teehankee panky — lessons from maureen

wikipedia‘s version of what happened the night when 16-year old maureen hultman with friends roland john chapman and jussi leino were accosted and shot in cold blood by claudio teehankee jr. is accurate enough.

Court records show that Roland John Chapman, Maureen Hultman, and another friend, Jussi Leino, were coming home from a party at around three o’clock in the morning of July 13, 1991. Leino was walking Hultman home along Mahogany street in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City when Teehankee came up behind them in his car. He stopped the two and demanded that they show some identification. Leino took out his wallet and showed Teehankee his Asian Development Bank ID. Teehankee grabbed the wallet. Chapman, who was waiting in a car for Leino, stepped in and asked Teehankee: “Why are you bothering us?” Teehankee drew out his gun and shot Chapman in the chest, killing him instantly. After a few minutes, Teehankee shot Leino, hitting him in the jaw. Then he shot Hultman on the temple before driving away. Leino survived and Hultman died two months later in hospital due to brain hemorrhages caused by the bullet fragments. Teehankee was arrested several days later on the testimony of several witnesses. The witnesses were Domingo Florence and Agripino Cadenas, private security guards, and Vincent Mangubat, a driver, all three being employs of residents of the village.”

but if memory serves, there’s much more to the story that bears telling, that’s worth sharing specially with the young. if maureen had lived to tell the tale, i dare think that she would have warned every teenager from making the same mistakes she made that awful awful night. such as, going out without permission, as in making takas, defying parental rule, thinking that parents exaggerate how unsafe it can get, refusing to believe that there are evil forces out there, evil as in dark and mad and criminal.

then again who would have thought nga naman that she was in any danger. she was in the company of two male friends seeing her safely home, except that they never made it. a few houses (a block or two?) before hers she got off to walk the rest of the way, the more quietly to sneak back in, or the easier to explain?  or maybe maureen and jussi just thought a walk would be pleasant, why not, they were in dasmarinas village, well-secured enclave of the rich and powerful, nice tree-lined street, perfect for quiet paseos, oye oye.

as it turned out the rich village was not safe from its own. evil was literally lurking in the shadows, cruising around with a gun, looking for victims. bobbin teehankee must have fancied himself a cop, maybe a vigilante, who knows what was going on in his twisted mind. he must have seen maureen and jussi get out of the car and walk on. he must have concluded that the two were up to no good. or maybe it was a racist thing, maybe he had/has a thing against whites. or maybe it was their youth? their beauty? their hormones? who knows what was going on in his twisted mind. who knows what he thought he was ridding the world of. or maybe he was just bored with practice-shooting, he wanted to fire at real people for a change, just like in the movies. who knows what was going on in his crazy twisted mind.

and now he’s free again. too soon. says philippine star‘s jose c. sison:

Claudio Teehankee Jr. He was sentenced to one count of reclusion perpetua and two counts of reclusion temporal. Reclusion perpetua entails imprisonment of 20 years and one day to 40 years while reclusion temporal is from 12 years and one day to 20 years….

Following the pronouncement of the DOJ, the executive clemency extended to Teehankee Jr. was clearly more of a commutation of his sentence. He was not pardoned. He was freed on October 2, 2008 because he was considered to “have already served his full term” by virtue of the order of the President dated September 9, 2008 commuting his sentence. According to DOJ Secretary Gonzalez, Teehankee Jr. had already served more than 21 years because his detention in the Makati jail during the trial of his case prior to his transfer to the National Penitentiary was included in the computation of the time he has served….

But the controversy lingers because of some unanswered questions. Considering that there are three sentences meted against Teehankee Jr. for the three offenses he has committed, which of these sentences was commuted? Under the law, these penaltiesare to be served successively in the order of their severity although their maximum period cannot exceed 40 years (Article 70 Revised Penal Code). Hence, it can be inferred that only the severest penalty which is reclusion perpetua that has a maximum period of 30 years has been commuted to 21 years, unless it is expressly stated that all three sentences have been commuted. Unfortunately Gonzalez is vague on this issue.”

another 20 years in jail to pay for the murder of chapman and and the attempt on leino sounds just about right to me. at least by the time it’s done, he’d be too old to cruise and play deadly cop.

as for the joker senator‘s comment that gma’s teehankee-panky is no different from the erap pardon — no way. erap’s case was political – his freedom poses no threat of violence to any life. teehankee’s case was criminal — he killed not once, but twice, almost thrice, in the space of a few minutes.  society needs to be assured not only that he has been punished enough but that he has been cured of whatever dis-ease ails him.  also it would be great if he were prohibited from carrying a gun for any reason ever after. otherwise, is the community safe from this man who is at large again?