Kaban ni D_BystandeR: MIANI UG PASIDUNGOG ANG PELIKULA SA KINABUHI NI PACO???

The acclaimed documentary by filmmakers Michael Collins and Mary Syjuco's examines the trial of Larranaga and six others convicted for the kidnap-murder victims Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in Cebu City in 1997. In a joint statement to the Inquirer, director Collins and producer Syjuco said they were overjoyed by the nomination. "

After dedicating the last nine years to sharing Paco's story with the world, we are overjoyed with our Emmy nomination - to be recognized for excellence in investigative journalism means the world to us." Last month, Paco was given permission to step out of his prison in San Sebastian to speak in the 5th World Congress on the abolition of the death penalty held in Madrid. The documentary film which has won several awards in international film festivals, made a week-long run in Cebu and Manila theaters last October.

Two private screenings were held at the Marcelo Fernan Press Center last month before the it was shown in Cebu City where the kidnap-murder took place. The documentary which explained the side of Paco Larranaga on the kidnap-murder case had been shown in 25 countries and won 15 awards from 15 festivals and human rights organizations. Last year, marked Larranaga's 15^th year in prison along with six other men convicted for the kidnap-murder of Thelma Chiong's daughters Marijoy and Jacqueline. Since 2008, Larranaga had been serving a life sentence in a prison in Spain where he was transferred from the National Bilibid Prison under a prisoner exchange treaty of Spain and the Philippines. Paco was given a pass out of a San Sebastian prison to attend the April 27 screening  and awards ceremony at the San Sebastian Human Rights Film Festival last year where he was given the audience award by the mayor of San Sebastian. Prior to the film's showing in Cebu City, Thelma Chiong voiced confidence that Cebuanos won't believe in the film's claim that Paco is innocent saying "it was all lies."

 The documentary, which was seven years in the making, tells how Larranaga and his six co-accused were supposedly framed for what was described as the "crime of the  century" in Cebu. Marijoy's body was found at the bottom of Tan-awan, Guadalupe, Carcar on southern Cebu a day after she disappeared. Until now, the Chiong family is still searching for Jacqueline's body. The film made its US broadcast premiere on PBS last October 4, as part of the 25th anniversary season of POV, a series of presentation acclaimed for showing international documentaries.

Also shown in theaters in the Philippines, the film was released on DVD by first Run Features through Amazon.com and www,GiveUpTomorrow.com. It was executive-produced by Filipino-American filmmaker Ramona Diaz, Simeon Kilmurry, Sally Jo Fifer and Don Young. The winners in various categories, including breaking news, investigative reporting, interview and documentary, will be announced on Oct. 1 at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Time Warner Center in New York.

COMMENT: It defies all kind of logic for a film depicting the most despicable crime - kidnap-murder - perpetrated by Paco Larranaga, son of a wealthy family, his father a senior pelotari from Spain of the now-defunct Mambaling Jai-Alai Fronton in Mambaling, Cebu City in the 70s and his mother, a member of the influential Osmena clan in Cebu. It was dubbed the "crime of the century" in Cebu and due to the adverse strong reaction by the enraged Cebuanos and with the no-nonsense highly professional handling of that sensational criminal case by a strong-willed Judge Martin Ocampo, the case was finally decided convicting all the accused - Paco Larranaga with six of his co-accused - guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime as charged. The case was not tackled easily in court as the cited respondents who belong to prominent families put up a strong and protracted legal battle employing the best criminal lawyers in town trying to harness all the dirty tactics imaginable in  courtroom proceedings in an attempt to overturn incontrovertible mounting evidence presented by the prosecution in court. But the judge, true to his established name of incorruptibility trying the case, ultimately convicted the suspects to pay for the crime committed with their lives through death penalty. But the judge, as an aftermath of the conviction of the suspects did not live long to enjoy and savor the fame of giving that fearless decision against the sons of influential and rich families. He started receiving "death threats" from anonymous source and in a mysterious case which up to now "remained unsolved," he died inside the Waterfront Hotel in Lapu-lapu City where it was pronounced to be a case of personal suicide. The police who first came to respond to that incident appeared to have personally "altered" the facts or evidence of the crime, and many believed it could be willfully intentional or done with damning carelessness of that police officer by flushing the toilet  bowl once he was inside the hotel room. Many independent observers believed vital evidence could have been preserved to allow the succeeding team of professional investigators ample leeway to dig deeper and expound on the propriety of some criminal angles related to the case. The close-circuit TV of the hotel which monitored any individual movements approaching and coming out of the judge's hotel room was said to have been "jammed or tampered" thus giving a blurred reception. The person handling the hotel's chief security of the hotel at that time was a newly retired Cebu City police officer who took charge in the supervision of CCTV operation. It could have provided the answer to lingering questions as to the identity of person or persons who passed through the door of the judge's room to determine whether there was any foul play involved in his death. There was a raging controversy as to the correct placement of the gun when found by investigators to the effect that it would not reasonably jibe with the adopted theory of a personal suicide. That case exemplified a judge trying his best to exercise his independence and firm conviction to fearlessly decide it through compelling factual evidence presented beyond reasonable doubt but in the end was believed to have been made to pay it with his dear life through clever manipulation by people believed to be "powerful and influential." And now not  contented with the amendment of death penalty to life imprisonment becoming a law in the Philippines with the stroke of a pen by GMA, Paco Larranaga became a recipient of an exchange of prisoner agreement between Spain and the Philippines in a treaty signed by GMA. Being away from the frying eyes of the local media, a film producer and a filmmaker succeeded in a period of "seven years" to finally come out in a supposedly "documentary" film under the auspices of investigative journalism the "other version" of the kidnap-murder case in which reports had it that it was acclaimed to have exonerated Paco Larranaga as "innocent" of the crime he was convicted of. I am hoping against hope that the next phase of this "mystifying saga" is that Paco Larranaga will be finally exculpated and granted his final freedom in a foreign land.

(Bug-os ang  pasalamat sa KAHAYAG ngadto sa magtatampo  nga si JOHNNY LOVE. Nagtakuban siya sa pangalan, "D_BystandeR".  Natawo siya sa Sugbo apan anaa na karon manimuyo sa Illinois sa tinipong nasod sa Amerika. Ang kusog nga koneksyon sa kasayuran pinaagi sa internet kanunayng naghaling sa iyang kadasig  pagtuki sa mga nagbukalbukal nga hisgutanan dinhi sa atong nataran. Usa siya ka magsusulat nga gradwado sa kursong komersiyo padulong sa pagka accountant sa University of San Carlos kaniadtong tuig 1961.  Nahimo siyang miyembro sa usa ka hugpong sa mga batan-ong magsusulat nga gitawag ug STUDENT PRESS.  Nahimo usab siyang   Associate Editor sa basahon  USC-JPIAN sa tuig 1962-63. Magtatampo usab siya isip magsusulat sa nasudnong magasin,  "Philippines Free Press" ug sa mga nag-unang peryodiko dinhi sa dakbayan sa Sugbo sa lunhaw pa ang iyang pangedaron. Nahimo siyang mamumuo sa usa ka pribadong kompaniya sa dakbayan sa Sugbo, ESCAÑO LINES, sulod sa napulo ug duha (12) ka tuig  dayon niyang tapon  ngadto sa NAPOCOR  ug nahimong kawani sa kagamhanan  sulod sa bayente dos (22) ka tuig. Niadtong tunga-tungang bahin sa tuig 2000, nilalin siya ngadto sa tinipong nasod sa Amerika ug sulod sa napulo (10) ka tuig, nagtrabaho siya sa  buhatan sa kagamhanan sa nasod sama  sa  UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (USPS).  Karon sa pangedaron nga 68,  gihuptan gihapon niya ang walay pagkutat nga kadasig ug walay busganan nga kaikag sa pagpaambit sa iyang nahuptang abilidad  ug kabatid sa panulat.  Dili niya mapugngan ang kaugalingon sa pagpaambit sa iyang mga hunahuna labi na kon molambigit kini ug hisgotanan nga makadani sa iyang mga mata. Makadawat siya sa inyong mga hunahuna mahitungod sa iyang sinulat sa johnnylobedica@yahoo.com)