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Chiong murder case
The Chiong murder case (People of the Philippines v. Francisco Juan Larrañaga et al.) was a trial regarding an incident on July 16, 1997, in Cebu City, in which sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong were allegedly kidnapped, raped, and murdered.
Francisco Juan "Paco" Larrañaga (b. 1977), a man of dual Filipino and Spanish citizenship was, along with six others, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death by lethal injection on February 3, 2004. Larrañaga was later commuted to life imprisonment, following the abolition of capital punishment in the Philippines in June 2006, and was transferred to Spain to serve out his sentence in October 2009.
The Chiong sisters remain missing to this day.
According to the prosecutors, at 10:00 p.m. on July 16, 1997, Larrañaga and six other defendants kidnapped the Chiong sisters near a mall in Cebu, raped them, and then threw Marijoy's body into a ravine. This was later disputed because there was no formal identification of the body, and it was later determined that it was not the body of one of the sisters. Jacqueline's body was never found.
The testimony of a co-defendant, Davidson Valiente Rusia, was central to the prosecutors' case against Larrañaga. Rusia testified in exchange for blanket immunity. Despite the fact that Rusia's direct testimony lasted days, the trial court only allowed Larrañaga's counsel to cross-examine him for half an hour. During that half-hour, Larrañaga's attorney established that Rusia lied to both the prosecution and the court about his prior convictions. Rusia claimed he had never been convicted of a crime, but he had a history of burglary and forgery; when confronted with this evidence, Rusia fainted. Davidson Rusia is a convicted felon who was a gang member and was sentenced to prison twice in the United States for other crimes. Rusia claimed that he was with Larrañaga in Ayala Center, Cebú early in the evening of July 16, the evening Larrañaga says that he was at R&R Restaurant in Quezon City with his friends. Rusia was unknown to Larrañaga and only appeared as a "state witness" 10 months after the event.
Forty five witnesses, including Larrañaga's teachers and classmates at the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) in Quezon City, testified under oath that he was in Quezon City, when the crime is said to have taken place in Cebu City. However, the trial court considered these testimonies irrelevant, rejecting these as coming from "friends of the accused," and they were not admitted. During his trial in the Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 7, defense lawyers sought to present evidence of his whereabouts on the evening of the crime—that Larrañaga, at that time 19 years old, was at a party at the R&R Restaurant along Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, and stayed there until early morning the following day. After the party, the logbook of the security guard at Larrañaga's condominium indicates that Larrañaga returned to his Quezon City condominium at 2:45 a.m.
Rowena Bautista, an instructor, and chef at the culinary center said Larrañaga was in school from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and saw him again at about 6:30 p.m on July 16. The school's registrar, Caroline Calleja, said she proctored a two-hour exam where Larrañaga was present from 1:30 p.m. Larrañaga attended his second round of midterm exams on July 17 commencing at 8 a.m. Only then did Larrañaga leave for Cebu in the late afternoon of July 17, 1997.
Airline and airport personnel also came to court with their flight records, indicating that Larrañaga did not take any flight on July 16, 1997, nor was he on board any chartered aircraft that landed in or departed from Cebu during the relevant dates, except the 5 p.m. PAL flight on July 17, 1997, from Manila to Cebu.
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Chiong murder case
The Chiong murder case (People of the Philippines v. Francisco Juan Larrañaga et al.) was a trial regarding an incident on July 16, 1997, in Cebu City, in which sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong were allegedly kidnapped, raped, and murdered.
Francisco Juan "Paco" Larrañaga (b. 1977), a man of dual Filipino and Spanish citizenship was, along with six others, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death by lethal injection on February 3, 2004. Larrañaga was later commuted to life imprisonment, following the abolition of capital punishment in the Philippines in June 2006, and was transferred to Spain to serve out his sentence in October 2009.
The Chiong sisters remain missing to this day.
According to the prosecutors, at 10:00 p.m. on July 16, 1997, Larrañaga and six other defendants kidnapped the Chiong sisters near a mall in Cebu, raped them, and then threw Marijoy's body into a ravine. This was later disputed because there was no formal identification of the body, and it was later determined that it was not the body of one of the sisters. Jacqueline's body was never found.
The testimony of a co-defendant, Davidson Valiente Rusia, was central to the prosecutors' case against Larrañaga. Rusia testified in exchange for blanket immunity. Despite the fact that Rusia's direct testimony lasted days, the trial court only allowed Larrañaga's counsel to cross-examine him for half an hour. During that half-hour, Larrañaga's attorney established that Rusia lied to both the prosecution and the court about his prior convictions. Rusia claimed he had never been convicted of a crime, but he had a history of burglary and forgery; when confronted with this evidence, Rusia fainted. Davidson Rusia is a convicted felon who was a gang member and was sentenced to prison twice in the United States for other crimes. Rusia claimed that he was with Larrañaga in Ayala Center, Cebú early in the evening of July 16, the evening Larrañaga says that he was at R&R Restaurant in Quezon City with his friends. Rusia was unknown to Larrañaga and only appeared as a "state witness" 10 months after the event.
Forty five witnesses, including Larrañaga's teachers and classmates at the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) in Quezon City, testified under oath that he was in Quezon City, when the crime is said to have taken place in Cebu City. However, the trial court considered these testimonies irrelevant, rejecting these as coming from "friends of the accused," and they were not admitted. During his trial in the Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 7, defense lawyers sought to present evidence of his whereabouts on the evening of the crime—that Larrañaga, at that time 19 years old, was at a party at the R&R Restaurant along Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, and stayed there until early morning the following day. After the party, the logbook of the security guard at Larrañaga's condominium indicates that Larrañaga returned to his Quezon City condominium at 2:45 a.m.
Rowena Bautista, an instructor, and chef at the culinary center said Larrañaga was in school from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and saw him again at about 6:30 p.m on July 16. The school's registrar, Caroline Calleja, said she proctored a two-hour exam where Larrañaga was present from 1:30 p.m. Larrañaga attended his second round of midterm exams on July 17 commencing at 8 a.m. Only then did Larrañaga leave for Cebu in the late afternoon of July 17, 1997.
Airline and airport personnel also came to court with their flight records, indicating that Larrañaga did not take any flight on July 16, 1997, nor was he on board any chartered aircraft that landed in or departed from Cebu during the relevant dates, except the 5 p.m. PAL flight on July 17, 1997, from Manila to Cebu.
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