Miriam is to blame for Larrañaga brouhaha

Almost twelve years ago, heinous crimes were committed. The Chiong sisters- Jacqueline and Marijoy was kidnapped, detained, raped and killed by a half-Filipino and half-Spanish Francisco Juan “Paco” Larrañaga’s. He was convicted together with his apprentices.

It was not that long, after 10 months of hiding that Davidson Valiente Rusia came out and turned into a state witness. He recounted the abduction and the consequent rape of the Chiong Sisters.

Rusia narrated what had happened that time, from kidnapping to the murder of the Chiong’s sisters.

The Chiong sisters, Rusia explained, were taken to a house in Guadalupe, Cebu City, where Larrañaga and three others raped them in separate rooms. The other two then drove the van to Carcar town where Marijoy, with head wrapped in masking tape, was pushed off a cliff.

Jacqueline, meanwhile, was taken back to the city early the next day.

Following Rusia’s testimony, the authorities hauled off Larrañaga, Aznar whose family owns several properties in Cebu including Southwestern University, Sacred Heart Hospital, and Alta Vista Golf and Country Club; Adlawan, brothers James Andrew Uy, 17, and James Anthony Uy, 16; and van driver Alberto Caño and conductor Ariel Balansag.

To this date, Jacqueline’s body has still not been found.

Just this month, Larrañaga was granted the privilege to transfer to a penal facility in Spain under the RP-Spain TSPA.

With the RP-Spain Transfer of Prisoners Agreement (TSPA), Francisco Juan “Paco” Larrañaga was granted to transfer to a Spanish prison to serve the remainder of his sentence for the abduction and death of the Chiong Sisters triggered anger and disappointment among many Filipinos given the fact that he is likened to other convicted rapists in the country such as Romeo Jalosjos and Antonio Sanchez.

Unknown to many of us, this was initiated by, again, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who was the lead proponent of this “little known” RP-Spain Transfer of Prisoners Agreement (TSPA), the sole reason the convicted murderer and rapist was allowed to be transferred to Spain.

Santiago was the one who sponsored and defended the resolution ratifying the treaty in the upper chamber. This prisoner swap treaty was signed in Madrid on May 18, 2007 and, with the help of the senator, was ratified by the Senate on Nov. 26, 2007.

The senator, moreover, was the brains behind the joint resolution filed last year that authorized the DOJ to issue implementing rules and regulations with respect to the treaty.

Santiago, who is the Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman, signed on June 2, 2008 Senate Joint Resolution no. 7 entitled "Joint Resolution Authorizing the Department of Justice to Issue the Implementing Rules and Regulations on the Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons between the Republic of the Philippines and the kingdom of Spain and Appropriating Funds for its Implementation".

This is a big whack on our face, justice rendered but our very own Senator Santiago denied the granted so called ‘justice’ to the victims by pushing this treaty. Crime had been committed in our country, this man should therefore be penalized and suffer in this the same country.