President Gloria Macagapal - Arroyo's appeals to Canada to return a man accused of masterminding two political assassinations in the Philippines, have been rebuffed by a Canadian court. The judges believe the accused will not get a fair trial. The case has incensed Filipinos and paved the way for the fugitive to stay in Canada as a refugee.

By Asian Pacific News Service

A Canadian court has ruled that one of the most wanted men in the Philippines, who is accused of a series of political assassinations, should not be sent home to face trial.

The decision, which has outraged Manila, paves the way for Rodolfo Pacificador to claim refugee status in Canada and escape prosecution in his homeland. Three justices of the Ontario Court of Appeals in their recent ruling expressed fears that sending Pacificador back to the Philippines would violate his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The ruling which stops Canada from handing over Pacificador to the authorities in Manila held that "all evidence points to the likelihood that the extraditee would be tortured and jailed indefinitely without trial."

The judgement was handed down despite direct assurances from the Philippine president and the country's justice ministry that the accused will get a fair and speedy trial.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has now made a direct appeal to Prime Minister Jean Chretien to return Pacificador.

The Department of Justice in the Philippines has also said it plans to file an appeal on the case. Pacificador and his father, Arturo, a former Filipino assemblyman, are accused of masterminding the assassination of their political rival Governor Evelio Javier of the province of Antique in February 1986. The duo, who were aligned to deposed Filipino strongman Ferdinand Marcos are also accused in the Sibalom massacre case, where seven supporters of the Pacificador's political rivals were ambushed and killed.

Pacificador was charged with murder and four counts of attempted murder before he fled to Canada and claimed status as a convention refugee in October of 1987. Six of Pacificador's henchmen have already been convicted for the massacre.

In a series of court hearings in the Philippines the Pacificadors have been implicated in two political assassination cases.

One was in connection with the murder of former Antique Gov. Evelio Javier and the wounding of several others on Feb. 11, 1986. The Pacificadors, were close allies of then President Ferdinand Marcos and the father was a former deputy minister for public works and highways. Javier was a staunch anti-Marcos politician in Antique at that time.

In the incident, a gang of gunmen shot and pursued Javier from the grounds of the capitol building of Antique to the toilet of a house, some 250 meters away, where he was finished off.

In the other incident, which occurred two years earlier, the Pacificadors are alleged to be behind the ambush of seven of their political opponents. On May 13, 1984, the courts were told that gunmen in a Toyota truck belonging to Pacificador ambushed a group of political campaigners near a bridge outside the town of San Jose and opened fire.

The gunmen rained fire from Armalite rifles and later shot one of their victims a short distance away as he was crawling for help.

Witnesses positively identified the three vehicles used by the gunmen as belonging to the Pacificadors. One man who lived near the ambush spot said he saw the elder Pacificador in a jeep parked by the highway near the bridge.

When he greeted Pacificador, the latter allegedly told him: "Boy, whatever you see and whatever you know, just keep quiet."

The younger Pacificador is now on bail in the Toronto area while his father is awaiting trial in the Philippines.

After Rodolfo Pacificador entered Canada illegally, he was detained in Canada for seven years, from November 1991 until his release on bail in 1998. The extradition proceedings against the younger Pacificador began in August 1991, nine months after Canada and the Philippines forged an extradition treaty on Nov. 12, 1990, mainly with the aim of extraditing Pacificador.

Pacificador was arrested on Nov. 12, 1991 on a warrant for his arrest and extradition. Then Canadian Justice Minister Allan Rock ordered the appellant to be surrendered for extradition to the Philippines, rejecting his claims that the prosecution against him was politically motivated.

Pacificador said the Philippine government couldn't assure him of a fair trial, adding that he would surely be convicted on the basis of political motives rather than on the merits of the case.

His argument was recently upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal.