'Abadilla 5' kin, supporters turn to SC, Aquino for help

All clad in black, relatives and supporters of the so-called "Abadilla 5" on Friday staged a protest outside the Supreme Court to condemn the continued incarceration of the five men and called on President Benigno Aquino III to step in the case. The Abadilla 5 refers to the five who were convicted by a Quezon City court in August 1999 for the killing of former Marcos-era Constabulary officer Rolando Abadilla. They were SPO2 Cesar Fortuna, Rameses de Jesus, Lenido Lumanog, Joel de Jesus, and Augusto Santos. Their relatives said they had sent a letter to court administrator Midas Marquez seeking his help. They also furnished Marquez a copy of a January 6, 2011 Ombudsman resolution finding probable cause to indict the 15 policemen who arrested the Abadilla 5. The families have long claimed that the Abadilla 5 are mere "fall guys" and were tortured to force them to admit to the crime. Their relatives furnished Marquez a copy of the Ombudsman resolution even if the Supreme Court had already affirmed in September 2010 a Court of Appeals ruling denying the men's appeal in the case. "We are aware that our submission is a year too late and will no longer reverse the Supreme Court decision reaffirming a [local court] conviction of the Abadilla 5," the relatives said in their letter to Marquez. "We are still giving you a copy of said resolution as part of our continuing battle to free the five innocent men who have suffered almost 16 years of imprisonment," the families said. Activist priest Robert Reyes, a staunch supporters of the Abadilla 5, maintained that the five men were "convenient fall guys under a selective [and] preferential justice system. "For the past 16 years, the Abadilla 5 and their families have ascended and endured their Calvary... Theirs is a Calvary of nearly forgotten cases which if not for the persistence of their families and friends could have long gone into the grave," Reyes said. Abadilla, former head of the Metropolitan Command Intelligence and Security Group of the Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police), was shot dead in broad daylight on June 13, 1996 along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City. The convicted men had asked the Court of Appeals to reverse the ruling, but the appellate court affirmed their conviction in April 2008. The accused then elevated the matter to the Supreme Court, which handed down its decision on September 7, 2010. On Friday, the Abadilla 5's relatives and supporters wore black "from head to toe to express the deep sorrow felt not only today but also for the last 16 years." Reyes and the Abadilla 5's relatives asked Aquino to help them "give  back to the five men their freedom and let them live the remaining years of their lives with us." "It has been a long Calvary and hopefully it is about to end. It all depends on President Aquino now," Reyes said. — LBG, GMA News