Vivian Hultman mum on lawyer's petition to annul Teehankee clemency

MANILA, Philippines - The mother of one of the victims of released convict Claudio Teehankee Jr, refused to comment on their lawyer's petition before the Supreme Court seeking to nullify the commutation of sentence and subsequent grant of executive clemency to Teehankee. A QTV Balitanghali report on Friday said that Vivian Hultman had earlier said she will remain quiet on the matter as she is still "quite emotional" as their family will mark their daughter Maureen's 17th death anniversary. "I really feel quite emotional these days dahil sa nangyari and dahil sa dadating na anniversary ng anak ko (I really feel quite emotional these days because of what happened and because her death anniversary is nearing)," Mrs Hultman said. On Wednesday, lawyer Ernesto Francisco, one of the private prosecutors who represented the families of Teehankee's victims asked the Supreme Court to nullify the Board of Pardons and Parole's recommendation for sentence commutation and the subsequent grant of executive clemency to Teehankee. But the Justice department said the High Court is unlikely to veto the clemency penned by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 1991 murder On Oct. 17, 1991, Maureen Hultman died due to brain hemorrhages caused by the bullet fragments when Teehankee shot her in the head on the night of July 13, 1991. The QTV television report said the Hultman family - currently based in Sweden - attended a private mass for Maureen to commemorate her 17th death anniversary. Teehankee, the son of the late former Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee Sr, was convicted in 1995 for killing Maureen Hultman and Roland John Chapman, and gravely wounding their friend Jussi Olavi Leino in 1991. He was sentenced with one count of reclusion perpetua for killing Hultman, and two counts of reclusion temporal for the cases of Leino and Chapman. He was granted executive clemency by President Arroyo on September 28, on the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Parole, and released on the night of October 2. He was still spotted inside his quarters at the National Bilibid Prison on October 7. On the night of October 8, Teehankee left the NBP compound. - GMANews.TV