LARRANAGA CASE AND

HUMAN RIGHTS
REPORTERS: MOSCOW
CARDENAS, BRYLE
CENIZA, EZRA HILARY
PODIOTAN, KIM

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HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

The Paco
Larranaga
Case

2022
HAVE A QUICK LOOK ON THE
STORY
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Case brief
Francisco Paco Larrañaga, a
Filipino-Spanish citizen, was 27
years old when he and six others
were convicted in Cebu for the
1997 abduction, rape and
murder of sisters Marijoy and
Jacqueline Chiong in 2004
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According to the prosecution, Larrañaga, along with seven other

men, kidnapped Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in Cebu City on
16 July 1997. On the same day, the two women were allegedly
raped. Marijoy Chiong was then pushed down into a ravine,
while Jacqueline Chiong was beaten. Jacqueline Chiong's body
remains missing.
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David Rusia
Star Witness of the case/
State Witness

In exchange for blanket immunity, he testified.

Rusia claimed that he was with Larrañaga in
Ayala Center, Cebu early in the evening of July
16, the evening Larrañaga says he was in R&R
Restaurant in Quezon City with his friends
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35 Witnesses including friends and teachers

to testify for Paco

During his trial in the Cebu RTC, 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
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STATEMENTS OF THE
WITNESSES
Rowena Bautista, an instructor
and chef at the culinary center,
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
said Larrañaga was in school
second round of midterm exams on July 17
from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and
commencing at 8 a.m. Only then did Larrañaga
saw him again at about 6:30 p.m leave for Cebu in the late afternoon of July 17,
on July 16. 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.
CONVICTION OF
MYSTERY & MURDER

RTC (1999)

found co-defendants guilty of the kidnapping and serious illegal

detention of Jacqueline Chiong and sentenced them to reclusion
perpetua.

The Supreme Court then changed the verdict to a death

sentence by lethal injection on the 3 of February 2004. They
were found guilty not only of the kidnapping and serious
illegal detention of Jacqueline Chiong, but also of the
complex crime of kidnapping and serious illegal detention
with homicide and rape of Marijoy Chiong
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Larrañaga brought his case to the UN

Human Rights Committee which found
numerous violations of the convict’s
rights during the course of the trial,
from the lower court to the Supreme
Court, and recommended, in 2006, a
“commutation of his death sentence
and early consideration for release on
parole.”
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Larrañaga remains in jail in Spain, where

he was transferred as part of a prisoner
exchange treaty in 2009, while his six
Filipino co-accused are behind bars in the
Philippines. The Spanish government has
also lobbied the Philippines on behalf of
Larranaga but he cannot be released
unless he wins a presidential pardon