Still no decision for longest-running kidnap-slay case of 5-year-old girl, nanny

The promulgation on the case of five-year-old Eunice Kaye Chuang and her nanny has been postponed anew, 14 years since they were found dead after being kidnapped.

 

According to a report on GMA News TV's Balitanghali on Thursday, Sandra Olaso Coronel, lawyer of the Chuang family, confirmed past 9 a.m. that a decision would once again not be made on the case of Chuang and her nanny Bibeth Montecino.

 

Suspect Monico Santos and his cousin Francis Canoza are facing a kidnapping with double homicide case in connection with the incident.

 

Coronel cited conflict of schedule for the postponement, saying that Acting Presiding Judge Mona Lisa Tiongson-Tabora of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 5 was not able to finish the decision due to lack of time.

 

Tabora is also presiding judge at the Manila RTC Branch 21, and acting judge at the Makati RTC.

 

The promulgation has been rescheduled to December 22.

 

The postponement added to the several that have been made since 2012. According to reports, the decision was supposed to be read in October 2013. The promulgation was bumped up to January 2013, then May 20, then May 30 of the said year.

 

The delays on the reading of the decision has led the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order to dub it the "longest-running kidnap case" in the Philippines, the Balitanghali report said.

 

For their part, both Chuang's family and the lawyers of the suspects said they hoped a decision would be announced soon.

 

Chuang's mother, Emily, was saddened by the postponements, especially since their family is trying to move forward from the incident, the report said.

 

It added that Santos and Canosa's lawyers also want it resolved since their clients have been in jail for 14 years now.

 

Chuang and Montecino were abducted on Oct. 17, 2000. Both were found dead on the rooftop of Santos' house.

 

Santos was the taxi driver "trusted" to take Chuang to and from school, and was the one who "initially told Eunice's parents that the girl and her nanny were snatched by armed men," a 2000 report from the Philippine Star said.

 

Canoza, meanwhile, was arrested in a follow-up operation.

 

He later admitted to the crime, saying he was "in dire need of money" to complete the construction of his house, it added. — Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/RSJ, GMA News