, 2000, after Santos fetched them from the Philippine San Bin School in Binondo, Manila.

Eunice’s grandmother, who had hired Santos to bring the girl home, said she saw another man get into the taxi. The man was later identified as Santos’ cousin, Canoza, his co-accused in the case.

Santos initially told the police that they were flagged down under Del Pan bridge by another man who kidnapped the young girl and her nanny.

The police, however, found their bodies in the ceiling of his house in Malolos, Bulacan. He and Canoza were later arrested and have since been detained at the Manila City Jail.