Young adults in the Philippines are rallying together for the man named Francisco "Paco" Larrañaga as a biographical film based on the murder he and six other men were wrongfully convicted of comes to theaters. The movie has already been receiving backlash due to its basis of inaccurate information. Since then, many Filipinos started an online campaign to boycott the 2018 film.
The 2011 documentary "Give Up Tomorrow" resurfaces on the Internet as a part of the boycott in order to inform more individuals about the unheard side of the alleged suspects. It takes viewers through the twists and turns of the case and leaves an important message regarding the unfairness individuals endured.
The incident began on July 16, 1997, when sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong were last seen at Ayala Center Cebu before their abduction that led to rape and murder. That very same night of the incident, Paco Larrañaga, a culinary student by day, was at a bar in Quezon City, 354 miles away from the island of Cebu. What happened next would turn Larrañaga's life upside down.
Two months later, Larrañaga was approached by four supposedly policemen, who showed up at his school to take him to Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police. He called his older sister, Mimi, to come to his rescue. Mimi recalled asking the men for their police IDs, which she noticed were expired, as well as for a warrant. When the siblings learned that Paco "was being investigated related to the Chiong case," they obtained his attendance records for July 16 and 17. Paco was released under the condition that he would be in Cebu the following day to be questioned.
Larrañaga was advised to leave the country to stay with family members in the United States or Spain, but, determined to clear his name, he chose to remain in the Philippines.
Six other men were taken into custody for allegedly being involved in the crime; Larrañaga knew two of them, Josman Aznar and Rowen Adlawan. The group of seven men was nicknamed "the Chiong Seven" by the media. They still went to trial regardless of no solid evidence being found to prove the group did, in fact, commit the crime.
The trial was biased against the defendants since the beginning. Larrañaga became the center as he was pointed to be the leader of the group. 35 out of the 40 witnesses that came forward testified to help prove his innocence only to be rejected and dismissed by the judge, who acted strangely during the proceedings. In a turn of events, "star witness" and co-defendant David Rusia, unknown to the accused yet claimed to be a part of them, appeared in court 10 months later to testify against them in exchange for blanket immunity.
The Chiong Seven learned their fate on May 5, 1999. They were sentenced to life, but, then, given death sentences when the case was brought up to the Supreme Court.
Larrañaga's family turned to Spain for help since Paco held a Spanish citizenship. The United Nations of Human Rights Committee declared a violation of Paco's human rights by the Philippine court.
in 2006, the death penalty was abolished by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. After an agreement was reached between the Philippines and Spain, Paco was moved to a prison in the latter country.
21 years later, attention is brought again to one of the most controversial cases in the Philippines. Filipinos are demanding for justice as the Chiong Seven deserved a more fair trial. Posts have spread throughout Facebook as well as Twitter supporting and defending the falsely accused men. According to the Philippine Star, an online petition has been started to reopen the Chiong murder case.
