Chiong murder case
| Chiong murder case | |
|---|---|
Jacqueline (left) and Marijoy (right) Chiong | |
| Location | Cebu City, Philippines |
| Date | July 16, 1997 Approx. 10 o'clock in the evening |
Attack type | Kidnapping, rape, murder |
| Victims | Jacqueline and Marijoy Chiong |
| Perpetrator | Francisco Juan "Paco" Larrañaga |
| Assailants | 6 others |
| People of the Philippines v. Francisco Juan Larrañaga et al | |
|---|---|
| Court | Supreme Court of the Philippines |
| Full case name | People of the Philippines versus Francisco Juan Larrañaga alias "Paco"; Josman Aznar; Rowen Adlawan alias "Wesley"; Alberto Cao alias "Allan Pahak"; Ariel Balanasag; Davidson Ariel Rusia alias "Tisoy Tagalog"; James Anthony Uy alias "Wangwang" and James Andrew Uy alias "MM" |
| Decided | February 3, 2004 |
| Citation | 466 Phil. 324 (G R. Nos. 138874-75) |
| Case history | |
| Prior actions | Respondents found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of simple kidnapping and serious illegal detention and are sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusión perpetua (Criminal Case No. CBU-45303 and 45304) |
| Appealed from | Regional Trial Court Branch 7, Cebu City |
| Appealed to | Court of Appeals of the Philippines |
| Subsequent actions | Lobbied by Fair Trials International to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, European Union, Amnesty International and Spanish Government. Respondent Larrañaga was transferred to Spain to observe his prison term, by virtue of Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons |
| Related action | Abolition of Capital punishment in the Philippines |
| Ruling | |
| Respondents are guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the special complex crime of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with homicide and rape and are sentenced to suffer the penalty of death by lethal injection. Motion for reconsideration denied by the Supreme Court en banc | |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | Hilario Davide Jr., Reynato Puno, Artemio Panganiban, Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, Antonio Carpio, Alicia Austria-Martinez, Renato Corona, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Romeo Callejo Sr., Adolfo Azcuna, Dante Tinga, Minita Chico-Nazario, Cancio C. Garcia |
| Case opinions | |
| Per Curiam | |
| Laws applied | |
| Philippine criminal law | |
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 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.