DOJ chief defends clemency on Teehankee

MANILA, Philippines - The justice department on Tuesday defended the grant of executive clemency on convicted murderer Claudio Teehankee Jr, saying that he had already served 21 years and three months of his prison term which qualified him for the presidential pardon. This came from Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez who was queried during the hearing of DOJ's P7.23 billion proposed budget for 2009. Gonzalez said Teehankee had been in jail since July 1991 and transferred to National Bilibid Prisons in Muntilupa on January 16, 1993. "Confinement in the Bureau of Corrections (local jail) is part of the credit. He (Teehankee) has actual time of 17 years, two months and three days," Gonzalez told the Senate committee on finance headed by Sen Juan Ponce Enrile. He said that Teehankee was able to accumulate prison credits for his "good conduct time allowance" which accounts for four years and 22 days. The DOJ chief said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo commuted Teehankee's remaining jail term. "He (Teehankee) should have been released on the third week of September but he was only released on October 2," Gonzalez said. Asked by Enrile on the reported release of Teehankee in the middle of the night, Gonzalez admitted that the convict was freed late at night because the Bureau of Corrections had to do overtime because he was not released on time. "The BuCor were able to complete their work towards the evening so he was released midnight," Gonzalez said. After answering the questions on Teehankee's release, Enrile suspended the hearing and allowed the justice officials to leave, saying that he no longer had any questions regarding the DOJ budget. Teehankee, son of the late Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee Sr, was convicted in 1995 for the murder of Roland John Chapman and Swedish-Filipino Maureen Hultman who was then 16 years old. Teehankee was sentenced to one count of reclusion perpetua and two counts of prison mayor to reclusion temporal, which carry a jail term of 20 to 40 years and 12 to 20 years, respectively. Court records showed that Chapman, Hultman, and another friend, 21-year-old Jussi Leino, were coming home in posh Dasmarinas Village in Makati from a party in the wee hours of July 13, 1991 when they were accosted by Teehankee who asked for identification. When Chapman - who was described in earlier news reports as the son of a US Embassy communications officer - inquired what Teehankee wanted, Teehankee shot Chapman, killing him instantly. Teehankee then pointed his gun at Leino and told him to sit down on the pavement. Teehankee then turned to Hultman whom he also ordered to sit on the pavement. He then shot Leino who was hit in the jaw. He then fired at Hultman, who sustained a gunshot wound in the temple. Teehankee then left. Leino survived the rampage while Hultman died Oct 17, 1991 or two months later in hospital.- Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV