Maguindanao massacre cop withdraws appeal on 58th murder rap

MANILA, Philippines - A police officer implicated in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre has withdrawn a motion for reconsideration he filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the 58th murder charge filed against him.

Court records showed that Superintendent Abusama Maguid pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to the murder of photojournalist Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay.

Maguid earlier pleaded not guilty to the initial 57 counts of murder during his arraignment before Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes in October 2012.

Maguid’s arraignment on the 58th case this week was held in view of the manifestation filed by his lawyer Abdulkalim Askali, who said during the Sept. 19 hearing that his client will no longer pursue his motion for reconsideration filed before the DOJ.

In an order last May, Solis-Reyes held in abeyance the arraignment for the 58th murder case of Maguid and at least a dozen other suspects pending the resolution of their respective motions filed before DOJ and the court.

The motion before the justice department appealed the resolution that resulted in the filing of the 58th murder case last year.

In September 2012, the DOJ found probable cause to file another set of murder charges against the suspects charged for the massacre.

The remains of Momay – a photojournalist for the Midland Review, a local newspaper – were never found. A team led by a forensic expert from the Commission on Human Rights recovered parts of the photojournalist’s supposed dentures.

In her complaint, Momay’s daughter Reynafe claimed that her father had called a colleague before the incident and said that he was in the van together with other media people.

The DOJ, in its resolution, said that even “though Momay’s body was not found at the killing fields located at Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao, there is sufficient evidence that he was indeed part of the ill-fated convoy.”

Fifty-eight people, including 32 media practitioners, died in the massacre dubbed as the single worst incident for journalists in history.