DESPITE the pleadings of the victim’s family and the objection of the Office of the Attorney General, the parole board on Thursday approved the parole application of Reynaldo Manila.
Seven other inmates were also paroled.
Parole Board chairman Ramon B. Camacho poses for a photo with board members Vincent Borja, Jose Camacho, Ignacio Mendiola, Cecilia K. Selepeo, legal counsel Leslie Healer and parole officers.
Photo by Bryan Manabat
Parole board chairman Ramon B. Camacho said it was not an easy decision to grant Manila’s application.
“We heard the victim’s family and their anguished testimony. We felt that,” Camacho said, but added that Manila has already served 20 years of his 60-year sentence.
“He has exceeded one-third of the time he needed to serve,” Camacho said.
And although Manila has been paroled, he will not be released to the community but will go through deportation proceedings with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Camacho said.
In 2002, a jury found Manila guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse.
The victim was his six-month-old goddaughter who, a doctor said, was shaken “very hard,” consistent with shaken baby syndrome.
Also granted parole on Thursday were four individuals convicted in methamphetamine trafficking cases: Sung Joon Park, Sheng Qui Yin, Li Hui Shi and Fei Long Zhen.
Likewise paroled were Anthony Laatman Muna (attempted robbery, and accident involving injury/failure to stop); Marcus Untalan (assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, criminal mischief); and Esekiel “Easy” Smith (leaving the scene of the accident and reckless driving).
Among the nine applicants, only Benjamin Bok Lee, who was convicted of burglary, was not granted parole.
Chief prosecutor John Bradley said for the paroled inmates “who are deportable, release is conditioned on deportation, which requires travel documents.”
The other members of the parole board are Vincent Borja, Jose Camacho, Ignacio Mendiola, and Cecilia K. Selepeo.