DOJ wants Kapunan, suspect in Olalia-Alay-ay killings, out of military custody

The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants murder suspect and retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo "Red" Kapunan Jr. out of military custody and transferred to civilian custody. Kapunan is among those accused in the 26-year-old killing of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairman Rolandio Olalia and his driver, Leonor Alay-ay, in 1986.

 

In a statement released Friday, De Lima said she has instructed the prosecutors handling the case to seek the transfer of Kapunan to the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation, an attached agency of the DOJ.

 

"Kapunan's continued military detention is untenable, questionable and indefensible. For one thing, he is not anymore in active service that can justify the Philippine Army's custody of him," De Lima said.

 

At the same time, the DOJ has also formed a "composite and expanded" five-member team of prosecutors to ensure the conviction of the suspects. Through Department Order No. 860, the DOJ assembled a team of "veteran prosecutors" from the National Prosecution Service to handle the double murder case.

 

"The prosecutors were directed to doggedly and effectively pursue the conviction of the guilty parties and to give a heightened degree of focus commensurate to the importance of finding justice for the 26-year-old crime," the DOJ said.

 

"[The murder case] is imbued with public interest demanding only the most thorough and meticulous prosecution from the DOJ," said De Lima.

 

Composing the panel of prosecutors are Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Theodore Villanueva, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela, Assistant State Prosecutor Hazel Decena-Valdez, Assistant State Prosecutor Benito Oliver Sales III, and Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Maria Ronatay. Nov. 1986 killing

 

The victims were abducted and allegedly tortured then killed by supposed members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Nov. 12, 1986. In March 1989, the DOJ recommended the filing of muder charges against Kapunan, ex-Air Force Lt. Col. Oscar Legaspi, Ricardo Dicon, Cirilio Almario, Filomeno Crizaldo Maligaya, Edger Sumido, Jose Bacera Jr., Dennis Jabatan, Freddie Sumagaysay, Fernando Casanova, Gene Paris, Gilberto Galicia, and Desiderio Perez.

 

However, the murder case being heard by a regional trial court in Antipolo, Rizal was stalled after Kapunan and Legaspi appealed the DOJ recommendation all the way to the Supreme Court.

Both Kapunan and Legaspi were ranking members of the Reform the Armed Forces [later renamed Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa] which went against the Marcos and Cory Aquino administrations. Both are also Philippine Military Academy graduates of Class 1971.      

The two insisted that they could no longer be held criminally liable for Olalia and Alay-ay's death because of an amnesty granted to them by President Fidel Ramos on March 23, 1995 through Proclamation No. 347.

 

The high court, however, denied their request and said they was prima facie evidence to prosecute the two. The SC noted that though they have been given amnesty for rebellion/coup d'etat, the grant of which was still subject to specified limitations.

 

Kapunan surrendered to authorities last October 6, 2012, more than two decades after the crime. He was taken into the custody of the Philippine Army. He was the second accused in the case to turn himself in, next only to Perez, who surfaced last July 24, 2012. — RSJ, GMA News