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Hultman: Arroyo 'secretly and sneakingly' freed Teehankee


MANILA, Philippines - Anders Hultman, the adoptive father of murder victim Maureen, on Tuesday expressed anger and disappointment over how “sneakingly" President Arroyo granted the executive clemency on his daughter’s convicted killer, Claudio Teehankee Jr. In an interview with GMA’s news desk, Hultman said he and is wife, Vivian, were “surprised, angry and sad" over the government’s decision to free Teehankee, son of the late former Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee Sr. "President (Fidel) Ramos didn't touch this, President (Joseph) Estrada didn't touch this, and now (President) Arroyo, she secretly and sneakily released him (Teehankee)," Hultman said. Hultman added that Teehankee’s release “is the highest performance of VIP treatment we’ve ever seen." “And this started since day one," he added. Hultman, who with his wife and family left the country since Maureen’s killing, further said that the executive clemency was “apparently based on illegal grounds" and “is very strange." “The sad part is not that Teehankee has been released. He killed her (Maureen), everybody knows that. But I guess the saddest part... where is the Philippine system is heading. What does this say about the country?" he said. Opposition senators Panfilo Lacson and Francis Escudero, meanwhile, said the clemency may have something to do with President Arroyo's closeness to the Teehankee family. In her report on QTV’s News on Q, Ruth Cabal said President Arroyo was a charter member of the Claudio Teehankee Sr Memorial Foundation wherein in 2001 she received a Rule of Law award from it. President Arroyo also appointed Teehankee’s younger brother as Justice undersecretary. President Arroyo approved the granting of executive clemency to Teehankee by virtue of a letter dated October 2 to the Office of the National Bilibid Prisons Director. He had been in prison since 1991. Teehankee, in 1995, was convicted of murder for the death of Maureen, then 17 years old; of homicide for the death of Roland John Chapman, 21; and of frustrated murder for the wounding of Jussi Leino, 24. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez defended Teehankee’s pardon, saying it underwent the proper procedure. “Strictly speaking, the grant of a clemency is the judgment call of the President. Whether there is basis or not, (it) makes no difference. But in this particular case, we have enough basis," he said. State Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio, on the other hand, said the granting of executive clemency on Teehankee violated at least two sections in the Amended Guidelines for Recommending Executive Clemency that Gonzalez himself signed in March 2006. He said section 10 of the guidelines states that all the concerned parties in the case, particularly the convicting trial judge, the prosecutor’s office, and the offended party, should be duly consulted on the possible granting of pardon on a convict. Villa-Ignacio also noted that section 11 states that names of the convicts being considered for executive clemency should be published first in national newspapers. “You formulate your own rules then you (did) not comply with the same, so what’s the use of coming out with guidelines?" he said. But former Senate President Franklin Drilon, who was the Justice chief during Teehankee’s conviction, said the executive pardon only shows how the country’s justice system always favors the rich and influential. “Tayo po ba ay pantay-pantay sa batas, mayaman man o hindi? Mukang hindi sa nangyaring ito (Is just for every one of us, rich or poor? With this case, I don’t think so)," he said. Teehankee’s former lawyer, Manuel Malvar, said Teehankee’s pardon may have something to do with his father’s role in the 1996 People Power Revolution. The late Justice secretary was a known critic of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and the one who administered the oath-taking of former President Corazon Aquino. - GMANews.TV
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