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Date Posted: 07:07:17 11/02/04 Tue
Author: The Philippine Star 11/02/2004
Subject: Voices from the grave/ Nida Blanca

Voices from the grave
The Philippine Star 11/02/2004

On All Souls’ Day we remember a departed one whose soul must still be wandering restlessly three years after her death. Nida Blanca was found brutally murdered in her car in a San Juan parking lot on Nov. 7, 2001. From her grave the veteran of movies and television sitcoms must still be crying out for justice.

Philip Medel confessed to the killing but retracted it in a made-for-TV live performance, claiming he was tortured by the police into saying he was a hired gun. The man Medel suppo-sedly tagged as the mastermind, Blanca’s husband Roger Lawrence Strunk, is in the United States and has so far avoided extradition, with a US district court ruling that the Philippine go-vernment’s evidence was too weak to warrant sending Strunk back to Manila to face trial. Strunk was able to leave for the United States despite early suspicion of his involvement because it took some time before a case could be built against him and a court could ban his departure.

The National Bureau of Investigation, which handled the case, announced recently that three former security guards needed by prosecutors as hostile witnesses had gone missing. Two of the guards have since surfaced and denied they were in hi-ding.

This celebrated case is just another example of the weaknesses of the criminal justice system. From police investigation to prosecution, there is so much bungling that judges often have little choice but to dismiss the case. Even when the evidence is strong, it could take forever for a case to be resolved in court. By the time a ruling is handed down, all the accused could have fled abroad. By the time the case reaches the Supreme Court and a final decision is issued, the accused could be dead.

On this day of souls, there must be many murder victims turning over in their graves.

--------------STAR NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL -------->

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