DAVAO CITY , Philippines — Former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and four other members of his family who were accused in the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people in the province failed to appear before the hearing on their petition for the writ of habeas corpus at the Davao City Regional Trial Court yesterday.
Officials said the Ampatuans have been prevented by the military and police to appear before the court citing security reasons.
“It would be a security nightmare to bring all five Ampatuans to the court here in Davao City,” Task Force Davao chief Col. Oscar Lactao said.
The military’s Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang also said they have requested the court to defer the hearing for security reasons.
Cabangbang said the court granted their request, leaving the prosecutors and defense lawyers to settle the issue without requiring the Ampatuans to appear.
Davao RTC judge George Omelio earlier ordered the police and military to present the Ampatuans for the hearing on their petition.
The Ampatuan patriarch led his sons, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak Mayor Anwar Ampatuan, Maguindanao Gov. Sajid Ampatuan and accused mass murderer Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. in filing the petition praying for the issuance of the writ of habeas corpus in questioning the legality of their arrest and detention.
Datu Sajid Sangki Druz Ali, head of the regional office the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the ARMM filed the petition on their behalf.
The Ampatuans, however, failed to appear before the courts since they were separately detained.
The elder Ampatuan is detained at a hospital inside the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command headquarters in Camp Panacan here while his three sons Zaldy, Anwar and Sajid are under custody of the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional headquarters in Camp Lira, General Santos City. Andal Jr., on the other hand, is currently detained at the head office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila.
It was learned that Ampatuan Sr. was suffering from “sore eyes,” or conjunctivitis that necessitated further medical detention.
The elder Ampatuan had been confined to a military hospital following his arrest due to hypertension.
Two of the Ampatuans under custody, however, were found positive of illegal drugs, according to Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Dionisio Santiago.
“Our chemist who conducted the drug test reported two of those arrested are using illegal drugs,” Santiago said but declined naming the suspects.
He said the manner in which the massacre was carried out indicated that some of the suspects were high on drugs.
No order
Assistant Solicitor-General Bernard Hernandez, on the other hand, explained the Ampatuans were not physically brought to court because there was no order directing the authorities to produce the respondents.
“The hearing yesterday was for the respondents to show cause why no writ should be issued and before the start of the hearing, we already filed a return wherein we presented the legal position of the respondents,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez maintained there is no need for a writ of habeas corpus since there is legal basis for the continued detention of the Ampatuans.
“We established the fact that there is no illegal restraint of liberty because there are charges filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for rebellion against the Ampatuans. The case is before the RTC court in Shariff Aguak and the court in this case issued an order for the continuous detention of the Ampatuans,” Hernandez said. – With Jaime Laude, John Unson, Non Alquitran, Perseus Echeminada, Jose Rodel Clapano