'Surrender and face the charges,' lawyer appeals to Tan brothers
A plea for the suspects' surrender has now been made by a member of the prosecution panel in the celebrated massacre of three members of a Filipino-Chinese family here.
With some 16 months since the grissly killing of couple Francisco "Bobby" Tan, wife Cindy Zayco and six year old daughter Katherine, brothers Archie and Jan Michael, sons of the murdered businessman stand accused in the double murder and parricide charges.
Arrest warrants were finally issued last week following a lengthy legal process that primarily gave the defense panel all options to argue the Tan brothers' innocence.
The government's case was pursued by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group here (CIDG) headed by Senior Superintendent Renato Gumban.
"Legal remedies have been exhausted for Archie and Jan Michael," Prosecution lawyer Cornelio Panes began. "From our end we duly responded and respected the process. Now the arrest warrants are out. It is time to face up and use this to properly argue their defense. It is really best for Archie and Jan Michael to surrender and face the charges. They have long set up their pool of lawyers so in the spirit of justice, again this appeal for them both to surrender."
Calling the duo "fugitives," Panes noted how other than the CIDG, corresponding validation of the parricide and murder charges were also pursued and made by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Earlier Panes expressed confidence that the Tan brothers will be arrested following reports of recent sightings in Metro Manila.
A hold-departure request was also made with the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) amidst fears that the two would evade capture and flee the country.
The Tan massacre remains as the most celebrated murder in Iloilo that has since divided the family. Surviving children of the murdered couple are now in custody of the maternal grandparent in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental despite custody then sought by Tan matriarch, businesswoman Conchita Tan.
The bodies of the victims were discovered early morning of January 9th last year. Cindy bore the most stab wounds numbering to about 15. Yet in the first year death anniversary of the victims, the Zayco-Tan children issued a public statement thru Panes as family counsel saying they remember January 8th as the day of the family tragedy.
"We sadly miss them," the children then said alongside the message of Rosalinda Zayco, mother of Cindy saying everyone prayed that "something good will come for us."
"With regard to the criminal cases against their two half-brothers and the legal maneuvering occurring in the trial court, the sentiments of the children and the Zaycos on this can be summed up in the following words of C.S. Lewis: "A law is tangible in the sense that it is recorded somewhere on a piece of paper, but it exists only to the extent it causes men to do or not to do certain things. Its real force is beyond the reach of that which we see or touch, made real by the extent people accept and believe."
In conclusion, the family wrote, "God is still the best judge," as they went on to thank those who continued to help them pray and pursue justice "especially those who relentlessly labored to make justice a living monument of God's love in an evil world."