Faeldon: Chiong sisters’ killers freed

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Nicanor Faeldon on Monday confirmed that the three persons convicted in the Chiong sisters’ rape-slay case have been released.

Faeldon, facing the Senate in­quiry into the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law, confirmed this after Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lac­son asked him if he indeed signed the release orders for convicts Jos­mar Aznar, Ariel Balansag, and Al­bert Caño.

The embattled BuCor director general initially said he cannot re­member signing their release pa­pers because he cannot distinguish the cases of the said persons de­prived of liberty (PDLs).

But when Lacson showed a copy of the release orders, signed by Corrections Technical Chief Maria Fe Marquez, directorate for refor­mation, Faeldon confirmed their release.

“Have they been released?” Lac­son asked, to which Faeldon re­plied: “Yes, your honor.”

Marquez, who was present dur­ing the Senate hearing, confirmed that she was the one who signed the order.

Aznar, Caño and Balansag were among the seven (7) convicted in May 1999 for the kidnapping of sis­ters Jacqueline and Marijoy Chiong on July 16, 1997 in Cebu City.

Also convicted in the case were Francisco Juan “Paco” Larrañaga, the great-grandson of the late President Sergio Osmeña, Sr.; Ro­wen Adlawan, and James Andrew Uy, and Uy’s brother who was a mi­nor at that time.

Lacson pointed out during the hearing that the killing of the Chiong sisters was also considered a gruesome case similar to that of the killing of University of the Phil­ippines (UP) students Eileen Sar­menta and Allan Gomez.

The sisters were only 22 and 20 when they were kidnapped at a mall in Cebu. The suspect-turned-state witness Davidson Rustia, Az­nar, Adlawan, Larrañaga, and Uy took turns raping the girls.

It was Balansag and Caño who al­legedly drove Marijoy to Carcar town in central Cebu, wrapped her head in masking tape before pushing her off a 150-meter deep ravine.

Marijoy was found two days lat­er and an autopsy report showed she was gang-raped, was still alive when she was pushed off the cliff, and died due to brain hemorrhage and multiple physical injuries.

On the other hand, Jacqueline’s body has yet to be found.

But while Faeldon confirmed the release of the convicted per­sons in the Chiong sisters’ rape-slay case, he denied signing the release papers for former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez.

Faeldon insisted he only signed a memorandum, which he re­called, because he believed San­chez do not deserve to benefit from the GCTA law.

Sanchez, and six of his hench­men, were convicted in the Sar­menta-Gomez rape-slay case.

“I signed that document, the memorandum of release but that is not the release order because after my office, it will be endorsed to several other office. And finally, it will go to the superintendent who issues the final release order of the PDL (person deprived of lib­erty),” Faeldon said.

“That order sir was recalled by me…But the process was never completed,” he added, as he ac­knowledged that it was a docu­ment that he signed.

But Lacson pointed out that the supposed “memorandum order” for Sanchez that Faeldon recalled was “similarly worded” to docu­ments that became the basis for the release of the convicts in the Chiong sisters’ case.

“Is this not a release order still? So what makes the difference be­tween the release order signed for you by Maria Fe Marquez and the release order signed by you by Antonio Sanchez?” Lacson pointed out. (Hannah Torregoza)