THE SEARCH for justice is still not over.
After 12 years, two of four persons implicated in the brutal murder of Mark Welson Chua, an Engineering student and Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) cadet, remain at large.
The whereabouts of former cadet officers Paul Joseph Tan and Michael Von Rainard Manangbao of the UST Golden Corps are still unknown.
Mangabao is believed to be hiding in Malaysia while Tan had fled to the United States according to Charmaine Chua, Mark’s sister, in a previous interview with the Varsitarian.
Meanwhile, others, namely former cadet officers Arnulfo Aparri and Eduardo Tabrilla, are already serving their sentence.
Aparri was sentenced to death in March 2004 but was later given life imprisonment instead after the abolition of death penalty in 2006.
Meanwhile, Tabrilla pleaded guilty of homicide to mitigate his sentence in February 2006, and was sent to 14 years in prison.
On March 18, 2001, Chua’s body was found floating on the Pasig River. His body was wrapped in a carpet, hands tied with shoelace, feet bound with packaging tape, and face covered with cloth and duct tape.
The murder was believed to be linked to his complaints of bribery and illegal activities done by officials of UST-ROTC, which led to the sacking of the former commandant, Major Demy Tejares, and his entire staff.
Chua’s death became a nationwide scandal and caused an uproar from schools in the University Belt that led to the abolition of mandatory ROTC.
In 2002, President Glorria Macapagal-Arroyo signed the National Service Training Program Law which let students choose their preferred civic education program. Michael Carlo C. Rodolfo
