I find it ridiculous because they bring me here to Spain because I’m innocent…and then they want me to assume the crime…How can I assume something I didn’t do? I can never admit guilt because I am not guilty.
Paco Larrañaga
On the night of July 1997, a gruesome crime will unfold involving the lives of two Cebuana adolescents that will shake the whole nation at its core.
The Disappearance of Chiong Sisters
One of the Chiong sisters remains missing up to this day and it has been 27 years already. But how did this all start? According to reports, the Chiong sisters were apparently hanging out in a well-renowned mall here in Cebu, when night came and they decided to take a bus to take them home.
10:30 PM, July 16, 1997, the Chiong sisters were waiting at a bus shed for their ride home. However, seven men were driven by madness and decided to abduct the two sisters. The family who had waited for the sisters to be home at 10:00 PM started to get worried and filed a campaign to find the allegedly missing sisters.
Nevertheless, the police never took the case seriously due to the age of the two, since it was common for people of their age to go missing for several days. Not until two days later when a body was found floating in the deep ravine in Tanawan, Carcar City, Cebu. It was the dead body of Marijoy Chiong.
The Crime and the Suspects
According to G.R. Nos. 138874-75, February 03, 2004, the case not only involved kidnapping, but also illegal detention and rape. The college beauty queen Chiong was gang-raped and murdered and thrown into the ravines to rot after the abduction. Her sister was then also gang-raped, but followed a completely different route after; she went missing and was never found again up to this day.
On the other hand, the hunt for the suspects had been quite short due to an investigator involved in the case. Pablo Labra II was not the chief investigator in the case, nevertheless, he was the one tasked to look into it.
Labra II had been under an intense scrutiny from the media and the public to provide a list of the people responsible for the crime that prompted him to look further into police records. Then, 7 suspects emerged under his arduous search.
Francisco Juan Larrañaga, alias Paco; Josman Aznar; Rowen Adlawan alias Wesley; Alberto Caño alias Allan Pahak; Ariel Balansag; and brothers James Andrew Uy alias “MM” and James Anthony Uy alias “Wang-Wang”, were then named the Chiong Seven.
In May 15, 1999, the Regional Trial Court Branch – 7 then ruled the alleged suspects as ‘guilty beyond reasonable doubt’ of the crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention. They were then granted to suffer ‘two reclusion perpetua’ plus damages. On February 03, 2004, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision of the Regional Trial Court while adding a heavier penalty — death by lethal injection.
The Chiong Sisters Are Actually Alive?
Although it has been found out that one of the sisters was actually dead while the other one was missing, many Filipinos are still skeptical about this fact due to some irregularities in the case.
An online article wrote that the case apparently had many coincidences and inconsistencies. One was Larrañaga’s involvement in the case. According to Rusia, Larrañaga was the crime’s mastermind. However, the day the sisters disappeared he was currently in attendance for his midterm exams.
Moreover, a few friends of Larrañaga testified that he cannot have a quick flight from Manila to Cebu after the exam since they were in a bar until 3 in the morning of the following day. Furthermore, there were no flight records of any Francisco Larrañaga traveling from Manila to Cebu on July 15, 1997.
Further proving this point, images of the Chiong sisters recently surfaced on the internet with a caption that the Chiong sisters are apparently ‘alive’. Social media posts from 2018 to 2020 have revealed that the sisters are apparently alive and well.
— The case of the Chiong sisters has left many Filipinos baffled and skeptical at the same time up to this day. Since the crime was ultimately brutal and inhumane, however, the evidence against the suspects, especially against Larrañaga, were too inconsistent to believe.
But, how about you Sugboanon, what do you think about this? Do you believe that Larrañaga was a victim of injustice or was it justice well-served? Do you also believe that the sisters are actually alive?
Bolok po ang justice system sa pinas. Napagbintangan lang po talaga sila. Walang hiya yang chiong sister. Yung papa nila drug lord para matabonan ng krimen ng papa nila. They have to make fake lies.