Parole votes to commute Manila’s 60-year sentence

The six-member board chaired by Ramon B. Camacho reached the decision after listening to the testimonies of three persons, including the baby’s parents, who opposed commutation, and five others who supported commuting Manila’s sentence.

The board also read two letters that supported commutation. Only a few people attended the hearing held at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

Manila, now 54 years old, appeared at the hearing without a lawyer. He has been in prison for 15 years now.

In an interview, Board of Parole chair Camacho said that clemency has four categories: absolute pardon, partial pardon, conditional pardon, and commutation.

Camacho said the board conducted a separate vote, in which each member filled up the voting form.

According to Camacho, commutation just reduces the sentence. That means jail time or fine, or both, could be removed but that the beneficiary remains convicted of the offense.

Camacho said that Manila applied for commutation through the Office of the Governor and that acting governor Ralph DLG Torres consulted the board, prompting the hearing.

He said if the governor signs the commutation, the federal government will take over in deciding whether to remove Manila from the CNMI or blacklisting him.

Without the commutation, Manila’s sentenced would not be reduced and he would not be eligible for anything, Camacho said.

He stressed, though, that the board’s vote is not final until he submits a letter about the board’s decision to the governor. He said the governor and the acting governor will make the final decision.

When asked why he supported commutation, Camacho said it is better than granting a full pardon because he does not believe in “zeroing it out.”

Camacho said Manila has a major eye issue that apparently can affect his brain and that the CNMI government cannot entertain that kind of case.

Assistant attorney general Matthew Baisley cited a number of reasons why the government opposed the commutation of sentence.

One, Baisley said, Manila is still five years away from becoming eligible for parole.

He said Manila was sentenced to 60 years in prison but he has served only 15 years of that sentence so far.

“He is not eligible for parole until 20 years. So to commute the sentence now means that he served a very small sentence versus what the judge sentenced him to,” he said.

Two, the prosecutor said, the reason for the hearing is really about Manila’s medical condition but there is no record or evidence that his medical condition is of immediate concern. It also seems possible, he said, that the government could take Manila to Guam for treatment.

“In other words, not release him, keep him under custody, get him the treatment that he needs,” he said.

Baisley said they also believe that Manila could be released temporarily with instruction to return to the CNMI.

“That’s the most ideal situation, but basically as opposed to commuting the sentence, he could be released to get treatment with an instruction to come back. If he did not come back we can initiate extradition proceedings,” the prosecutor said.

Baisley said what Manila did is a very serious crime.

The baby’s parents, who are Filipinos, have six children, including the infant who died. The father said they were not prepared for the hearing because they first learned about it only last Friday when a friend informed them about the scheduled hearing upon reading Saipan Tribune’s story.

The father said how can they forgive Manila when he never asked for it.

In support of the commutation, Pastor Manuelito Rey said he believes in restorative justice, “which is a theory that actually helps address the need of people who would like to understand the cause of crime and repair the harm caused by it.”

Rey said Manila is not a member of their church when he entered the Department of Corrections, but he came to know him 15 years ago when he conducted a Bible study inside DOC.

“I support his commutation because he is a changed person. And considering his physical or medical condition, he needs that,” Rey said.

Manila, a Filipino national, was 39 years old when then-Superior Court Associate Judge Virginia Sablan-Onerheim sentenced him in June 2002 to 60 years in prison for second-degree murder over the death of the infant.

The baby lingered in the hospital for several days before dying on Nov. 6, 2000.

A jury found Manila guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse.

At the sentencing, Manila insisted he did not kill the baby. He has a child in the Philippines.

Then-chief prosecutor Clyde Lemons noted that a doctor testified that the baby had 11 bruises at the back of her head consistent with blunt force trauma or being hit with an object.

Lemons said the doctor testified that the baby was shaken “very hard,” consistent with shaken baby syndrome.