EDITORIAL – Waiting for justice
The Philippine Star
January 12, 2012

 Sixteen years ago, Navy Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño was found dead with a gunshot to the head in his stateroom on the naval vessel BRP Bacolod City. The Philippine Navy called it a suicide, pointing to a pistol and note found near the body. Pestaño’s relatives called it murder, dismissing the suicide note as a forgery and saying the young naval officer had tried to stop the smuggling of shabu and illegally cut logs on the Bacolod City.

A Senate investigation concluded that Pestaño was murdered elsewhere on the ship and his body carried to his stateroom in September 1995. But the case moved slowly at the Office of the Ombudsman. Pestaño’s relatives turned to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for help. Last year the UNCHR released its findings on the case, concluding, “It now appears undisputed that the death … was a violent one, resulting from homicide.” Days later, on May 17, 2010, Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro approved a recommendation to dismiss the charges for insufficiency of evidence.

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