(The Chiong sisters and the Chiong 7 Case)

A Activity Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements in Criminal Law and Jurisprudence 1
(Introduction to Philippine Criminal Justice System)

Second Semester, SY 2021-2022

Submitted to:

Instructor

Submitted by:

Student
INTRODUCTION:
On July 16, 1997, two Chiong sisters went missing. Larranaga was one of them, along with six
other suspects, who were named by David Russia, the state witness. David Russia is a convicted
felon who was twice sentenced to jail for other offenses in the United States. He was with
Larranaga in Ayala Center, Cebu early in the evening of July 16, as Russia said, that evening
Larranaga says he was with his friends at R&R Restaurant in Quezon City; this fact was proved
by photographs and his friends' testimonies. At the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) in Quezon
City, the defense presented thirty-five witnesses, including Larranaga's teachers and
classmates, who all testified under oath that Larranaga was in Quezon City when the crime was
said to have taken place in Cebu. These testimony were found insignificant by the trial court,
ignored as coming from "friends of the accused," and were not accepted. The trial court at that
time was not competent enough to find the real culprit in the scenario because of bribery,
connections and the like.
During the Chiong murder case, this unexpected occurrence was shown in the film to be part
of the whole scheme of accusing Larranaga and concealing the facts about the murder and rape
of the Chiong sisters. Larranaga was sentenced to death, along with the other co-accused, and
appealed later, but they were all rejected. Considering Larranaga's Filipino-Spanish nationality,
his family asked the Spanish government for help. However, the mother of the Chiong Sisters’
appealed that when someone who committed a crime in the Philippines, must serve their crime
in the Philippines and that is a reason why Larranaga and the other convicts served their
imprisonment in New Bilibid Prison. However, because of the good behavior that Larranaga
showed, he was then transferred to Madrid Penitentiary at Soto del Real. Therefore, Larranaga
and the other convicts did not have the favourable judgement that they deserve because of the
different factors such as unjust system, lack of evidences and the like.
According to my researches, there are no specific medical reports that were discussed.
However, they stated that the cause of the death of Marijoy Chiong and Jacqueline Chiong was
due to inflicted injuries and show some signs of raping in the scenario. However, they also
stated that they threw Marijoy Chiong in the ravine that caused also her death. Firstly, the
investigation that happened was insufficient enough to prove Larranaga and the other victims
guilty from the Chiong Sisters Rape Slay case because there are no definite findings on the
Chiong sisters’ real cause of death. There are no autopsy reports was shown that can be strong
evidence. With this, there are a lot of arguments that were stated during the trial because there
were no strong pieces of evidence that lead to innocent victims who suffer from the crime that
they did not commit. The medical reports have nothing to do with Larranaga and the other
convicts because they have true witnesses that they were with them during the time of the
crime. However, the court said that it is insignificant because they were close to Larranaga.
Also, there are no lab tests that linked to Larranaga and with the other victims that can make
them guilty at that time. In conclusion, the shreds of evidence are void and null because of
weak evidence and trace of events in the murder of the Chiong sisters.
DISCUSSION:
Larranaga and the other convicts’ rights were violated in this case due to many gaps in the
case. Firstly, is the Article III, Section 4, and Section 14 that states “No person shall be held to
answer for a criminal offense without due process of law”, and in line with this, they were not
heard in the trial when the witnesses have strong evidence such as pictures and the like.
Another one is that they are no proper procedure on how they were judged in the court. These
accused men were hopeless at that time because the court was already siding with the victim.
The court was incompetent and biased at that time that led the accused not to be heard.
Other constitutional rights that were violated are the Article III, Section 2 that states, “The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable,
and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be
determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the
complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be
searched and the persons or things to be seized.” The course of Larranaga’s arrest came quickly
and abruptly, looking to him as an abduction. Everyone who arrested him was in plain clothing,
even though they looked like cops. When they arrested Larranaga, they did not identify
themselves, until Larranaga's sister asked them. In defense, they wrongly arrested Larranaga
because of the lack of an arrest warrant, saying that he had committed a continuing offense.
Article III, Section 13 that states, “All persons, except those charged with offenses punishable
by reclusion Perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be bailable by
sufficient sureties, or be released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to bail
shall not be impaired even when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended.
Excessive bail shall not be required.” This was also violated because there was no strong
evidence that can be linked to the accused especially Paco, he was not heard by the court,
giving unexplainable judgment to them and medical reports are not strong pieces of evidence
because there is no definite findings of the bodies of the Chiong sisters wherein Paco served
Reclusion Perpetua and is still serving in the prison up to this day that he did not deserve.
Lastly, Article III Section 1 was violated that states, “No person shall be deprived of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal
protection of the laws.” This shows that the accused party were not protected by the law
because Larranaga was not given the right to a fair and speedy trial, first, the media had
participated a lot in drawing Larranaga's picture as the convict. The judge even displayed his
impartiality, which was indeed incomprehensible. The judge was found dead in a hotel after
refusing to acknowledge the testimony of Larranaga's witnesses, stopping him from taking the
witness stand and making a double life imprisonment verdict. With this, their natural rights did
not acknowledge the fact that it was biased and unjust and does not have enough investigation
that led to the fall of the accused party in the scenario.

CONCLUSION:
The case is all about the chiong sisters that had been kidnapped, raped, and murdered 24
years from now, and that was on July 16, 1997. According to (Farolan, 2018) Marijoy and
Jacqueline Chiong were abducted by seven men as they were standing at a waiting shed around
10:30 pm along Archbishop Reyes Avenue in Cebu city. 2 days after the disappearance of the
Chiong sisters, Marijoy's body was found at the bottom of a deep ravine in Tan-wan, Carcar City
but unfortunately, Jacqueline's body was still never recovered. Apart from that, Francisco Juan
Larrañaga, alias Paco; Josmar Aznar; Rowen Adlawan alias Wesley; Alberto Caño alias Allan
Pahak; Ariel Balansag; and brothers James Andrew Uy alias "MM" and James Anthony Uy alias
"Wang-Wang" are the suspect of the crime, they were convicted of murder and sentenced to
death by lethal injection on February 3, 2004.
I believe that Francisco Juan Larrañaga alias Paco, a man of dual Filipino and Spanish
Citizenship is innocent of the murder case of Chiong sister. According to the documentary on
rappler named 'Give up Tomorrow' Paco stated that he was not given a fair fight against the
lethal injection given to him. Also, when paco's sister and her husband told the story of how it
was started it is clearly said that paco was clueless at first, because there are 4 men surrounded
him with guns that they said they're all police but wearing civilian clothes and showed to the
sister of paco their expired police ID as well as having no warrant of arresting paco, in addition,
paco was in his school when the alleged crime happened so the point is how did he went to two
places at the same time that has probably 350 miles away where supposedly the crime
happened? Furthermore, at Paco's side they have more than 35 witnesses that agreed to him
that he was nowhere near Cebu on July 16, 1997 the school attendance record also showed
some evidences of his in their school. The documentary said that there are 42 witnesses of him
signed affidavits stating that they were with paco in Manila while the alleged crime was
happening in Cebu.
I conclude, there was no proper administration of justice on both sides because the Chiong
family may also have a hidden secret. According to the documentary from the rappler, Paco’s
sister again stated that the Chiong family was not actually seeking for the right justice of their
daughters but rather actively working towards the conviction of an innocent boy which leads
paco's sister to think of the theory that the Chiong family was just hiding something especially
the father of 2 Chiong siblings. to explain further Mr. Chiong was called to testify against
something in front of the Congressional committee on dangerous drugs but before that
happened his two daughters went missing, so that means it may be just a ploy to stop the
testimony of Mr. Chiong for the people to shift their attention to his missing daughters.
RECOMMENDATION:
As medical professionals, I would conclude the case based on the medical findings used as
evidence insignificant to the case because there is a lot of gaps in the medical reports. It does
not add up to Paco since there are limited findings only. There is no proper autopsy report that
was made at that time to clarify the different statements. Also, it is not proven that Paco was
the one who raped and murdered the Chiong Sisters. Therefore, the medical reports are not
valid to make the accused party and especially Paco eligible for the rape and murder case of the
Chiong sisters due to insufficient investigation and lack of depth of the pieces of evidence that
were presented in the court.

REFERENCE:
https://www.coursehero.com/file/134833040/The-Chiongs-Sistersdocx/
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/twenty-years-later-the-chiongsisters-murder-
is-still-shrouded-in-mystery-a1729-20180717-lfrm4
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/46750