When power in authority is abused

The sinful truth is a scandal waiting to happen.

          Recently there is a public discussion between the film “Jacquiline Comes Homes” which tells the story of the after events of the Chiong murder case in 1997, a case which shook the nation and “Give up tomorrow” a documentary film which tells the side of one of the accused and how abuse and unfair justice system played a huge role in the case.

         Evil deeds can ruin one simple innocents' lives, a scary fact one must be aware of. In the case of the Chiong sisters' story, a set of questionable events and reasons for the results of the investigations of one of the main suspect Paco Larrañaga is a convincing display of how authorities can be abused with the help of the manipulation of the media and how can it destroy life.

A Background of the Chiong sisters story

 Eve of July 16 1997, Chiong sisters Marijoy and Jacquiline Chiong was abducted allegedly by Larrañaga and six other men in Ayala Cebu city and 2 days after, Marijoy's body was found dead while Jacquiline's body was never found. Later on autopsy reveals that Marijoy was allegedly harassed by Larrañaga and his cohorts.

Now, a few questions was raised during the case in favor of Larrañaga mainly

Larrañaga was in Manila at the time of the crime, the judge would fall asleep during court hearings, the Chiong's connection to the judge and then president Joseph Estrada, the “suicide” of the judge and the Chiong's star witness that says, he was forced by the police office to testify against the suspects.

          First Verdict against Larrañaga and his cohorts is Life Imprisonment but was soon elevated by the Supreme Court to death penalty last 2004 which was then legal at the time case happened. Death penalty in the country was declared illegal by the presient Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2006. Larrañaga, was saved when the Spanish Government intervened to help him since he is a Spanish citizen.

All of these timeline was stated in the documentary “Give up tomorrow”.

Abuse and Manipulation

Now, how did manipulation and abuse of authority became a part of the case?

Remember when we said that Chiong's parents are related to the judge? He was a friend of them which could make the authority of the court decide in favor of the Chiong family. Not only that, the media then helped in Manipulating the public against Larrañaga and his co horts.

In fact, during the time of the case, the media sensationalized the events even making a re enactment of what was said that happened according to the testimony of the Chiong's star witness. One broadcaster of a major televesion station (ehem, ABS-CB*) even made a personal attack against Larrañaga which a violation of the KBP Broadcast code of the Philippines that states “Side comments expressing personal opinions and insights while news is being reported is prohibited.”

TO CONCLUDE

Abuse of authority combined with media manipulation is a lethal combination that benefits only those who are in authority. Back then, it is easy for liars to blind the people since the only source of information available then was the media which could tell either the truth or lies.

Thank goodness for facebook, informations hidden by the media could now be accessed by the people. There are no reason for one to be blinded by the media anymore unless one chose to do so.

As for the rotten unfair justice system, the majority of the public appeals for a fair judgement. We are not defending the accused nor are we allowing criminal acts to do crimes regularly. We only appeal for a fair judgement from you. Convict only the proven convicted not the innocents.

We do hope and pray for a fair and unbiased judgements. We love the Philippines and it's so painful for us to hear this types of cases. We pray this case get settled fairly.

To God be the Glory!

KAMPAI!