October 3, 2024 • 51 mins
In this episode, we discuss the tragic case of Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez, two university students from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos. In June 1993, Eileen, while preparing for a school paper interview on Mayor Antonio Sanchez, was abducted along with Allan by Sanchez's henchmen. They were violently assaulted and murdered, with the crimes orchestrated by the corrupt mayor. Though Sanchez and his accomplices were tried and sentenced to life in prison for their horrific actions, Sanchez continued to exhibit questionable behaviors even behind bars. The public and the families of the victims remain haunted by the crimes to this day.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
D (00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to the Erie Side Podcast with your host D,
Sophia, and Elena.
We appreciate you guyslistening, and I hope you're
ready to get on the Erie Side.
(00:53):
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(01:17):
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Before we begin, please be awarethat this episode contains
detailed discussions about adisturbing and tragic event
involving the sexual assault ofa young woman.
(01:39):
We understand this subject maybe deeply unsettling or
distressing for some listeners.
Listeners discretion advised.
Elena (01:48):
All right so I think mom, I think you have a case for us
today.
Is that right?
D (01:51):
Yes, I have a case for all the people from the Philippines
who are listening to us.
Yay So this case occurred in thePhilippines years ago.
Sophia (02:02):
Shout out to all our Filipino listeners.
D (02:06):
Yes.
Thank you very much for beingpart of our podcast.
Now, this case is of EileenSarmenta and Allan Gomez.
Sophia (02:14):
Wait, can you say her first name again?
Eileen?
D (02:17):
Eileen is her first name.
Sophia (02:19):
Okay.
What's your last name?
D (02:20):
Sarmenta.
Sophia (02:20):
Okay.
D (02:21):
And Allan Gomez.
In June of 1993, Mary EileenSarmenta, but she goes by the
name of Eileen, was 21 years oldand an agriculture student at
the University of thePhilippines, Los Banos.
And I'm going to be calling itUPLB, the university from here
on out.
(02:42):
And she was a few months shy ofgraduating.
Now she went to see the mayor ofCalauan Laguna.
His name was Antonio Sanchez.
She wanted to interview him forher school paper on a crime he
was accused of.
At that time, Sanchez, andthat's what I'm going to be
(03:02):
calling him, Sanchez, with hislast name.
I also want to say that I'mgoing to try to pronounce all
these names correctly, so excuseme if I don't.
Sophia (03:10):
And you were telling us before that there's a lot of
names, so we should be preparedfor that.
D (03:14):
Right.
Be prepared for it.
At that time, Sanchez was ontrial for the murder of a father
and son, and Nelson and RicksonPenalosa on April 13 of 1991,
which is over two years now.
Nelson was a political leaderand supported Sanchez's
political opponent.
(03:34):
It was at this moment that themayor supposedly took a liking
to Eileen.
At school, Eileen had a friend,Allan Gomez, and they had met at
their college.
They were regular collegestudents that played board
games, card games, and hungedout with their friends.
Some accounts reported them asBoyfriend and girlfriend, but
(03:55):
others said they were justfriends and schoolmates.
Now Sanchez was a different kindof mayor because he had
henchmen.
The police think that it waspossible that Sanchez men had
been stalking Eileen for quitesome time.
Elena (04:10):
Whoa, that's crazy.
D (04:14):
These men were and everybody start taking notes now, Calauan,
the city, Deputy Chief of PoliceGeorge Medialdea, that's number
one, two brothers, LuisCorcolon, and Rogelio Boy
Corcolon, Zoilo Ama, and he wasalso a third class petty officer
(04:37):
of the police So there's twopeople definitely in the police
station working.
Zoilo Brion, who supposedly isthe mayor's nephew.
Pepito Kawit, Aurelio Centeno,and Vincencio Malabanan.
Many of these were officers ofthe police station of Calauan.
Elena (04:58):
Okay, so a bunch of guys with some being connected to the
police and some to the mayor.
D (05:03):
Oh, they're all connected to the mayor.
Two of the henchmen, Medialdeaand Centeno, they were driving
an ambulance and fetchedMalabanan at his residence in
the early morning of June 28thof 1993.
It was on the pretext that theywere gonna apprehend one Rodolfo
(05:24):
Calva, who had an alias of"Tisoy".
Elena (05:27):
Sorry to interrupt, but this Rudolf, had an alias.
What was the alias?
D (05:32):
Tisoy
Elena (05:32):
Tisoy.
D (05:33):
It's just another name
Elena (05:35):
They're the same guy.
D (05:35):
It's the same guy and he's a notorious gun runner drug pusher
in the area
Elena (05:41):
Okay, and then he's getting picked up by the
henchmen.
D (05:43):
Well policemen slash whatever, and they're supposed
to supposedly go after him.
Elena (05:49):
Okay
D (05:50):
Next they go and pick up Ama That's the other henchmen And
then Luis Corcolon, yeah, theother henchman.
Oh yeah, you said hatchman.
Next they pick up Ama, the other henchman, and then they
pick up Luis Corcolon, who fromnow on will be called Luis
because it's the two brothers.
(06:11):
So it's one of the brothers.
So on board this ambulance arefive men and they.
Make some stopovers until theyheaded towards back for Calauan
again.
Sophia (06:21):
Can I ask, why are they taking an ambulance?
That's just the car they drive?
Elena (06:25):
Yeah, wait, I was wondering that too.
D (06:28):
I have no idea why they're doing an ambulance.
I don't know if that's somethingfor them to hide under?
Instead of a police car?
Sophia (06:34):
That's bizarre.
Elena (06:34):
I feel like they're gonna notice like, an ambulance
missing.
D (06:38):
I'm not sure they noticed anything's missing.
That's never even brought up.
Sophia (06:41):
Or it could just be an ambulance that they've purchased
because people can purchase I'msure retired ambulances Like as
their vehicle.
Elena (06:49):
Yeah, that's true
D (06:50):
They headed back to Calauan at seven o'clock in the evening
upon the orders of Luis thatthey had to head back They were
at a shell gas station atCalauan, and they picked up
Rogelio Corcolon also known asBoy and will be called Boy from
here on out.
Kawit and Brion, and theyproceeded to Los Banos.
(07:12):
So along the way Luis announcedto the group that the real
purpose behind going to LosBanos trip is is to take a
pretty young lady long desiredby the mayor and offer her to
him as a gift.
Sophia (07:29):
A gift that he's basically gifting to himself.
D (07:32):
Absolutely correct.
Sophia (07:34):
That's so.
Elena (07:35):
Oh, okay.
D (07:36):
If you didn't get that from my voice.
Elena (07:37):
That's a man thing to do, I guess.
D (07:40):
Luis, to satisfy his companion's curiosity, even
guaranteed that her beauty willmake their saliva drip.
Sophia (07:49):
Eww! That's problematic.
D (07:52):
So eventually the ambulance arrives at the UPLB grounds,
which is the university.
Centeno drove the ambulancearound campus at a snail's pace
while Luis scoured the area withwatchful eyes.
Sophia (08:08):
You know what I'm just thinking is that Eileen, she's
walking around this campus.
If you see an ambulance, you'renot going to think anything of
it.
You're going to think, okay,that's, that's safety.
That's those people are helppeople, you know, you're not
going to think, okay, anythingharmful could come from an
ambulance.
So they're like hiding in plainsight.
Elena (08:27):
Yeah, yeah,
D (08:29):
That's for sure.
Elena (08:30):
This, I felt like that was pretty obvious You said that
like it was a big discovery.
Sophia (08:35):
I'm just saying that because it clicked.
You know, it's easier for themto blend in because nobody's
gonna think of an ambulance asbeing a suspicious vehicle.
Yeah, I agree.
D (08:45):
As the search inside the campus proved fruitless, Luis
then ordered Centeno to slowlydrive out of the university
compound and to stop uponreaching the vicinity of the
Agrix complex.
There, Luis, Boy, Ama, Brion,and Kawit get out of the
ambulance and went inside theAgrix complex.
(09:08):
Now, Centeno overheard Medialdeainform"The Boss", in quotes, via
the radio that they were alreadyin the area.
"The Boss", in quotes, was themayor.
Inside the Agrix's complex is arestaurant called Cafe Amalia.
Parked in front of theestablishment was a Tamaraw,
(09:31):
which is a Toyota van, and it'ssold in the Philippines.
Eileen and Allan were itspassengers, both occupying the
front seats.
She was wearing a T-shirt, whiteshorts, and rubber shoes.
Armed with guns, Luis and Boyapproached Eileen and Allan,
forcibly took the two, andloaded them in the back of the
(09:52):
van.
Elena (09:53):
So wait, so she's officially just got abducted
from the other vehicle by
D (10:00):
All of them, but they put them in the back of the vehicle
that she was in.
Elena (10:04):
Right?
D (10:04):
They just put them in the back seat.
Elena (10:05):
And then they drove i'm assuming they're gonna drive
off.
Is the mayor in the back of thetruck?
D (10:11):
No, no, no, the mayor is not there.
Elena (10:12):
No, okay.
D (10:14):
No, all the men boarded the van while Centeno and Malabanan
stayed in the ambulance.
Elena (10:20):
Oh, it was Centeno, okay.
D (10:21):
So there's two, vehicles now.
Elena (10:24):
Okay.
D (10:24):
Both vehicles then headed to Erais Farm, which is situated in
Barangay Curba, owned by themayor.
So they headed to a place thatis owned by the mayor.
Even before the two studentswere kidnapped, Mayor Sanchez
has been known to have a sketchypersonality in addition to the
(10:46):
crime killing of the two thatEileen interviewed him for.
In the past, he reportedlystated on television, while he
was standing next to his wife,that he had multiple girlfriends
and mistresses and that heallegedly had a group of men
taking part in illegal gambling.
Elena (11:05):
This is Sanchez, right?
D (11:07):
This is the mayor.
Right.
He did this on TV.
Sophia (11:10):
If he does this and admits this on TV, I don't even
want to imagine what he doeswhen he's not announcing his
D (11:18):
Correct.
And he does have mistresses andall that, so.
Sophia (11:21):
Are we going to find out more about his relationship and
Eileen's relationship?
D (11:25):
If the two have a relationship?
Sophia (11:26):
Well, I'm just curious, what it was like when Eileen
interviewed Sanchez
D (11:32):
I have no information on that.
Sophia (11:33):
You have no information on that.
D (11:34):
No, and I don't think that Eileen picked up anything.
Sophia (11:38):
Yeah, otherwise, if they had a relationship that was more
friendship based It would be oddfor him to just
D (11:44):
I Don't think there was anything on here that, Eileen
thought anything particular oranything.
I don't even think she had arelationship or anything at all.
Elena (11:53):
So it was just kind of like a typical interview done.
D (11:57):
As far as I think as she was concerned because none of her
friends ever mentioned that shehad said he was creepy or
anything.
As soon as the group arrived atthe farm, the horrors began.
The two captives were broughtout of the van.
Eileen was gagged by ahandkerchief and her hands, like
Allan's, were tied.
A white towel was wounded aroundAllan's mouth.
(12:19):
The mayor, then wearing ajogging attire, emerged from the
resthouse and asked the group,"My children, what's the
problem?"
Sophia (12:29):
So, um, let's see, you've kidnapped them.
Yeah.
Yes.
D (12:34):
To this Luis responded, "Mayor, this is our gift to you.
The girl you've been longingfor.
She's really beautiful."
Sophia (12:44):
This is so sickening.
D (12:46):
And these are quotes that you see everywhere.
So you do know that these didhappen.
The mayor asked,"But who's thatman?" Medialdea replied,
"Eileen's companion, Boss.
We brought him along to avoidcomplications, and because he
was a liability."
Elena (13:03):
This is all just so weird.
I don't know like this is theway they're talking to.
Sophia (13:08):
So dramatic It's like something out of a really bad
movie.
Elena (13:11):
Yeah.
D (13:11):
I think they thought they were like gang, and you know
boss and gang like
Sophia (13:16):
the mob.
D (13:17):
Yeah, I think they had this image of themselves.
Elena (13:19):
That they were like the hot shit.
D (13:21):
Yeah.
The two youngsters were thenbrought inside the resthouse
where Eileen was taken to themayor's room.
Allan was then badly beaten byLuis, Boy, Ama, and Medialdea,
and thereafter thrown out of theresthouse.
Kawit followed up by strikingAllan's diaphragm with the butt
(13:41):
of an Armalite, which is a typeof gun, causing Allan to fall
against a cement box.
Brion thought that Allan hadalready died, but Kawit said,
"His death will come later".
While Eileen was being raped bySanchez, Centeno Sanchez's
personal aides, Edwin Cosico andRaul Alorico, to watch
(14:04):
television at the adjacentresthouse.
So there were a few homes closeto each other here.
Elena (14:10):
And then like some of them left.
D (14:12):
Well, Centeno went to the next house.
Alorico told Centeno thatSanchez had been eagerly waiting
for the group and worried thatthey would not arrive.
At 1 a.
m., the mayor emerged from theroom wearing merely a white polo
shirt and thanked Luis andMedialdea, for the gift, in
(14:36):
quotes.
Sophia (14:37):
Just completely objectifying her.
Elena (14:39):
Yeah, like she is not a human being.
D (14:42):
No, she isn't to them.
Elena (14:44):
Yeah.
D (14:44):
And he says,"I am through with her.
She's all yours".
Elena (14:48):
That's so disgusting.
Sophia (14:51):
They went through all that trouble for him to just,
treat her like that in the end.
It's just unbelievable.
D (14:57):
When the mayor asked what would happen to Allan, Medialdea
assured the mayor that theywouldn't also kill him for full
measure.
The crying girl was dragged outof the resthouse, naked from the
waist down.
Her hair disheveled, mouthcovered by a handkerchief and
hands still tied.
Together with a badly beatenAllan, they were loaded again in
(15:21):
the Tamaraw van.
They were headed back toCalauan, and the ambulance
trailed behind them.
Elena (15:28):
Okay, so they still have their ambulance at this point.
D (15:30):
Yeah, there are, some of them are in the van and some are in
the ambulance.
Elena (15:33):
Is she in the ambulance?
D (15:34):
She's in the van.
On the way to Barangay Imok,Centeno, who was still driving
the ambulance, saw the van swayfrom side to side, as if a
commotion was taking place.
So he's behind the van and hesees that.
Then he heard a gunshot.
It wasn't long before the vanstopped, and he saw Kawit drag
(15:57):
the bloodied Allan and his headwas already drenched in blood to
the ground.
When you say his head, it's hislike, Just his head or just
dragged him from the head?
No, no, he dragged him but already Allan had blood on his
head.
Elena (16:13):
Oh, okay, so his head and like just from beating.
D (16:16):
Well.
Elena (16:17):
Whatever happened.
D (16:18):
Right, whatever.
Kawit then shot the Boy to makesure he was dead.
The ambulance and the van spedaway.
So they threw him out and theyshot him again.
Elena (16:27):
Okay, but I don't know why I thought when you said his
head, I thought you said, Ithought you meant he was like
decapitated or something.
D (16:32):
No, no, no.
He was drenched in blood, but hewas not.
Oh, okay.
They draw, they dragged hisbody.
I think they shot him in thevan.
Then they stopped the van, threwhim out already.
There was blood coming onbecause so much blood, because I
think there was a lot of bloodon him anyways.
Yeah.
And then, they threw him out.
Sophia (16:50):
Looking at a picture of Allan and he seems so sweet and
also very young too.
D (16:55):
They stopped again in a sugar cane field in Sitio Paputok
Kilometro 74, which is ofBarangay Mabacan.
Luis announced that it's timefor the group to feast on
Eileen.
Elena (17:12):
What?
Oh my God.
That he used that word.
D (17:16):
Yes.
That's disgusting.
Sophia (17:18):
Heinous.
Yes.
Oh my God.
So grossed out.
Elena (17:23):
Ew.
Sophia (17:23):
They're like a bunch of pigs.
Elena (17:25):
Yeah, it's just, it's nasty.
They're just, they're close.
What talks like that?
D (17:31):
A bunch of guys who think they're more important than they
are.
Eileen was laid on the back ofthe van with her hands and legs
being held by the appellantswhile waiting for their turn.
Then the gain rape began.
The first to ravish, Eileen wasLuis, then Medialdea then Boy,
Ama, Brion, and finally Kawit.
(17:54):
Be wailing with helplessness ofher situation, Eileen pleaded in
between sobs and whimpers forthe torture to stop.
Elena (18:03):
It's just so saddening.
D (18:05):
It's just too hard for me to even imagine.
Yes.
However, her tears of compassionfell and weak and effective upon
the insensitive brutes.
Kawit invited Centeno to jointhe sexual fiasco.
But he refused, because hecouldn't in good conscience bear
the bestiality being committedon Eileen, who appeared to be
(18:28):
dead.
After Kawit's turn, Eileen knelton the seat of the van and
begged for her life.
Eileen said to the six men, andI quote,"Please, you have taken
everything from me, my shame, myhonor, but please spare me my
breath.
It's the only thing I've gotleft".
(18:51):
Unmoved Luis muted Eileen's cryby forcing an object into her
mouth and then fired his babyamylite at her.
Sophia (19:01):
What is that?
D (19:02):
The gun, he fired a gun at her.
Sophia (19:05):
In her head?
D (19:06):
Mm hmm.
Centeno was thereafter orderedto get rid of Eileen's dead
body.
Moments later all eight menboarded the ambulance and
proceeded to Calauan, leavingthe Tamaraw van with Eileen's
remains behind.
Along the way, Centeno andMalabanan watched in dismay as
(19:27):
Luis, Boy, Medialdea, Ama,Brion, and Kawit savored the
night's escapade to theirsickening delight.
Then they were brought to theirrespective homes by Centeno.
As dawn was breaking, and theydidn't even try to get rid of
the evidence, confident thatthey would get away with murder.
(19:49):
Hours later, on June 29th, thegroup decided to cover up their
grisly deeds.
Ironically, by returning to thescene of the crime, according to
Malabanan and testimony, thatsame day, he and Ama and
Medialdea carried on what was afake police operation
investigation in Barangay Imok.
(20:11):
Both bodies were discovered inthese operations.
Sophia (20:14):
So they claimed they were the ones who discovered
them.
D (20:17):
Correct.
Elena (20:18):
Wow.
There's.
Wow.
Not only evil, but they'restupid.
D (20:22):
Oh yeah.
Boy was at the town hall and heinformed Ama that a dead female
loaded inside and Tamaraw vanwas found in Barangay Mabacan.
Ama then radioed the PNP, whichis the Filipino national Police
Chief of Calauan, Major Caño,who at the time was summoned by
(20:44):
the mayor.
So at the time that they'retalking to this guy, he's being
summoned by the mayor.
Then this Major Caño, arrivedand ordered another, policeman
to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, Centeno received wordthat he was to fetch Malabanan,
Luis, and Medialdea in BarangayImok.
(21:06):
After picking up the three,Centeno drove the ambulance to
Barangay Mabacan, where the deadEileen was found.
Eileen's body, lying inside theTamaraw van, was a pitiful
sight.
Her face bore a gunshot wound.
A handkerchief was stuffed inher mouth, her t-shirt was
rolled up, revealing herbreasts, and her panty was
(21:28):
rolled down on one of her feet,still with the rubber shoes on.
Medialdea covered Eileen'sexposed private parts by fixing
her t-shirt and underwear byplacing a sackcloth over her
lower body.
I guess now all of a sudden hefeels sorry for her.
Elena (21:47):
Yeah, this guy really has absolutely no right to, act like
he feels sorry for her, like,when he stood there and watched
it all happen, like, that's justridiculous.
Sophia (21:56):
It's probably him trying to deal with his own guilt.
D (21:59):
I don't know if he has any guilt.
Elena (22:00):
I don't know how anyone, like sane person can just watch
all that.
D (22:05):
They recovered several scattered items inside the van
like cigarette packs, a paddle,spike shoes, and five bottles of
beer The group then escorted thevan with Eileen's body to the
police station, or UP Los Banospolice station, where the
students, eventually identifiedthe cadaver to be Eileen.
Eventually, her body was alsobrought to Calauan's, townhome.
Elena (22:28):
Why?
D (22:30):
I don't know.
They do, everything is a littleweird for me here, like why they
do things like that.
Elena (22:36):
It's just so much risk to transporting a body.
D (22:39):
I don't know why they were doing all this.
There's so much weird stuffyou're gonna hear
Sophia (22:43):
Can I ask, was this a very well known case when this
broke?
D (22:47):
It was huge.
Sophia (22:48):
Yeah, I'd imagine it would be, especially with the
mayor involved.
D (22:51):
This was really huge.
Thereafter, at around 9:30Medialdea, supposedly on Major
Caño's directive, went to theGomez residence and asked for
Allan.
The maid told him that Allan hadnot come home since the night
before, and that she saw him ataround 6:30 p.
m.
with one Jet Tejada.
(23:12):
As there was no other personinside the house except the
maid, Medialdea, with herpermission, searched for Allan
inside, but to no avail.
Before leaving, he instructedthe maid to tell Allan that he
better make good his hidingbecause Allan is a suspect to a
crime.
I don't know how they knew Allanwas a suspect to a crime by just
finding Eileen's body, but hewas a suspect.
Elena (23:34):
I guess it does make sense, though, that when a woman
dies, usually they do, suspectthe boyfriend.
I don't know about a suspect,but I definitely could imagine
and then he finds out that he'smissing.
He's like, he better comeforward because now that he's
missing it may be a little bitweird.
D (23:49):
I'm sorry, but they made this all up because they didn't even
ask anyone who Eileen'sboyfriend was.
They were just making this upalong the way.
Elena (23:56):
Oh, so they weren't like known.
D (23:58):
No.
Sophia (23:58):
They just pulled it out.
I think they just pulled it up.
D (24:00):
Well, they knew Allan was with her, so they made a story
up.
Elena (24:04):
Oh.
Sophia (24:05):
We're not even sure Allan was really dating her.
Elena (24:07):
Okay
D (24:08):
I don't think he did.
At the Tejada residence Jet wasneither there.
So Medialdea proceeded to theboarding house of Eileen and
instructed the landlady toinform calmly Eileen's parents
on that what had happened totheir daughter
Sophia (24:24):
To inform them calmly?
D (24:26):
Yes, yes.
Sophia (24:27):
That's gonna be difficult.
D (24:30):
Medialdea then returned to the UP Los Banos security force
and told Major Caño, Allan, hadescaped.
Sophia (24:39):
Wait, wasn't Allan dead?
D (24:40):
Yes, but do you understand they're pretending that he
escaped?
Sophia (24:44):
Oh.
D (24:45):
They told his boss they haven't found him officially
yet.
Oh, I found Eileen.
Sophia (24:49):
So they were pretending like they had him in custody.
D (24:51):
No, no, they're pretending they couldn't find him because
he escaped.
And they need to get him incustody.
Elena (24:56):
Oh, so they're trying to paint that narrative that
D (24:58):
That he did this to Eileen.
Yeah.
He has, escaped.
Elena (25:01):
Okay.
D (25:02):
So supposedly Major Caño ordered Medialdea's to still
look for Allan.
When his efforts to find Allaninside the campus proved futile,
I wonder why, Medialdea soughtthe aid of the Barangay Captain
Cesar Ruiz, who brought him tothe Barangay Hall with, where
Jet Tejada was.
(25:23):
Tejada strongly objected toMedialdea's insinuation of his
and Allan's participation in thecrime, saying that they never do
anything as cowardly as that.
He was trying to also blame thegentleman that the maid said she
saw Allan with, and the guygoes, no, we never would have
done that.
Afterwards, a certain Allanvolunteered, and this guy is a
(25:47):
watchman, so it's not the sameAllan, volunteered that he saw
Allan.
This watchman claimed that ifAllan was dead, then Kit, this
is a new character now, had ahand on it since Allan earned
Kit's anger, okay?
Sophia (26:03):
Allan what?
D (26:04):
Earned Kit's anger and this watchman's telling them why.
So supposedly Allan There's aguy named Kit also in the
university.
Supposedly Allan got Kit angry.
Okay They claimed that Allanbegan dating Kit's girlfriend
named Rose.
So Ama then informed Major Cañothat they had the suspect named
(26:25):
Kit who had an ax to grindagainst Allan.
Kit approached and told Ama thathe and Allan had patched up
their differences three monthsago.
Medialdea noticed a drop ofblood in the middle of Kit's
right thigh, which was true.
Kit explained that the bloodoozed from a punch in the wall
with his right knuckle.
Medialdea informed the MajorCaño that Allan perhaps had gone
(26:48):
to Manila with his father.
I don't know why?
The Major replied that Allan ishere but is likewise dead.
So even his boss assumed thatAllan never left and he was
probably dead.
Elena (27:00):
Oh, okay.
So even his bosses.
D (27:02):
Furthermore, the morning that the bodies were found, Luis even
said that Kit asked him for hishelp in disposing Eileen's body.
However, the M 16 empty bulletshell recovered at the site of
where Allan's body was found,matched a gun registered to
Luis.
So Luis claimed the kid helpedwanted him to hide things, but
(27:25):
the gun shells are from Luis.
I mean, this whole thing iscrazy.
Elena (27:30):
And it's all starting to unravel.
D (27:31):
Right.
And they're saying stuff thatreally make no sense.
So now they did an autopsy onEileen, the autopsy and the
vaginal examination conducted bythe prosecution, Dr.
Villasenor.
He said, Eileen's, was gangraped.
His findings in a nutshelldisclosed.
(27:52):
that the presence of multiplecontusions on Eileen's body,
fresh, shallow lacerations onher hymen, a congested cervix, a
gaping labia Majora and oozingwhitish fluid.
Tested positive for spermatozoafrom the vaginal opening.
Oozing spermatozoa, the doctorexplained, means that the amount
(28:16):
of semen she had was much morethan the vaginal canal could
contain.
And that there were semenseveral seminal injections that
occurred therein.
He also noted whitest fluidcontinued to ooze from Eileen's
vaginal opening, despite herdeath for several hours.
(28:38):
He, his final comment was thatEileen's body had enough semen
to fill a sardine can,indicating that she was raped by
several men.
He said, taking into account allthese findings, he ruled out the
possibility of consented sexualintercourse.
Elena (28:58):
Yeah, obviously.
D (29:00):
Anyways, Malabanan, now Ama, and Medialdea, on June 29th,
went to the site where Allan'sbody was found, and started
asking residents about theincident and were able to
retrieve an empty Armaliteshell.
Sophia (29:18):
Mm hmm.
D (29:19):
One that they had Malabanan, and thereafter handed the empty
shell to Major Caño at thepolice station.
Now, they went and visited themayor at his home Medialdea
informed the mayor of thepresence of people from the CIS,
the NBI, and press in thelocality.
(29:41):
Unfortunately, the news wasbecoming a big deal.
People from the press, theNational Bureau of
Investigation, and the PNPCriminal Information Service
which has a different nametoday, had descended upon the
small town after hearing aboutthe horrific crime.
Elena (29:59):
So I have a question.
I'm assuming now that the policeknow for sure that Allan was not
behind this because of, justfrom the autopsy showing that it
was multiple people.
D (30:10):
No.
The autopsy happened much later.
Elena (30:13):
Oh, okay.
D (30:13):
But right now you have quite a few individuals in the police
who are them.
Elena (30:18):
Oh, that's right.
So you know that they did it.
D (30:20):
Right.
But what's happening is thestory is going out and it's
becoming much bigger thananticipated.
Elena (30:27):
Mm.
Okay.
D (30:28):
Okay.
Therefore, the men had no choicebut report to Sanchez, who had
flared up and blamed them fornot using their heads.
I don't know what he wanted themto do.
He also reprimanded them for notdealing with the situation.
The mayor, however, assured themthat he could fix the problem in
less the amount of a brand newcar.
(30:50):
So do you understand that part?
He was going to bribe people.
Elena (30:53):
There's a lot of people you're going to have to bribe.
D (30:56):
It's Philippines, and it's cheaper.
Elena (30:58):
Still, he's got to bribe.
D (30:58):
Oh, you'll see.
The following day, June 30th,Medialdea, upon the mayor's
directive, handed a pair ofwhite walking shorts to Major
Caño.
When Malabanan asked Medialdea,whose pair of shorts was that?
Medialdea replied that it wasthe shorts of Eileen, which the
mayor wanted to deliver to MajorCaño.
(31:20):
Wait, shouldn't Sanchez havesaid these are the shorts of
Eileen?
No, he gave them to Medialdea to give him to the Major.
And he said, the mayor said,these are Eileen's shorts.
Elena (31:28):
Yeah, but you said Medialdea said that these are.
Sanchez said that.
D (31:32):
No, Sanchez did not.
The following day, June 30,Medialdea, upon the mayor's
directive, the mayor told him todo this, handed a pair of white
shorts to Major Caño.
Elena (31:44):
Okay.
D (31:45):
When he was asked whose shorts these are, he said they
were Eileen's, which the mayorwanted to deliver to Major Caño.
Elena (31:54):
Okay.
D (31:55):
Sanchez sent a piece of evidence to throw the police off
the trail.
But the police suspicions werefurther aroused because the
shirts were found far from whereEileen's body was actually
found.
I think the mayor claimed theywere found somewhere else, but
it didn't make sense.
Right.
Elena (32:11):
So things are starting to crumble for the mayor.
D (32:14):
At the same day of June 30th, they went to see the mayor at
his house in Calauan.
About his, worries over reportsthat the driver of the ambulance
involved in the rape slay wasbeing hunted down, which was
Centeno.
The mayor gave Centeno 2, 000Filipino pesos, which how much
do you think it is at this pointtoday?
Elena (32:36):
What year is this again?
D (32:37):
1993.
Elena (32:39):
Was it like a couple thousand?
D (32:41):
Okay, Sophia do you want to guess or?
Sophia (32:44):
How much it was in American money?
D (32:46):
Yeah.
Today, you could just tell mewhat you think it is today.
She says about a couplethousand.
Elena (32:50):
Oh, what it would be today?
I think it was a couple thousandthen, but it would equal maybe,
I don't know, five thousand.
D (32:55):
Okay, and what do you think it would be worth today?
He gave him two thousandFilipino pesos.
Sophia (33:00):
Oof.
I want to say 5, 000, but then Ifeel like it may even be lower
than that.
It may be 500.
Elena (33:07):
It could be in the hundreds too, now that I think
about it.
D (33:10):
Today, 2, 000 Filipino pesos is$35.50.
I told you it's a poor area.
Sophia (33:15):
I was not expecting that.
Elena (33:17):
$35?
Wow.
D (33:18):
That's what he gave them.
Oh my gosh.
And invites them to keep silent,or better yet, to go into
hiding, which he did.
Because somehow they had seenCenteno drive the ambulance.
So somehow they were saying theyneeded to find him.
And he was not part of thepolice force.
So as to Malabanan, Medialdeaand Ama, they brought the PNP,
(33:41):
station cruise command to shedlight on the cleaning of the
Tamaraw van.
So what happened?
I'm going to tell you more aboutthe van.
Someone had told a prisoner toclean the Tamaraw van.
And the prisoner, was seencarrying the rubber matting from
the van and putting it on thefence to dry.
Ama, who saw this, could nothelp but curse Arnold, which is
(34:05):
the prisoner, and order him tobring it back.
Ama explained to Major Caño thathe felt that the police will be
blamed for this, because thisprisoner was cleaning the van.
And Medialdea said that theMajor Caño ordered them to clean
the van to diffuse the stenchcaused by the bloodstains I have
no documentation that Major Cañohad any part in any of this,
(34:28):
which is their boss.
Elena (34:29):
Do you think he had a part in it?
D (34:32):
No, I don't.
I think he was trying to putthings together, and I think he
was trying to figure out,because he's the one who said
Allan is probably dead, and issomewhere here, so he was
suspecting, yeah, he wassuspecting something.
Plus, if the mayor had calledhim to talk to him, I think he
was suspecting something's goingon.
Coming to the defense, oh, eachof these men had an alibi to
(34:55):
tell and sought to build theblame on Kit.
Remember Kit.
Kit also who supposedly, Allandated his girlfriend was also
the son of a feared general,Dictador.
Alqueza so that is why they alsowanted to blame Kit, cause he's
the son of this general.
Elena (35:16):
Okay, so he was like an easy.
D (35:17):
Right.
The mayor claimed that he was atthe residence of his mistress.
Elvira in Bay Laguna in themorning of June 28th, 1993.
They left for Makati City at oneo'clock in the afternoon, went
to San Pablo City, and around4:00 PM they left the city.
At 7:30 pm, they returned toElvira’s house at around 10 p.
m.
(35:37):
He and Elvira retired around12:30 am in the morning.
He woke up at five to go joggingbecause that was his favorite
exercise.
But the weather prevented himfrom running.
He has three children withElvira, which greeted him around
6:30 AM before heading forschool.
He took his breakfast and lunchat Elvira's house.
That was his alibi and where hewas at the time.
(35:59):
Medialdea, Ama, and Malabananarrived between 1 and 2 p.m.
and informed the mayor of therape slay in which Kit Alqueza
was the prime suspect.
This made the mayor very angry,for which he ordered a thorough
investigation of the incident toavoid any whitewash.
This is what the mayor says ishappening, which never did,
(36:21):
okay?
Elena (36:23):
So he's lying about it, too.
D (36:24):
I would not hesitate to have the perpetrators of this crime
killed by the electric chair,whether a general's son is
involved or not, son of a heblurted.
The mayor then advised these mennot to worry if they were really
innocent and that the primordialconcern is that a full
investigation be conducted.
The mayor also testified that heclosely coordinated with Major
(36:47):
Caño in investigating this case.
Furthermore, the mayor wasrequested to facilitate the
surrender of Luis and Boy,remember those two guys, to Camp
Crame since the CIS suspectedthem of being involved in the
crime together with Kit.
So the police at first thoughtmaybe Kit was involved, so Luis
(37:07):
and Boy, were also thought to bepart of it.
The brothers, accompanied by themayor, peacefully surrendered to
CIS operatives on the afternoonof July 12th of 1993.
Now, this is interesting.
Elena (37:19):
So they've been arrested?
D (37:21):
Just Boy and Luis, but because they think they are part
of Kit.
Elena (37:26):
Right, but Kit's not the mayor.
D (37:28):
Right, and don't forget, the police now got other,
departments involved in theinvestigation.
On August 10 of 93, the mayorreceived an anonymous phone call
advising him that he betterleave the country because he
would be arrested in three daystime.
He refused to heed the advice,because he had nothing to do
(37:49):
with the crime.
And so he was apprehended onAugust 13 at his Calauan
residence and brought to CampVincente Lim, where he was
presented to the media.
Elena (38:00):
Wow.
D (38:01):
There he saw Centeno and Malabanan, who he did not greet,
and they didn't greet himeither.
General Salimbangon ordered thetwo witnesses to implicate the
mayor
Sophia (38:13):
Is this on national TV?
D (38:15):
Yes.
Sophia (38:16):
Wow.
Oh my gosh.
D (38:18):
The general then ordered the mayor to be handcuffed as he is
the rapist.
And then the mayor said, You sonof a you frame me up, the mayor
cursed.
Elena (38:30):
So he's trying to pretend like it's a frame.
D (38:33):
Right.
Elena (38:33):
For the cameras.
D (38:34):
Right, for the cameras.
Sophia (38:35):
I'm speechless that they're doing this on live TV.
Elena (38:38):
I want know who called him, who was the,
Sophia (38:42):
Tipped him off?
Elena (38:42):
Yeah, because I'm assuming it's someone in the
police force, cause they knewthat they were going, arrest
him.
D (38:49):
He didn't take it seriously.
Elena (38:50):
Clearly,,I'm curious.
Sophia (38:51):
He's so arrogant He just didn't take it seriously.
D (38:53):
I also think he thinks he's untouchable.
Elena (38:56):
Yeah, but I just want to know who tipped it, who?
Tipped him off.
D (39:00):
I have no information on that.
The mayor denied giving Centenoadvice and 2, 000 Filipino pesos
as pocket money on June 30 of93.
It was only in the courtroomthat he saw Centeno, although he
knew later what really happened.
Mayor also denied thatMalabanan’s testimony implicated
him in the crime.
(39:21):
In fact, the mayor claimed thatMalabanan wrote him letters
asking for his help However, thetrial court noted that the
letters averted to by the mayoralso addressed to the judge.
Baldo.
So they did not, he did not sendletters to only the mayor.
He was sending them to the judgefor assistance.
So what happened was, so youguys want to know Malabanan and
(39:41):
Conteno, confessed everythingand that's how the whole case
fell apart.
Elena (39:45):
Oh.
D (39:46):
Okay.
Those two are the two people whodid not rape Eileen.
Elena (39:50):
Right, they were the ones that, I guess their guilt got
the best of them.
D (39:54):
Something of that sort.
Elena (39:55):
Yeah.
D (39:56):
Now, Medialdea, on July 6th, with Ama and Malabanan, went to
the police station this isanother police station, which is
higher up, to answer about thecleaning of the van and told
them how he thought it was MajorCaño.
So this cleaning of the van wassomething that had caused some
questions, probably becausethey're wondering who's cleaning
(40:19):
a van that has, some kind ofevidence in it.
Sophia (40:22):
I'm just curious, because they were broadcasting
the mayor getting accused andcharged, are they also
broadcasting all this evidencethey find in real time, or are
they keeping that private?
D (40:33):
I don't think they broadcast the evidence.
I think it's just the mayor.
Sophia (40:37):
Okay.
D (40:37):
Now, the co-conspirators Centeno and Malabanan, and they
were not part of the sexualassault or murder, were the star
witnesses in the case.
They claimed that the kidnappingwas first disguised as a plan to
catch Tisoy, remember I told youabout Tisoy at the beginning,
the notorious gun runner anddrug dealer.
And he said it was clear thatwas not the real intention of
(41:00):
them getting together.
They also found a belt loop fromEileen's shorts and a cigarette
butt said to have been used toburn Eileen were later dug up in
the mayor's farm.
Sophia (41:14):
We didn't know that he burned her, did we?
D (41:16):
No, and we don't really know exactly all the details either.
She was not in good shape.
Sophia (41:22):
Didn't the autopsy catch that she was burned?
D (41:25):
The material of this case is so big.
If you go and look at the legaldocuments, this case goes on and
on and on.
Elena (41:34):
Yeah, I bet.
D (41:34):
And I did not go through every little detail.
I'm not sure they revealedeverything either, but there was
hundreds and hundreds of pageson this.
It was just the court casebecause, I'll tell you more
about it.
The court case was very long.
Elena (41:48):
Oh, yeah.
With all this evidence.
D (41:49):
The mayor denied this, saying he was framed and that the
evidence was planted againsthim.
He denied his involvement in therape and the killing of the
students and said that he was athis mistress house during the
night of the crime.
Now, because of all this and allthe material they found in
evidence, Sanchez and his menwere apprehended for a trial.
(42:11):
They would go on for 16 months.
On March 14, 1995, Pasig JudgeHarriet Demetriou concluded the
16 month Eileen Sarmenta andAllan Gomez murder trial with
the finding that Calauan MayorAntonio Sanchez and several of
(42:32):
his henchmen were guilty ofseven, and, just so you know,
the seven men who raped her, notthe other of the guilty, we're
guilty of the seven counts ofrape with homicide for rape and
killing of Eileen and thekilling of her friend, Allan
Demetriou, the judge, in her 132page decision, described the
(42:54):
crime as being born out of aplot seemingly hatched in hell.
The court had given Sanchez andeach of his henchmen seven life
sentences, each count amountingto a 40 year jail term..
Elena (43:11):
Wow.
D (43:12):
Combine this equally to the 1, 970 years in prison.
They were also asked to paymillions in pesos to the
families of the victims asadditional indemnity.
The mayor's calm and religiouspersona suddenly disappeared
when the verdict was read.
You all need to understand themayor, pretending on media, TV
(43:35):
that he was a very religiousman, and he had the statues of
the Virgin Mary, and he huggedthem and, all that.
So that's why they say hisreligious persona.
Elena (43:46):
How much is the millions of pesos?
He had to give to the family.
D (43:50):
It didn't say.
I don't know.
Sophia (43:52):
Did the family ever get them?
D (43:54):
I will get into that.
Sophia (43:55):
Oh, okay.
D (43:56):
He was described to have been raging and shouting
explicitives, giving theaudience and the media a
completely different side tohim.
Sanchez said that he was framedbecause of politics, because of
his ambitions to be a governor.
In addition, a year later,Sanchez and three others,
including Luis, were alsoconvicted of the Penasola case.
(44:19):
The ruling of the two murderswere confirmed by the Supreme
Court in'99 in total Sanchezwill serve nine reclusive life
sentences So do you remember thetwo that Eileen went and
interviewed him for?
He was also found guilty ofthose murders after he was found
of the Eileen's murder.
Sophia (44:38):
Yeah, he's been under a lot of suspicion.
Elena (44:40):
Yeah, that's true.
D (44:42):
Okay, so while many thought the case was over It was brought
up again in 2019 when thepossibility of Sanchez release
arose due to a new law which wasknown as the Good Conduct Time
Allowance for"good behavior".
So the question was, was Sanchezexhibiting good behavior?
(45:02):
In jail that is?
In 2006, Sanchez was chargedwith the possession of illegal
drugs after a prison guard foundhim to be allegedly keeping a
pact of crystal methane andmarijuana along with drug
paraphernalia.
Elena (45:18):
Wow.
D (45:19):
In 2010, Sanchez was caught again with 1.5 million Filipino
pesos worth of crystal meth.
Concealed it in a statue of hisbeloved Virgin Mary.
He obviously had a statue of theVirgin Mary in jail.
In 2015, an air conditioningunit and a flat screen TV were
(45:41):
also seized from his room duringa raid.
Somehow, he was able to havesome fancy stuff.
Elena (45:46):
Yes.
D (45:47):
In the 1990s, Sanchez's conviction was assured for
Filipinos that justice was notexclusive for the rich and the
wealthy.
With still the possibility ofSanchez's release and reports
that the convicted rapist andmurderer is enjoying
preferential treatment behindbars.
It seems that might have beenjust a temporary illusion.
(46:10):
In 2018, there was an office ofthe government that completed
the confiscation of theill-gotten wealth from Sanchez
and his wife Editha.
The month before, titles of 19pieces of real estate property
were registered back to thestate.
Sophia (46:27):
I'm confused.
What are you saying about he'sjust paying the state back?
D (46:30):
No.
The state went and took away hisproperty.
Okay, because don't forget heowned it to Eileen and Allan's
family.
Oh, yeah So this is where it'sgetting paid through.
Right.
So somehow the state has gottenall this stuff from the mayor's
place and his properties.
Up to this day, the families ofEileen and Allan said they have
(46:51):
not received a single penny ofindemnity from the mayor and his
men.
Sophia (46:56):
Why am I not surprised.
D (46:57):
So the state obviously took it.
So rumors were floating insocial media that the mayor was
going to be released.
The prison allowed thejournalists to come and take
photos of Sanchez clad in fullorange.
It was noticeable, however, thatthe mayor is still getting
preferential treatment asfootage showed him shielding him
(47:18):
from the sun with an umbrella,which is true because I did see
that picture.
So even though he was in jail,he was allowed to have some
extra perks.
Sophia (47:27):
Who's shielding him from the sun?
D (47:28):
Someone else in the jail.
Sophia (47:30):
Oh my gosh.
D (47:31):
Now the public, including an entire generation of people born
after the crime, hadrediscovered a villain to
crucify.
For once, it seems, commenterson social media agreed on one
thing, that Sanchez should notbe released.
Aside from the post being sharedon Facebook and Twitter, rallies
were being staged and a petitionwas also launched to stop
(47:53):
Sanchez's release.
To everyone's comfort, Sanchez'srelease never happened.
His death followed on March 27thof 2021 when he was found
unresponsive by his cellmates.
Sophia (48:07):
Wow.
D (48:08):
While the culprits were sentenced to life in prison,
many still wonder to this day ifthere are similar situations
happening in localmunicipalities and whether there
were other"gifts", in quotes,given to Sanchez during his
reign as mayor.
Sophia (48:25):
Yeah, I guess we don't even know about that.
I, I was not expecting him todie, to be dead already at the
end.
I've been looking at photos ofhim online and he looks
D (48:34):
He's disgusting to me.
Sophia (48:36):
He is and you can tell he really thinks highly of
himself too.
D (48:39):
Yeah, that is the way he looks.
Sophia (48:42):
Have the families said anything since this has all
happened?
D (48:47):
They really did not want the mayor to get out.
That was a real big problem forthem.
They also are in a lot of painwith what happened to their
children.
They have not received anymoney.
The mayor's wife has beenfighting, I don't know, to this
day, to be able to keep Themoney.
The wife is trying to get moneyback and fight the state.
(49:08):
She was supporting him before heeven died.
She never divorced him.
She still supported him.
Sophia (49:13):
So she, did she believe he was guilty or no.
D (49:15):
There was no comment about what the wife believed or didn't
believe.
If you asked me either an abusedindividual or weak, or she just
wanted his money, and she lethim do whatever he wanted.
I have no idea.
There's this idea in Philippinesabout the rich getting away with
things.
Sophia (49:34):
It's sad because, when anything like this happens to
anyone, and just looking at thephotos of Allan and Eileen, they
look very happy, they're just sobeautiful.
And it's sad to think of thehorrors and the pain that they
had to go through in their lastmoments.
Elena (49:52):
Yeah, Eileen really just seems like such a sweet girl.
D (49:56):
I think she was.
I think she just went to do themayor for a class.
No idea, right.
Elena (50:01):
She seems very like Wait, how long, for all the other
guys, how long did they get?
D (50:08):
They each got 40 year jail term.
They got seven life sentencesthey all got seven life
sentences each count for 40 yearjail term, Which combined was 1,
970 years in prison, all ofthem.
Which is like a life sentencethere.
I don't think they were going tocome out there.
Elena (50:28):
Oh, okay.
So they all pretty much got lifeand that's good.
Sophia (50:32):
Sorry if you answer this so you may want to take this
out, but did anyone getconvicted of her murder or just
rapes?
D (50:37):
I think it was both; seven counts of rape and homicide for
the rape and killing.
No, they they got also for thekilling.
Elena (50:47):
Okay
D (50:48):
This was a really difficult story for me because I just felt
that, two innocent individualswere in the wrong place, wrong
time and they did nothing.
It just caught someone's eye andthey thought, good time..
Guys, thank you.
And until next time, make sureyou stay on the Erie side.
Bye bye.
Bye.
Thank you.
Be safe.
Hey guys, welcome to the Erie Side Podcast with your host D,
Sophia, and Elena.
We appreciate you guyslistening, and I hope you're
ready to get on the Erie Side.
(00:53):
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Before we begin, please be awarethat this episode contains
detailed discussions about adisturbing and tragic event
involving the sexual assault ofa young woman.
(01:39):
We understand this subject maybe deeply unsettling or
distressing for some listeners.
Listeners discretion advised.
Elena (01:48):
All right so I think mom, I think you have a case for us
today.
Is that right?
D (01:51):
Yes, I have a case for all the people from the Philippines
who are listening to us.
Yay So this case occurred in thePhilippines years ago.
Sophia (02:02):
Shout out to all our Filipino listeners.
D (02:06):
Yes.
Thank you very much for beingpart of our podcast.
Now, this case is of EileenSarmenta and Allan Gomez.
Sophia (02:14):
Wait, can you say her first name again?
Eileen?
D (02:17):
Eileen is her first name.
Sophia (02:19):
Okay.
What's your last name?
D (02:20):
Sarmenta.
Sophia (02:20):
Okay.
D (02:21):
And Allan Gomez.
In June of 1993, Mary EileenSarmenta, but she goes by the
name of Eileen, was 21 years oldand an agriculture student at
the University of thePhilippines, Los Banos.
And I'm going to be calling itUPLB, the university from here
on out.
(02:42):
And she was a few months shy ofgraduating.
Now she went to see the mayor ofCalauan Laguna.
His name was Antonio Sanchez.
She wanted to interview him forher school paper on a crime he
was accused of.
At that time, Sanchez, andthat's what I'm going to be
(03:02):
calling him, Sanchez, with hislast name.
I also want to say that I'mgoing to try to pronounce all
these names correctly, so excuseme if I don't.
Sophia (03:10):
And you were telling us before that there's a lot of
names, so we should be preparedfor that.
D (03:14):
Right.
Be prepared for it.
At that time, Sanchez was ontrial for the murder of a father
and son, and Nelson and RicksonPenalosa on April 13 of 1991,
which is over two years now.
Nelson was a political leaderand supported Sanchez's
political opponent.
(03:34):
It was at this moment that themayor supposedly took a liking
to Eileen.
At school, Eileen had a friend,Allan Gomez, and they had met at
their college.
They were regular collegestudents that played board
games, card games, and hungedout with their friends.
Some accounts reported them asBoyfriend and girlfriend, but
(03:55):
others said they were justfriends and schoolmates.
Now Sanchez was a different kindof mayor because he had
henchmen.
The police think that it waspossible that Sanchez men had
been stalking Eileen for quitesome time.
Elena (04:10):
Whoa, that's crazy.
D (04:14):
These men were and everybody start taking notes now, Calauan,
the city, Deputy Chief of PoliceGeorge Medialdea, that's number
one, two brothers, LuisCorcolon, and Rogelio Boy
Corcolon, Zoilo Ama, and he wasalso a third class petty officer
(04:37):
of the police So there's twopeople definitely in the police
station working.
Zoilo Brion, who supposedly isthe mayor's nephew.
Pepito Kawit, Aurelio Centeno,and Vincencio Malabanan.
Many of these were officers ofthe police station of Calauan.
Elena (04:58):
Okay, so a bunch of guys with some being connected to the
police and some to the mayor.
D (05:03):
Oh, they're all connected to the mayor.
Two of the henchmen, Medialdeaand Centeno, they were driving
an ambulance and fetchedMalabanan at his residence in
the early morning of June 28thof 1993.
It was on the pretext that theywere gonna apprehend one Rodolfo
(05:24):
Calva, who had an alias of"Tisoy".
Elena (05:27):
Sorry to interrupt, but this Rudolf, had an alias.
What was the alias?
D (05:32):
Tisoy
Elena (05:32):
Tisoy.
D (05:33):
It's just another name
Elena (05:35):
They're the same guy.
D (05:35):
It's the same guy and he's a notorious gun runner drug pusher
in the area
Elena (05:41):
Okay, and then he's getting picked up by the
henchmen.
D (05:43):
Well policemen slash whatever, and they're supposed
to supposedly go after him.
Elena (05:49):
Okay
D (05:50):
Next they go and pick up Ama That's the other henchmen And
then Luis Corcolon, yeah, theother henchman.
Oh yeah, you said hatchman.
Next they pick up Ama, the other henchman, and then they
pick up Luis Corcolon, who fromnow on will be called Luis
because it's the two brothers.
(06:11):
So it's one of the brothers.
So on board this ambulance arefive men and they.
Make some stopovers until theyheaded towards back for Calauan
again.
Sophia (06:21):
Can I ask, why are they taking an ambulance?
That's just the car they drive?
Elena (06:25):
Yeah, wait, I was wondering that too.
D (06:28):
I have no idea why they're doing an ambulance.
I don't know if that's somethingfor them to hide under?
Instead of a police car?
Sophia (06:34):
That's bizarre.
Elena (06:34):
I feel like they're gonna notice like, an ambulance
missing.
D (06:38):
I'm not sure they noticed anything's missing.
That's never even brought up.
Sophia (06:41):
Or it could just be an ambulance that they've purchased
because people can purchase I'msure retired ambulances Like as
their vehicle.
Elena (06:49):
Yeah, that's true
D (06:50):
They headed back to Calauan at seven o'clock in the evening
upon the orders of Luis thatthey had to head back They were
at a shell gas station atCalauan, and they picked up
Rogelio Corcolon also known asBoy and will be called Boy from
here on out.
Kawit and Brion, and theyproceeded to Los Banos.
(07:12):
So along the way Luis announcedto the group that the real
purpose behind going to LosBanos trip is is to take a
pretty young lady long desiredby the mayor and offer her to
him as a gift.
Sophia (07:29):
A gift that he's basically gifting to himself.
D (07:32):
Absolutely correct.
Sophia (07:34):
That's so.
Elena (07:35):
Oh, okay.
D (07:36):
If you didn't get that from my voice.
Elena (07:37):
That's a man thing to do, I guess.
D (07:40):
Luis, to satisfy his companion's curiosity, even
guaranteed that her beauty willmake their saliva drip.
Sophia (07:49):
Eww! That's problematic.
D (07:52):
So eventually the ambulance arrives at the UPLB grounds,
which is the university.
Centeno drove the ambulancearound campus at a snail's pace
while Luis scoured the area withwatchful eyes.
Sophia (08:08):
You know what I'm just thinking is that Eileen, she's
walking around this campus.
If you see an ambulance, you'renot going to think anything of
it.
You're going to think, okay,that's, that's safety.
That's those people are helppeople, you know, you're not
going to think, okay, anythingharmful could come from an
ambulance.
So they're like hiding in plainsight.
Elena (08:27):
Yeah, yeah,
D (08:29):
That's for sure.
Elena (08:30):
This, I felt like that was pretty obvious You said that
like it was a big discovery.
Sophia (08:35):
I'm just saying that because it clicked.
You know, it's easier for themto blend in because nobody's
gonna think of an ambulance asbeing a suspicious vehicle.
Yeah, I agree.
D (08:45):
As the search inside the campus proved fruitless, Luis
then ordered Centeno to slowlydrive out of the university
compound and to stop uponreaching the vicinity of the
Agrix complex.
There, Luis, Boy, Ama, Brion,and Kawit get out of the
ambulance and went inside theAgrix complex.
(09:08):
Now, Centeno overheard Medialdeainform"The Boss", in quotes, via
the radio that they were alreadyin the area.
"The Boss", in quotes, was themayor.
Inside the Agrix's complex is arestaurant called Cafe Amalia.
Parked in front of theestablishment was a Tamaraw,
(09:31):
which is a Toyota van, and it'ssold in the Philippines.
Eileen and Allan were itspassengers, both occupying the
front seats.
She was wearing a T-shirt, whiteshorts, and rubber shoes.
Armed with guns, Luis and Boyapproached Eileen and Allan,
forcibly took the two, andloaded them in the back of the
(09:52):
van.
Elena (09:53):
So wait, so she's officially just got abducted
from the other vehicle by
D (10:00):
All of them, but they put them in the back of the vehicle
that she was in.
Elena (10:04):
Right?
D (10:04):
They just put them in the back seat.
Elena (10:05):
And then they drove i'm assuming they're gonna drive
off.
Is the mayor in the back of thetruck?
D (10:11):
No, no, no, the mayor is not there.
Elena (10:12):
No, okay.
D (10:14):
No, all the men boarded the van while Centeno and Malabanan
stayed in the ambulance.
Elena (10:20):
Oh, it was Centeno, okay.
D (10:21):
So there's two, vehicles now.
Elena (10:24):
Okay.
D (10:24):
Both vehicles then headed to Erais Farm, which is situated in
Barangay Curba, owned by themayor.
So they headed to a place thatis owned by the mayor.
Even before the two studentswere kidnapped, Mayor Sanchez
has been known to have a sketchypersonality in addition to the
(10:46):
crime killing of the two thatEileen interviewed him for.
In the past, he reportedlystated on television, while he
was standing next to his wife,that he had multiple girlfriends
and mistresses and that heallegedly had a group of men
taking part in illegal gambling.
Elena (11:05):
This is Sanchez, right?
D (11:07):
This is the mayor.
Right.
He did this on TV.
Sophia (11:10):
If he does this and admits this on TV, I don't even
want to imagine what he doeswhen he's not announcing his
D (11:18):
Correct.
And he does have mistresses andall that, so.
Sophia (11:21):
Are we going to find out more about his relationship and
Eileen's relationship?
D (11:25):
If the two have a relationship?
Sophia (11:26):
Well, I'm just curious, what it was like when Eileen
interviewed Sanchez
D (11:32):
I have no information on that.
Sophia (11:33):
You have no information on that.
D (11:34):
No, and I don't think that Eileen picked up anything.
Sophia (11:38):
Yeah, otherwise, if they had a relationship that was more
friendship based It would be oddfor him to just
D (11:44):
I Don't think there was anything on here that, Eileen
thought anything particular oranything.
I don't even think she had arelationship or anything at all.
Elena (11:53):
So it was just kind of like a typical interview done.
D (11:57):
As far as I think as she was concerned because none of her
friends ever mentioned that shehad said he was creepy or
anything.
As soon as the group arrived atthe farm, the horrors began.
The two captives were broughtout of the van.
Eileen was gagged by ahandkerchief and her hands, like
Allan's, were tied.
A white towel was wounded aroundAllan's mouth.
(12:19):
The mayor, then wearing ajogging attire, emerged from the
resthouse and asked the group,"My children, what's the
problem?"
Sophia (12:29):
So, um, let's see, you've kidnapped them.
Yeah.
Yes.
D (12:34):
To this Luis responded, "Mayor, this is our gift to you.
The girl you've been longingfor.
She's really beautiful."
Sophia (12:44):
This is so sickening.
D (12:46):
And these are quotes that you see everywhere.
So you do know that these didhappen.
The mayor asked,"But who's thatman?" Medialdea replied,
"Eileen's companion, Boss.
We brought him along to avoidcomplications, and because he
was a liability."
Elena (13:03):
This is all just so weird.
I don't know like this is theway they're talking to.
Sophia (13:08):
So dramatic It's like something out of a really bad
movie.
Elena (13:11):
Yeah.
D (13:11):
I think they thought they were like gang, and you know
boss and gang like
Sophia (13:16):
the mob.
D (13:17):
Yeah, I think they had this image of themselves.
Elena (13:19):
That they were like the hot shit.
D (13:21):
Yeah.
The two youngsters were thenbrought inside the resthouse
where Eileen was taken to themayor's room.
Allan was then badly beaten byLuis, Boy, Ama, and Medialdea,
and thereafter thrown out of theresthouse.
Kawit followed up by strikingAllan's diaphragm with the butt
(13:41):
of an Armalite, which is a typeof gun, causing Allan to fall
against a cement box.
Brion thought that Allan hadalready died, but Kawit said,
"His death will come later".
While Eileen was being raped bySanchez, Centeno Sanchez's
personal aides, Edwin Cosico andRaul Alorico, to watch
(14:04):
television at the adjacentresthouse.
So there were a few homes closeto each other here.
Elena (14:10):
And then like some of them left.
D (14:12):
Well, Centeno went to the next house.
Alorico told Centeno thatSanchez had been eagerly waiting
for the group and worried thatthey would not arrive.
At 1 a.
m., the mayor emerged from theroom wearing merely a white polo
shirt and thanked Luis andMedialdea, for the gift, in
(14:36):
quotes.
Sophia (14:37):
Just completely objectifying her.
Elena (14:39):
Yeah, like she is not a human being.
D (14:42):
No, she isn't to them.
Elena (14:44):
Yeah.
D (14:44):
And he says,"I am through with her.
She's all yours".
Elena (14:48):
That's so disgusting.
Sophia (14:51):
They went through all that trouble for him to just,
treat her like that in the end.
It's just unbelievable.
D (14:57):
When the mayor asked what would happen to Allan, Medialdea
assured the mayor that theywouldn't also kill him for full
measure.
The crying girl was dragged outof the resthouse, naked from the
waist down.
Her hair disheveled, mouthcovered by a handkerchief and
hands still tied.
Together with a badly beatenAllan, they were loaded again in
(15:21):
the Tamaraw van.
They were headed back toCalauan, and the ambulance
trailed behind them.
Elena (15:28):
Okay, so they still have their ambulance at this point.
D (15:30):
Yeah, there are, some of them are in the van and some are in
the ambulance.
Elena (15:33):
Is she in the ambulance?
D (15:34):
She's in the van.
On the way to Barangay Imok,Centeno, who was still driving
the ambulance, saw the van swayfrom side to side, as if a
commotion was taking place.
So he's behind the van and hesees that.
Then he heard a gunshot.
It wasn't long before the vanstopped, and he saw Kawit drag
(15:57):
the bloodied Allan and his headwas already drenched in blood to
the ground.
When you say his head, it's hislike, Just his head or just
dragged him from the head?
No, no, he dragged him but already Allan had blood on his
head.
Elena (16:13):
Oh, okay, so his head and like just from beating.
D (16:16):
Well.
Elena (16:17):
Whatever happened.
D (16:18):
Right, whatever.
Kawit then shot the Boy to makesure he was dead.
The ambulance and the van spedaway.
So they threw him out and theyshot him again.
Elena (16:27):
Okay, but I don't know why I thought when you said his
head, I thought you said, Ithought you meant he was like
decapitated or something.
D (16:32):
No, no, no.
He was drenched in blood, but hewas not.
Oh, okay.
They draw, they dragged hisbody.
I think they shot him in thevan.
Then they stopped the van, threwhim out already.
There was blood coming onbecause so much blood, because I
think there was a lot of bloodon him anyways.
Yeah.
And then, they threw him out.
Sophia (16:50):
Looking at a picture of Allan and he seems so sweet and
also very young too.
D (16:55):
They stopped again in a sugar cane field in Sitio Paputok
Kilometro 74, which is ofBarangay Mabacan.
Luis announced that it's timefor the group to feast on
Eileen.
Elena (17:12):
What?
Oh my God.
That he used that word.
D (17:16):
Yes.
That's disgusting.
Sophia (17:18):
Heinous.
Yes.
Oh my God.
So grossed out.
Elena (17:23):
Ew.
Sophia (17:23):
They're like a bunch of pigs.
Elena (17:25):
Yeah, it's just, it's nasty.
They're just, they're close.
What talks like that?
D (17:31):
A bunch of guys who think they're more important than they
are.
Eileen was laid on the back ofthe van with her hands and legs
being held by the appellantswhile waiting for their turn.
Then the gain rape began.
The first to ravish, Eileen wasLuis, then Medialdea then Boy,
Ama, Brion, and finally Kawit.
(17:54):
Be wailing with helplessness ofher situation, Eileen pleaded in
between sobs and whimpers forthe torture to stop.
Elena (18:03):
It's just so saddening.
D (18:05):
It's just too hard for me to even imagine.
Yes.
However, her tears of compassionfell and weak and effective upon
the insensitive brutes.
Kawit invited Centeno to jointhe sexual fiasco.
But he refused, because hecouldn't in good conscience bear
the bestiality being committedon Eileen, who appeared to be
(18:28):
dead.
After Kawit's turn, Eileen knelton the seat of the van and
begged for her life.
Eileen said to the six men, andI quote,"Please, you have taken
everything from me, my shame, myhonor, but please spare me my
breath.
It's the only thing I've gotleft".
(18:51):
Unmoved Luis muted Eileen's cryby forcing an object into her
mouth and then fired his babyamylite at her.
Sophia (19:01):
What is that?
D (19:02):
The gun, he fired a gun at her.
Sophia (19:05):
In her head?
D (19:06):
Mm hmm.
Centeno was thereafter orderedto get rid of Eileen's dead
body.
Moments later all eight menboarded the ambulance and
proceeded to Calauan, leavingthe Tamaraw van with Eileen's
remains behind.
Along the way, Centeno andMalabanan watched in dismay as
(19:27):
Luis, Boy, Medialdea, Ama,Brion, and Kawit savored the
night's escapade to theirsickening delight.
Then they were brought to theirrespective homes by Centeno.
As dawn was breaking, and theydidn't even try to get rid of
the evidence, confident thatthey would get away with murder.
(19:49):
Hours later, on June 29th, thegroup decided to cover up their
grisly deeds.
Ironically, by returning to thescene of the crime, according to
Malabanan and testimony, thatsame day, he and Ama and
Medialdea carried on what was afake police operation
investigation in Barangay Imok.
(20:11):
Both bodies were discovered inthese operations.
Sophia (20:14):
So they claimed they were the ones who discovered
them.
D (20:17):
Correct.
Elena (20:18):
Wow.
There's.
Wow.
Not only evil, but they'restupid.
D (20:22):
Oh yeah.
Boy was at the town hall and heinformed Ama that a dead female
loaded inside and Tamaraw vanwas found in Barangay Mabacan.
Ama then radioed the PNP, whichis the Filipino national Police
Chief of Calauan, Major Caño,who at the time was summoned by
(20:44):
the mayor.
So at the time that they'retalking to this guy, he's being
summoned by the mayor.
Then this Major Caño, arrivedand ordered another, policeman
to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, Centeno received wordthat he was to fetch Malabanan,
Luis, and Medialdea in BarangayImok.
(21:06):
After picking up the three,Centeno drove the ambulance to
Barangay Mabacan, where the deadEileen was found.
Eileen's body, lying inside theTamaraw van, was a pitiful
sight.
Her face bore a gunshot wound.
A handkerchief was stuffed inher mouth, her t-shirt was
rolled up, revealing herbreasts, and her panty was
(21:28):
rolled down on one of her feet,still with the rubber shoes on.
Medialdea covered Eileen'sexposed private parts by fixing
her t-shirt and underwear byplacing a sackcloth over her
lower body.
I guess now all of a sudden hefeels sorry for her.
Elena (21:47):
Yeah, this guy really has absolutely no right to, act like
he feels sorry for her, like,when he stood there and watched
it all happen, like, that's justridiculous.
Sophia (21:56):
It's probably him trying to deal with his own guilt.
D (21:59):
I don't know if he has any guilt.
Elena (22:00):
I don't know how anyone, like sane person can just watch
all that.
D (22:05):
They recovered several scattered items inside the van
like cigarette packs, a paddle,spike shoes, and five bottles of
beer The group then escorted thevan with Eileen's body to the
police station, or UP Los Banospolice station, where the
students, eventually identifiedthe cadaver to be Eileen.
Eventually, her body was alsobrought to Calauan's, townhome.
Elena (22:28):
Why?
D (22:30):
I don't know.
They do, everything is a littleweird for me here, like why they
do things like that.
Elena (22:36):
It's just so much risk to transporting a body.
D (22:39):
I don't know why they were doing all this.
There's so much weird stuffyou're gonna hear
Sophia (22:43):
Can I ask, was this a very well known case when this
broke?
D (22:47):
It was huge.
Sophia (22:48):
Yeah, I'd imagine it would be, especially with the
mayor involved.
D (22:51):
This was really huge.
Thereafter, at around 9:30Medialdea, supposedly on Major
Caño's directive, went to theGomez residence and asked for
Allan.
The maid told him that Allan hadnot come home since the night
before, and that she saw him ataround 6:30 p.
m.
with one Jet Tejada.
(23:12):
As there was no other personinside the house except the
maid, Medialdea, with herpermission, searched for Allan
inside, but to no avail.
Before leaving, he instructedthe maid to tell Allan that he
better make good his hidingbecause Allan is a suspect to a
crime.
I don't know how they knew Allanwas a suspect to a crime by just
finding Eileen's body, but hewas a suspect.
Elena (23:34):
I guess it does make sense, though, that when a woman
dies, usually they do, suspectthe boyfriend.
I don't know about a suspect,but I definitely could imagine
and then he finds out that he'smissing.
He's like, he better comeforward because now that he's
missing it may be a little bitweird.
D (23:49):
I'm sorry, but they made this all up because they didn't even
ask anyone who Eileen'sboyfriend was.
They were just making this upalong the way.
Elena (23:56):
Oh, so they weren't like known.
D (23:58):
No.
Sophia (23:58):
They just pulled it out.
I think they just pulled it up.
D (24:00):
Well, they knew Allan was with her, so they made a story
up.
Elena (24:04):
Oh.
Sophia (24:05):
We're not even sure Allan was really dating her.
Elena (24:07):
Okay
D (24:08):
I don't think he did.
At the Tejada residence Jet wasneither there.
So Medialdea proceeded to theboarding house of Eileen and
instructed the landlady toinform calmly Eileen's parents
on that what had happened totheir daughter
Sophia (24:24):
To inform them calmly?
D (24:26):
Yes, yes.
Sophia (24:27):
That's gonna be difficult.
D (24:30):
Medialdea then returned to the UP Los Banos security force
and told Major Caño, Allan, hadescaped.
Sophia (24:39):
Wait, wasn't Allan dead?
D (24:40):
Yes, but do you understand they're pretending that he
escaped?
Sophia (24:44):
Oh.
D (24:45):
They told his boss they haven't found him officially
yet.
Oh, I found Eileen.
Sophia (24:49):
So they were pretending like they had him in custody.
D (24:51):
No, no, they're pretending they couldn't find him because
he escaped.
And they need to get him incustody.
Elena (24:56):
Oh, so they're trying to paint that narrative that
D (24:58):
That he did this to Eileen.
Yeah.
He has, escaped.
Elena (25:01):
Okay.
D (25:02):
So supposedly Major Caño ordered Medialdea's to still
look for Allan.
When his efforts to find Allaninside the campus proved futile,
I wonder why, Medialdea soughtthe aid of the Barangay Captain
Cesar Ruiz, who brought him tothe Barangay Hall with, where
Jet Tejada was.
(25:23):
Tejada strongly objected toMedialdea's insinuation of his
and Allan's participation in thecrime, saying that they never do
anything as cowardly as that.
He was trying to also blame thegentleman that the maid said she
saw Allan with, and the guygoes, no, we never would have
done that.
Afterwards, a certain Allanvolunteered, and this guy is a
(25:47):
watchman, so it's not the sameAllan, volunteered that he saw
Allan.
This watchman claimed that ifAllan was dead, then Kit, this
is a new character now, had ahand on it since Allan earned
Kit's anger, okay?
Sophia (26:03):
Allan what?
D (26:04):
Earned Kit's anger and this watchman's telling them why.
So supposedly Allan There's aguy named Kit also in the
university.
Supposedly Allan got Kit angry.
Okay They claimed that Allanbegan dating Kit's girlfriend
named Rose.
So Ama then informed Major Cañothat they had the suspect named
(26:25):
Kit who had an ax to grindagainst Allan.
Kit approached and told Ama thathe and Allan had patched up
their differences three monthsago.
Medialdea noticed a drop ofblood in the middle of Kit's
right thigh, which was true.
Kit explained that the bloodoozed from a punch in the wall
with his right knuckle.
Medialdea informed the MajorCaño that Allan perhaps had gone
(26:48):
to Manila with his father.
I don't know why?
The Major replied that Allan ishere but is likewise dead.
So even his boss assumed thatAllan never left and he was
probably dead.
Elena (27:00):
Oh, okay.
So even his bosses.
D (27:02):
Furthermore, the morning that the bodies were found, Luis even
said that Kit asked him for hishelp in disposing Eileen's body.
However, the M 16 empty bulletshell recovered at the site of
where Allan's body was found,matched a gun registered to
Luis.
So Luis claimed the kid helpedwanted him to hide things, but
(27:25):
the gun shells are from Luis.
I mean, this whole thing iscrazy.
Elena (27:30):
And it's all starting to unravel.
D (27:31):
Right.
And they're saying stuff thatreally make no sense.
So now they did an autopsy onEileen, the autopsy and the
vaginal examination conducted bythe prosecution, Dr.
Villasenor.
He said, Eileen's, was gangraped.
His findings in a nutshelldisclosed.
(27:52):
that the presence of multiplecontusions on Eileen's body,
fresh, shallow lacerations onher hymen, a congested cervix, a
gaping labia Majora and oozingwhitish fluid.
Tested positive for spermatozoafrom the vaginal opening.
Oozing spermatozoa, the doctorexplained, means that the amount
(28:16):
of semen she had was much morethan the vaginal canal could
contain.
And that there were semenseveral seminal injections that
occurred therein.
He also noted whitest fluidcontinued to ooze from Eileen's
vaginal opening, despite herdeath for several hours.
(28:38):
He, his final comment was thatEileen's body had enough semen
to fill a sardine can,indicating that she was raped by
several men.
He said, taking into account allthese findings, he ruled out the
possibility of consented sexualintercourse.
Elena (28:58):
Yeah, obviously.
D (29:00):
Anyways, Malabanan, now Ama, and Medialdea, on June 29th,
went to the site where Allan'sbody was found, and started
asking residents about theincident and were able to
retrieve an empty Armaliteshell.
Sophia (29:18):
Mm hmm.
D (29:19):
One that they had Malabanan, and thereafter handed the empty
shell to Major Caño at thepolice station.
Now, they went and visited themayor at his home Medialdea
informed the mayor of thepresence of people from the CIS,
the NBI, and press in thelocality.
(29:41):
Unfortunately, the news wasbecoming a big deal.
People from the press, theNational Bureau of
Investigation, and the PNPCriminal Information Service
which has a different nametoday, had descended upon the
small town after hearing aboutthe horrific crime.
Elena (29:59):
So I have a question.
I'm assuming now that the policeknow for sure that Allan was not
behind this because of, justfrom the autopsy showing that it
was multiple people.
D (30:10):
No.
The autopsy happened much later.
Elena (30:13):
Oh, okay.
D (30:13):
But right now you have quite a few individuals in the police
who are them.
Elena (30:18):
Oh, that's right.
So you know that they did it.
D (30:20):
Right.
But what's happening is thestory is going out and it's
becoming much bigger thananticipated.
Elena (30:27):
Mm.
Okay.
D (30:28):
Okay.
Therefore, the men had no choicebut report to Sanchez, who had
flared up and blamed them fornot using their heads.
I don't know what he wanted themto do.
He also reprimanded them for notdealing with the situation.
The mayor, however, assured themthat he could fix the problem in
less the amount of a brand newcar.
(30:50):
So do you understand that part?
He was going to bribe people.
Elena (30:53):
There's a lot of people you're going to have to bribe.
D (30:56):
It's Philippines, and it's cheaper.
Elena (30:58):
Still, he's got to bribe.
D (30:58):
Oh, you'll see.
The following day, June 30th,Medialdea, upon the mayor's
directive, handed a pair ofwhite walking shorts to Major
Caño.
When Malabanan asked Medialdea,whose pair of shorts was that?
Medialdea replied that it wasthe shorts of Eileen, which the
mayor wanted to deliver to MajorCaño.
(31:20):
Wait, shouldn't Sanchez havesaid these are the shorts of
Eileen?
No, he gave them to Medialdea to give him to the Major.
And he said, the mayor said,these are Eileen's shorts.
Elena (31:28):
Yeah, but you said Medialdea said that these are.
Sanchez said that.
D (31:32):
No, Sanchez did not.
The following day, June 30,Medialdea, upon the mayor's
directive, the mayor told him todo this, handed a pair of white
shorts to Major Caño.
Elena (31:44):
Okay.
D (31:45):
When he was asked whose shorts these are, he said they
were Eileen's, which the mayorwanted to deliver to Major Caño.
Elena (31:54):
Okay.
D (31:55):
Sanchez sent a piece of evidence to throw the police off
the trail.
But the police suspicions werefurther aroused because the
shirts were found far from whereEileen's body was actually
found.
I think the mayor claimed theywere found somewhere else, but
it didn't make sense.
Right.
Elena (32:11):
So things are starting to crumble for the mayor.
D (32:14):
At the same day of June 30th, they went to see the mayor at
his house in Calauan.
About his, worries over reportsthat the driver of the ambulance
involved in the rape slay wasbeing hunted down, which was
Centeno.
The mayor gave Centeno 2, 000Filipino pesos, which how much
do you think it is at this pointtoday?
Elena (32:36):
What year is this again?
D (32:37):
1993.
Elena (32:39):
Was it like a couple thousand?
D (32:41):
Okay, Sophia do you want to guess or?
Sophia (32:44):
How much it was in American money?
D (32:46):
Yeah.
Today, you could just tell mewhat you think it is today.
She says about a couplethousand.
Elena (32:50):
Oh, what it would be today?
I think it was a couple thousandthen, but it would equal maybe,
I don't know, five thousand.
D (32:55):
Okay, and what do you think it would be worth today?
He gave him two thousandFilipino pesos.
Sophia (33:00):
Oof.
I want to say 5, 000, but then Ifeel like it may even be lower
than that.
It may be 500.
Elena (33:07):
It could be in the hundreds too, now that I think
about it.
D (33:10):
Today, 2, 000 Filipino pesos is$35.50.
I told you it's a poor area.
Sophia (33:15):
I was not expecting that.
Elena (33:17):
$35?
Wow.
D (33:18):
That's what he gave them.
Oh my gosh.
And invites them to keep silent,or better yet, to go into
hiding, which he did.
Because somehow they had seenCenteno drive the ambulance.
So somehow they were saying theyneeded to find him.
And he was not part of thepolice force.
So as to Malabanan, Medialdeaand Ama, they brought the PNP,
(33:41):
station cruise command to shedlight on the cleaning of the
Tamaraw van.
So what happened?
I'm going to tell you more aboutthe van.
Someone had told a prisoner toclean the Tamaraw van.
And the prisoner, was seencarrying the rubber matting from
the van and putting it on thefence to dry.
Ama, who saw this, could nothelp but curse Arnold, which is
(34:05):
the prisoner, and order him tobring it back.
Ama explained to Major Caño thathe felt that the police will be
blamed for this, because thisprisoner was cleaning the van.
And Medialdea said that theMajor Caño ordered them to clean
the van to diffuse the stenchcaused by the bloodstains I have
no documentation that Major Cañohad any part in any of this,
(34:28):
which is their boss.
Elena (34:29):
Do you think he had a part in it?
D (34:32):
No, I don't.
I think he was trying to putthings together, and I think he
was trying to figure out,because he's the one who said
Allan is probably dead, and issomewhere here, so he was
suspecting, yeah, he wassuspecting something.
Plus, if the mayor had calledhim to talk to him, I think he
was suspecting something's goingon.
Coming to the defense, oh, eachof these men had an alibi to
(34:55):
tell and sought to build theblame on Kit.
Remember Kit.
Kit also who supposedly, Allandated his girlfriend was also
the son of a feared general,Dictador.
Alqueza so that is why they alsowanted to blame Kit, cause he's
the son of this general.
Elena (35:16):
Okay, so he was like an easy.
D (35:17):
Right.
The mayor claimed that he was atthe residence of his mistress.
Elvira in Bay Laguna in themorning of June 28th, 1993.
They left for Makati City at oneo'clock in the afternoon, went
to San Pablo City, and around4:00 PM they left the city.
At 7:30 pm, they returned toElvira’s house at around 10 p.
m.
(35:37):
He and Elvira retired around12:30 am in the morning.
He woke up at five to go joggingbecause that was his favorite
exercise.
But the weather prevented himfrom running.
He has three children withElvira, which greeted him around
6:30 AM before heading forschool.
He took his breakfast and lunchat Elvira's house.
That was his alibi and where hewas at the time.
(35:59):
Medialdea, Ama, and Malabananarrived between 1 and 2 p.m.
and informed the mayor of therape slay in which Kit Alqueza
was the prime suspect.
This made the mayor very angry,for which he ordered a thorough
investigation of the incident toavoid any whitewash.
This is what the mayor says ishappening, which never did,
(36:21):
okay?
Elena (36:23):
So he's lying about it, too.
D (36:24):
I would not hesitate to have the perpetrators of this crime
killed by the electric chair,whether a general's son is
involved or not, son of a heblurted.
The mayor then advised these mennot to worry if they were really
innocent and that the primordialconcern is that a full
investigation be conducted.
The mayor also testified that heclosely coordinated with Major
(36:47):
Caño in investigating this case.
Furthermore, the mayor wasrequested to facilitate the
surrender of Luis and Boy,remember those two guys, to Camp
Crame since the CIS suspectedthem of being involved in the
crime together with Kit.
So the police at first thoughtmaybe Kit was involved, so Luis
(37:07):
and Boy, were also thought to bepart of it.
The brothers, accompanied by themayor, peacefully surrendered to
CIS operatives on the afternoonof July 12th of 1993.
Now, this is interesting.
Elena (37:19):
So they've been arrested?
D (37:21):
Just Boy and Luis, but because they think they are part
of Kit.
Elena (37:26):
Right, but Kit's not the mayor.
D (37:28):
Right, and don't forget, the police now got other,
departments involved in theinvestigation.
On August 10 of 93, the mayorreceived an anonymous phone call
advising him that he betterleave the country because he
would be arrested in three daystime.
He refused to heed the advice,because he had nothing to do
(37:49):
with the crime.
And so he was apprehended onAugust 13 at his Calauan
residence and brought to CampVincente Lim, where he was
presented to the media.
Elena (38:00):
Wow.
D (38:01):
There he saw Centeno and Malabanan, who he did not greet,
and they didn't greet himeither.
General Salimbangon ordered thetwo witnesses to implicate the
mayor
Sophia (38:13):
Is this on national TV?
D (38:15):
Yes.
Sophia (38:16):
Wow.
Oh my gosh.
D (38:18):
The general then ordered the mayor to be handcuffed as he is
the rapist.
And then the mayor said, You sonof a you frame me up, the mayor
cursed.
Elena (38:30):
So he's trying to pretend like it's a frame.
D (38:33):
Right.
Elena (38:33):
For the cameras.
D (38:34):
Right, for the cameras.
Sophia (38:35):
I'm speechless that they're doing this on live TV.
Elena (38:38):
I want know who called him, who was the,
Sophia (38:42):
Tipped him off?
Elena (38:42):
Yeah, because I'm assuming it's someone in the
police force, cause they knewthat they were going, arrest
him.
D (38:49):
He didn't take it seriously.
Elena (38:50):
Clearly,,I'm curious.
Sophia (38:51):
He's so arrogant He just didn't take it seriously.
D (38:53):
I also think he thinks he's untouchable.
Elena (38:56):
Yeah, but I just want to know who tipped it, who?
Tipped him off.
D (39:00):
I have no information on that.
The mayor denied giving Centenoadvice and 2, 000 Filipino pesos
as pocket money on June 30 of93.
It was only in the courtroomthat he saw Centeno, although he
knew later what really happened.
Mayor also denied thatMalabanan’s testimony implicated
him in the crime.
(39:21):
In fact, the mayor claimed thatMalabanan wrote him letters
asking for his help However, thetrial court noted that the
letters averted to by the mayoralso addressed to the judge.
Baldo.
So they did not, he did not sendletters to only the mayor.
He was sending them to the judgefor assistance.
So what happened was, so youguys want to know Malabanan and
(39:41):
Conteno, confessed everythingand that's how the whole case
fell apart.
Elena (39:45):
Oh.
D (39:46):
Okay.
Those two are the two people whodid not rape Eileen.
Elena (39:50):
Right, they were the ones that, I guess their guilt got
the best of them.
D (39:54):
Something of that sort.
Elena (39:55):
Yeah.
D (39:56):
Now, Medialdea, on July 6th, with Ama and Malabanan, went to
the police station this isanother police station, which is
higher up, to answer about thecleaning of the van and told
them how he thought it was MajorCaño.
So this cleaning of the van wassomething that had caused some
questions, probably becausethey're wondering who's cleaning
(40:19):
a van that has, some kind ofevidence in it.
Sophia (40:22):
I'm just curious, because they were broadcasting
the mayor getting accused andcharged, are they also
broadcasting all this evidencethey find in real time, or are
they keeping that private?
D (40:33):
I don't think they broadcast the evidence.
I think it's just the mayor.
Sophia (40:37):
Okay.
D (40:37):
Now, the co-conspirators Centeno and Malabanan, and they
were not part of the sexualassault or murder, were the star
witnesses in the case.
They claimed that the kidnappingwas first disguised as a plan to
catch Tisoy, remember I told youabout Tisoy at the beginning,
the notorious gun runner anddrug dealer.
And he said it was clear thatwas not the real intention of
(41:00):
them getting together.
They also found a belt loop fromEileen's shorts and a cigarette
butt said to have been used toburn Eileen were later dug up in
the mayor's farm.
Sophia (41:14):
We didn't know that he burned her, did we?
D (41:16):
No, and we don't really know exactly all the details either.
She was not in good shape.
Sophia (41:22):
Didn't the autopsy catch that she was burned?
D (41:25):
The material of this case is so big.
If you go and look at the legaldocuments, this case goes on and
on and on.
Elena (41:34):
Yeah, I bet.
D (41:34):
And I did not go through every little detail.
I'm not sure they revealedeverything either, but there was
hundreds and hundreds of pageson this.
It was just the court casebecause, I'll tell you more
about it.
The court case was very long.
Elena (41:48):
Oh, yeah.
With all this evidence.
D (41:49):
The mayor denied this, saying he was framed and that the
evidence was planted againsthim.
He denied his involvement in therape and the killing of the
students and said that he was athis mistress house during the
night of the crime.
Now, because of all this and allthe material they found in
evidence, Sanchez and his menwere apprehended for a trial.
(42:11):
They would go on for 16 months.
On March 14, 1995, Pasig JudgeHarriet Demetriou concluded the
16 month Eileen Sarmenta andAllan Gomez murder trial with
the finding that Calauan MayorAntonio Sanchez and several of
(42:32):
his henchmen were guilty ofseven, and, just so you know,
the seven men who raped her, notthe other of the guilty, we're
guilty of the seven counts ofrape with homicide for rape and
killing of Eileen and thekilling of her friend, Allan
Demetriou, the judge, in her 132page decision, described the
(42:54):
crime as being born out of aplot seemingly hatched in hell.
The court had given Sanchez andeach of his henchmen seven life
sentences, each count amountingto a 40 year jail term..
Elena (43:11):
Wow.
D (43:12):
Combine this equally to the 1, 970 years in prison.
They were also asked to paymillions in pesos to the
families of the victims asadditional indemnity.
The mayor's calm and religiouspersona suddenly disappeared
when the verdict was read.
You all need to understand themayor, pretending on media, TV
(43:35):
that he was a very religiousman, and he had the statues of
the Virgin Mary, and he huggedthem and, all that.
So that's why they say hisreligious persona.
Elena (43:46):
How much is the millions of pesos?
He had to give to the family.
D (43:50):
It didn't say.
I don't know.
Sophia (43:52):
Did the family ever get them?
D (43:54):
I will get into that.
Sophia (43:55):
Oh, okay.
D (43:56):
He was described to have been raging and shouting
explicitives, giving theaudience and the media a
completely different side tohim.
Sanchez said that he was framedbecause of politics, because of
his ambitions to be a governor.
In addition, a year later,Sanchez and three others,
including Luis, were alsoconvicted of the Penasola case.
(44:19):
The ruling of the two murderswere confirmed by the Supreme
Court in'99 in total Sanchezwill serve nine reclusive life
sentences So do you remember thetwo that Eileen went and
interviewed him for?
He was also found guilty ofthose murders after he was found
of the Eileen's murder.
Sophia (44:38):
Yeah, he's been under a lot of suspicion.
Elena (44:40):
Yeah, that's true.
D (44:42):
Okay, so while many thought the case was over It was brought
up again in 2019 when thepossibility of Sanchez release
arose due to a new law which wasknown as the Good Conduct Time
Allowance for"good behavior".
So the question was, was Sanchezexhibiting good behavior?
(45:02):
In jail that is?
In 2006, Sanchez was chargedwith the possession of illegal
drugs after a prison guard foundhim to be allegedly keeping a
pact of crystal methane andmarijuana along with drug
paraphernalia.
Elena (45:18):
Wow.
D (45:19):
In 2010, Sanchez was caught again with 1.5 million Filipino
pesos worth of crystal meth.
Concealed it in a statue of hisbeloved Virgin Mary.
He obviously had a statue of theVirgin Mary in jail.
In 2015, an air conditioningunit and a flat screen TV were
(45:41):
also seized from his room duringa raid.
Somehow, he was able to havesome fancy stuff.
Elena (45:46):
Yes.
D (45:47):
In the 1990s, Sanchez's conviction was assured for
Filipinos that justice was notexclusive for the rich and the
wealthy.
With still the possibility ofSanchez's release and reports
that the convicted rapist andmurderer is enjoying
preferential treatment behindbars.
It seems that might have beenjust a temporary illusion.
(46:10):
In 2018, there was an office ofthe government that completed
the confiscation of theill-gotten wealth from Sanchez
and his wife Editha.
The month before, titles of 19pieces of real estate property
were registered back to thestate.
Sophia (46:27):
I'm confused.
What are you saying about he'sjust paying the state back?
D (46:30):
No.
The state went and took away hisproperty.
Okay, because don't forget heowned it to Eileen and Allan's
family.
Oh, yeah So this is where it'sgetting paid through.
Right.
So somehow the state has gottenall this stuff from the mayor's
place and his properties.
Up to this day, the families ofEileen and Allan said they have
(46:51):
not received a single penny ofindemnity from the mayor and his
men.
Sophia (46:56):
Why am I not surprised.
D (46:57):
So the state obviously took it.
So rumors were floating insocial media that the mayor was
going to be released.
The prison allowed thejournalists to come and take
photos of Sanchez clad in fullorange.
It was noticeable, however, thatthe mayor is still getting
preferential treatment asfootage showed him shielding him
(47:18):
from the sun with an umbrella,which is true because I did see
that picture.
So even though he was in jail,he was allowed to have some
extra perks.
Sophia (47:27):
Who's shielding him from the sun?
D (47:28):
Someone else in the jail.
Sophia (47:30):
Oh my gosh.
D (47:31):
Now the public, including an entire generation of people born
after the crime, hadrediscovered a villain to
crucify.
For once, it seems, commenterson social media agreed on one
thing, that Sanchez should notbe released.
Aside from the post being sharedon Facebook and Twitter, rallies
were being staged and a petitionwas also launched to stop
(47:53):
Sanchez's release.
To everyone's comfort, Sanchez'srelease never happened.
His death followed on March 27thof 2021 when he was found
unresponsive by his cellmates.
Sophia (48:07):
Wow.
D (48:08):
While the culprits were sentenced to life in prison,
many still wonder to this day ifthere are similar situations
happening in localmunicipalities and whether there
were other"gifts", in quotes,given to Sanchez during his
reign as mayor.
Sophia (48:25):
Yeah, I guess we don't even know about that.
I, I was not expecting him todie, to be dead already at the
end.
I've been looking at photos ofhim online and he looks
D (48:34):
He's disgusting to me.
Sophia (48:36):
He is and you can tell he really thinks highly of
himself too.
D (48:39):
Yeah, that is the way he looks.
Sophia (48:42):
Have the families said anything since this has all
happened?
D (48:47):
They really did not want the mayor to get out.
That was a real big problem forthem.
They also are in a lot of painwith what happened to their
children.
They have not received anymoney.
The mayor's wife has beenfighting, I don't know, to this
day, to be able to keep Themoney.
The wife is trying to get moneyback and fight the state.
(49:08):
She was supporting him before heeven died.
She never divorced him.
She still supported him.
Sophia (49:13):
So she, did she believe he was guilty or no.
D (49:15):
There was no comment about what the wife believed or didn't
believe.
If you asked me either an abusedindividual or weak, or she just
wanted his money, and she lethim do whatever he wanted.
I have no idea.
There's this idea in Philippinesabout the rich getting away with
things.
Sophia (49:34):
It's sad because, when anything like this happens to
anyone, and just looking at thephotos of Allan and Eileen, they
look very happy, they're just sobeautiful.
And it's sad to think of thehorrors and the pain that they
had to go through in their lastmoments.
Elena (49:52):
Yeah, Eileen really just seems like such a sweet girl.
D (49:56):
I think she was.
I think she just went to do themayor for a class.
No idea, right.
Elena (50:01):
She seems very like Wait, how long, for all the other
guys, how long did they get?
D (50:08):
They each got 40 year jail term.
They got seven life sentencesthey all got seven life
sentences each count for 40 yearjail term, Which combined was 1,
970 years in prison, all ofthem.
Which is like a life sentencethere.
I don't think they were going tocome out there.
Elena (50:28):
Oh, okay.
So they all pretty much got lifeand that's good.
Sophia (50:32):
Sorry if you answer this so you may want to take this
out, but did anyone getconvicted of her murder or just
rapes?
D (50:37):
I think it was both; seven counts of rape and homicide for
the rape and killing.
No, they they got also for thekilling.
Elena (50:47):
Okay
D (50:48):
This was a really difficult story for me because I just felt
that, two innocent individualswere in the wrong place, wrong
time and they did nothing.
It just caught someone's eye andthey thought, good time..
Guys, thank you.
And until next time, make sureyou stay on the Erie side.
Bye bye.
Bye.
Thank you.
Be safe.
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