Pia Cayetano slams Palace for commuting Jalosjos sentence

Senator Pia Cayetano on Friday slammed Malacañang for commuting the double life-sentence of convicted child rapist Romeo Jalosjos, a former Represenative of Zamboang del Sur, which would let him walk free in 2011. Cayetano said in a statement that the commutation “further compounds the Arroyo government's dismal record in protecting women and children from various forms of violence and abuse". "If this government has miserably failed to provide protection to its women and children from abusers, then what business and what moral right does it have to commute a convicted rapist's 80-year jail term and let him walk out of jail after serving a mere fraction of his sentence?," the senator said. She noted that data from the Department of Justice's task force on women and children protection show that 25 out of 74 cases, or 34 percent, of violations of Republic Act 9262, or Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004, prosecuted by the department in 2005 and 2006 have been dismissed. A further 45 of the cases, or 61 percent, are still pending resolution while four cases, or 5 percent, have yet to be filed in court. The senator further pointed out is that the DOJ task force has yet to account for a single court conviction for violence against women and children cases since 2005. "This means that one of every three VAWC cases is dismissed, even as the victims with pending court complaints suffer from the snail-paced administration of justice," said Cayetano. "But what I really find appalling is that the DOJ has nothing to report but a big fat zero in terms of convicting VAWC offenders from 2005 to the present," the senator added. Jalosjos was convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl and has been been imprisoned at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City since Dec. 12, 1996. But the commutation of his sentence from two life terms (80 years) down to 16 years drew criticisms from several sectors, including the lawyer of the girl who accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s. The former lawmaker can thus be freed after five years, or in 2012. Under the law, however, the 66-year-old Jalosjos can be pardoned when he turns 70, thus he can be released a year earlier or in 2011. -GMANews.TV