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Give Up Tomorrow

1) The documentary film "Give up Tomorrow" examines the case of Paco Larrañaga who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison and later death for the rape and murder of the Chiong sisters in the Philippines despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. 2) The film highlights several issues with the criminal justice system in the Philippines at the time including political interference in the case, denial of Larrañaga's right to present evidence and witnesses supporting his alibi, and pressure on judges and prosecutors. 3) Witnessing this miscarriage of justice firsthand in the film alarmed the author and reinforced the need to uphold integrity and fairness as a future lawyer to help remedy flaws in the

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Richelle Grace
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186 views

Give Up Tomorrow

1) The documentary film "Give up Tomorrow" examines the case of Paco Larrañaga who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison and later death for the rape and murder of the Chiong sisters in the Philippines despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. 2) The film highlights several issues with the criminal justice system in the Philippines at the time including political interference in the case, denial of Larrañaga's right to present evidence and witnesses supporting his alibi, and pressure on judges and prosecutors. 3) Witnessing this miscarriage of justice firsthand in the film alarmed the author and reinforced the need to uphold integrity and fairness as a future lawyer to help remedy flaws in the

Uploaded by

Richelle Grace
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Richelle Grace R.

Laggui Juris
Doctor- 2
Criminal Procedure

“Give up Tomorrow”
Criminal Injustice in the Philippines is one of the many problems that has been in
existent for so many years and has not yet been resolved up to this date. Many Filipinos,
less fortunate or not, may be a victim of the biased, corrupt and slow justice system in the
country.

Give up Tomorrow is a film that can serve as a powerful reminder of how one’s
criminal justice may go wrong. It exposed how flawed our justice system was during the
time. Paco Larrañaga, despite of the overwhelming evidence of his innocence, was
sentenced to life imprisonment and later on to death, for the rape and killing of the
Chiong sisters. The film made me realized how political connections can take over a case
and lives of innocent people. Paco and his co- accused were clearly deprived of their right
to fight for their own selves and this led them to be put into bars.

Strong evidences has linked to the innocence of Paco Larrañaga. About 40 witnesses,
not all of whom were called to testify in court, said that Larrañaga was in class on the day
the crime was committed, July 16, 1997. Among them were his classmates and teacher.
The attendance sheet listed his name. Representatives of 4 airline companies testified that
Larrañaga was not in their manifest on July 15 or 16. However, these were all ignored.

In addition, there were also strange scenes in the event wherein, Thelma Chiong
was appointed vice president of the Crusade Against Violence. Her sister was secretary to
newly elected President Joseph Estrada, who assigned four different agencies to tackle
the investigation. The Police Investigators and Prosecutors who were part of prosecuting
Larranaga were all promoted after the judgment of the trial court was rendered. Apart
from it was when Mrs. Chiong gave birthday presents to the star witness which he claims
himself as part of the group of Larrañaga. Thelma called him "a gift from God".
Paco's fate rested in the hands of Judge Martin Ocampo, who made the defense
team's work difficult, even jailing them for protesting his decision to throw out expert
testimony questioning the identity of Marijoy Chiong's body. When Paco's fellow
students and instructors took the stand to verify his alibi, the judge cut short their
testimony, declaring that there were "too many" witnesses. Paco was never allowed to
take the stand during the trial.

Moreover, under the Philippine Law during the time, a guilty verdict requires
death penalty, however the Trial Judge ruled otherwise. He then admitted that his reason
for his verdict was, there was insufficient proof that the corpse was Marijoy Chiong's and
he is “under pressure”. Equal chance was not given to the accused, hence, making me
believe that his decision was unfair and a complete absurdity.

As I watched the film, I’ve realized that there are mountains of evidence and
testimonies that were silenced and ignored by the media and the court. They are
pressured to produce a suspect that they don’t even care if one’s innocent life will be
affected. Also, fear has stricken me because this kind of criminal injustice might happen
to anyone, including me.

On the other hand, the film taught me that we should always not rely on what the
media has been feeding us. It urged me to know what was really happened not just on
what the media tells us and likewise proved that we cannot always put our trust on the
media for they can deliver unfair and unbiased news.

As a law student and an aspiring lawyer, the film became my eye opener of how
miscarriage of justice will affect one’s life. This made me discern that once I will be
practicing the legal profession, I will see to it that I will soon work with integrity and to
always uphold what is right, especially in the eyes of the law in order to prove the
credibility of the Philippine Justice System by solving cases in a right manner for the
justice to be served.
Give up Tomorrow presented that when there’s impartial legal system and
irresponsible journalism, Injustice will follow.  It compels viewers to examine how key
social institutions, the courts and the media have functioned and how they can go wrong.

This corrupted system may victimize anyone and I believe that fixing the judicial
system of the country should be given utmost priority, alongside other pressing issues
such as poverty and environmental issues.

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