The brutal murder of former Governor Evelio Javier was once again brought back into the public sphere with the acquittal of the man believed to have instigated his murder, Arturo Pacificador. What are your memories of this great Atenean?

http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=14831

Pacificador acquittal shocks Javier family

Updated 03:42am (Mla time) Oct 14, 2004
By Nestor Burgos
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the Oct. 14, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

SAN JOSE, Antique, Philippines -- The son of Evelio Javier yesterday condemned the acquittal of the man accused of masterminding his murder in February 1986.

"The very institution that my dad believed in and defended with his life is the very one that is now spitting on him," said Francis Gideon Javier, elder son of the ex-governor of Antique province who was gunned down at 43.

Gideon said his mother Precious was shocked when he called her in the United States to inform her of Arturo Pacificador's acquittal on Tuesday.

"She had started believing in the justice system after being denied justice for all these years. But whatever faith she had was thrown out of the window," he said.

But Judge Rudy Castrojas, presiding judge of the Antique Regional Trial Court Branch 12, advised those critical of his decision to "read [it] first."

Castrojas said the perception that Pacificador was the mastermind of Javier's murder "remains a perception."

"Judges cannot decide on the basis of presumptions but on clear evidence of guilt," he said.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez also said the decision should be respected because the law had taken its course: "The prosecutors did their best, but the court has its own appreciation of the case."

But Gonzalez said the acquittal of the former ally of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos would not affect the Philippine government's efforts to extradite his son and co-accused, Rodolfo Pacificador, from Canada.

He said it appeared that Rodolfo Pacificador might even be the mastermind of Javier's murder.

Gonzalez also said the government could no longer appeal Pacificador's acquittal.

"That's the end of it," he said, adding that reviving the charges against the former majority floor leader of the Batasan Pambansa would constitute double jeopardy.

Free man

Pacificador, 74, was released from the Antique Rehabilitation Center after the promulgation of the decision on Tuesday.

He said he was open to a reconciliation with the family of his political rival.

On his first day as a free man yesterday, Pacificador left San Jose at 3 a.m. and visited the northern towns of Pandan, Culasi, Sebaste, Laua-an and Barbaza to "thank the people who brought me food and visited me in jail."

Pacificador went into hiding after Javier's murder. Nine years later, in March 1995, he turned himself in at Camp Crame, the national police headquarters in Quezon City.

His son fled to Canada shortly after the murder and applied for refugee status.

Gonzalez said the resolution of the case could also be the basis to extradite Rodolfo Pacificador so he could face trial for the murder of Javier and the wounding of five others.

"We will analyze the decision and study our options carefully because there are many nuances in the case," he told the Inquirer by mobile phone.

Gonzalez said he had ordered a review of the status of the extradition proceedings against Rodolfo Pacificador.

Cancel passport

He said he had also asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to determine whether the passport of the fugitive had been canceled.

Prosecution witnesses had testified that Rodolfo met with Eduardo Iran alias Boy Muslim, the alleged leader of Javier's killers, before and after Javier was gunned down on Feb. 11, 1986. Rodolfo allegedly also gave money, food and shelter to Iran and the other gunmen after the shooting.

On Oct. 19, 1996, the Canadian justice ministry ordered Rodolfo's extradition. But the Ontario Court of Appeals reversed the order on Aug. 1, 2002, on grounds that the Philippines could not guarantee him a fair and speedy trial.

The Canadian Supreme Court affirmed the rejection of the petition in February last year.

Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera III said he would look into whether the petition could be revived despite the earlier decision of the Canadian courts.

He said Castrojas' decision showed that the younger Pacificador had a key role in the planning and implementation of the murder.

Based on the evidence

In his 113-page decision, Castrojas pointed out that as shown by the testimony of prosecution witnesses Arleen Limoso, Jose Delumen and Romeo Nagales, it was Rodolfo Pacificador "who ran the affairs, so to speak..."

"Based on the evidence on record, it appears that [Rodolfo] was the mastermind [of Javier's killing]," Castrojas said in an interview.

However, the judge pointed out that Rodolfo had not yet presented evidence in his defense because he had yet to be arrested.

While the former assemblyman and three other accused were acquitted, Pacificador's lawyer Avelino Javellana and seven others were found guilty.

Still at large

Rodolfo Pacificador and Iran were not sentenced because they are still at large.

Castrojas yesterday issued arrest warrants for Iran, Rodolfo Pacificador and Rolando Bernardino, who escaped from detention in October last year.

With a report from Philip C. Tubeza

This may be "old news" and most probably the younger people here don't even know who he is, but Evelio Javier gave his life for us while fighting the marcos dictatorship. I believe that we should all remember and honor his sacrifice.

More importantly, even though we have more urgent problems and that he was killed 18 years ago (ancient history for most), we should still pray that his killers get the justice they deserve (in this life or in the next).

Evelio Javier, an atenean, died on February 11, 1986 (right after the "snap elections"). His assassination was one of the events that triggered the People Power Revolution of 1986.

Frankly, I'm surprised that 24 hours has passed by and no one has posted a reply to this post. This can only mean that:
1. People forgot this hero who stood up and defied the dictatorship when everyone else cowered in fear
2. People no longer care
3. People who came after this heinous crime was committed was not taught of the events of Martial Law.

While I have dot graduated HS from the Ateneo (au contraire), I seem to recall that AdMU had an "Evelio Javier" awardee for excellence. Wherefore are you, Evelio Javier awardees? What say you to this?

I was still very young when Ateneo seemed to be producing heroes left and right, first Ninoy in '83 then Evelio Javier in '86. (I forgot when Ed Jopson died.) But I do remember a lot about Martial Law, and how much my late father would curse at the injustice of it all. He always made it a point however not to totally demonize the people behind Martial Law, but rather, sought to teach us his boys what this all meant, what was going on, and why it (Martial Law) should end. To this day I bring a lot of what I learned from him into the context of our present day, and I am amazed at the sheer ignorance of the newer generations of a past that was not too long ago. It is even sadder that people like Evelio Javier are all but forgotten save for a small portion of us who lived in the Martial Law era.

Ed-Jop was killed around mid 82 to early 83. While to most Filipinos Ninoy's murder was the "kick in the shins" that woke us up, Ed-Jop's death was my wake-up call. When his death first hit the headlines, the name first flew by my head. After reading the papers, saka ko lang na laman na: he was an ME grad, Sanggunian prez, Atenean since prep, NUSP head, and had the cojones to dare Marcos in an interview not to seek re-election after winning his second term. He could have been a CEO of a large corporation by now but he turned his back on all of these and joined the underground. To a certain extent, Ed-Jop was Rizal re-incarnated.

What caught me off-guard was the fact that when his wake was first held at the college chapel (wala pa Gesu noon) only a few students at that time visited the wake. There could have been many reasons for this. Even the Jesuits were a bit uneasy with the wake being held in the college. In a day or two Ed-Jop's casket was moved to UP. My job then was to take photos of the wake for the Guidon. But of all the political events I had covered for Guidon/Aegis, Ed-Jops death, in spite of its low-key importance in the scheme of things then, had a major effect on my socio-political foundation.

Then Ninoy died. Everyone knows what happened. When Beloy Javier died, that was it. I guess the Ed-Jop, Beloy, Eman Lacaba, First Quarter Storm, etc. era is caught in an unenviable situation. It isn't "classical" history as say World War I to warrant interest in the form of college courses, or "current events" to elicit pop culture, top of mind discussion. I agree with Joe that we should give this era of our history more exposure and emphasis than what is being done for the sake of those who were too young (or not even born) to understand the implications of what the country was going through then. Sayang lang if we have to wait for the era to be considered "classical" before we do anything.

Recently, Ces Drilon interviewed Pacificador. When asked what his only regret in life is, he answered something like "dapat ako na lang ang nagpapatay kay Javier para hindi nasayang ang 18 taong na nakulong ako."

Which makes this acquittal even more disgusting! He even is contemplating returning to politics and the idiot voters are probably going to put him back in office (any office). Absolutely gross !

wasn't pacificador the guy who ran for a govt position while he was in jail? if that didn't stop him, what's to stop him from running now? big surprise there

Yup, that's him. Natalo lang nga. Now that he's out and is seeking elective office, baka magkakaroon ng milagro uli.

You know what, because of the long line of seniors from my college batch (and those from other schools as well) who wanted to enter Days With The Lord during the mid-eighties, we held a special session either between exams and graduation or a few weeks after grad (can't remember). Anyway, it was a unique session in that Dazers from way back attended to help out. People like Basil Valdez and (I think) the late Gerry Paraiso (the guy who wrote Basil's "You") were there. Another one of the old foggies who helped out in that session was a nice fellow named Deng Pacificador - yup, the gov's son who escaped to Canada before charges could be filed against him, and is wanted by the government. For those of us na "may gatas pa sa bibig" we had no idea who Gov. Pacificador was, neither did we know that Deng was the son of a powerful official since Deng acted like any normal guy - didn't have the "air" of the high and mighty, didn't have a cadre of bodyguards trailing him around, helped doing menial stuff, and gave and smooched cigarettes just like the rest of us. Heck, he even didn't mind that eveyone called him Deng Estafador or Deng Palcificador, etc., and just laughed it off like everyone else.

When his name and mugshot appeared in the dailies after Beloy's killing. A lot of us scratched our heads and couldn't believe that was him.

still waters run deep perhaps. so you think he had/has it in him to kill someone? personally, i think he's being used as a scapegoat since he's conveniently out of the country. may extradition agreement ba ang pinas with canada?

Alam ko meron. In fact, the RP government tried just that and Pacificador countered that he wouldn't get a fair trial if he was extradited to Manila, or could be tortured if sent home. In the end, the Ontario courts ruled in favor of Pacificador for reasons I'm not sure of (don't know if it was the fair trial issue or the fact that no formal charge was made against Pacificador). This was around late last year. While the case was pending in the courts back home, Pacificador was held in a Toronto jail. Don't know if this was upon the request of the RP government or if he did something unlawful. It might be more of the former since Pacificador was released from jail after the Ontario courts ruled in his favor.

I think that was Romy Jalosjos

Are there others here who wish to share their thoughts, memories and expereinces about other Ateneo heroes, or even unknown but worthy Ateneans? Post it here please.

I read a letter from Evelio Javier's son, printed in the Inquirer some days back. Parang ang sakit nga nun ano, ma-acquit ang prime suspect na pumatay sa tatay mo? I heard about Evelio Javier during the OrSem when Doc Hofilena did his speech at the Sacred Heart Hill over the Heroes Memorial. Truly Mr. Javier was a great man, and a great Atenean.

It's actually extremely stupid the way Pacificador was acquitted. Do they mean that the men convicted acted on their own accord? Those were brainless idiots, hired guns if you will, who were just following orders! So one wonders, on whose orders?
Ditto for the convictions in Ninoy Aquino's case...

i was sick to my sotmach when the ruling came down. such is the plight of our judicial system. a very sad reality. now i pose the question, can we blame individuals when they take the law into their own hands? pacificador, beware!!!

evelio javier will always be remembered as one of great ateneans who dared challenge the dictator in lawful ways.

OBF!

UPDATE:

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?in...&story_id=26646

6 Javier slay convicts being transferred to Muntinlupa

Posted 06:03pm (Mla time) Feb 06, 2005
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Inquirer News Service


ILOILO CITY , Iloilo, Philippines -- Six prisoners convicted in the murder of former Antique governor Evelio Javier on Sunday are being transferred to the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa from the Antique provincial jail.

Lawyer Avelino “Bob” Javellana, former Constabulary captain John Paloy, Vicente Vegafria, Ramon Hortillano, Henry Salaver and Eleazar Idemne left the port of Antique aboard the M/V Blessed Mother around 10 a.m. Sunday along with 14 other convicted prisoners and 16 jail guards. They are expected to arrive in Manila early Monday.

One of those convicted, Henry Seguerra, remains at the provincial jail after he earlier applied for parole before the Antique Parole and Probation Office.

Another convict, Rolando Bernardino, remains at large after he escaped from the Antique Rehabilitation Center on October 2002.

The transfer was implemented nearly four months after the Antique Regional Trial Court sentenced all those convicted, except Seguerra, to reclusion perpetua (a minimum of 20 years and one day to 40 years imprisonment) for the killing of Javier on Feb. 11, 1986. Seguerra was sentenced from six to 14 years in jail.