Supreme Court: No massacre trial live coverage

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) rejected yesterday calls for live media coverage of the Maguindanao massacre trial.

Prevailing jurisprudence bans the filming or recording of trials in court, according to SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez.

At Malacañang, President Aquino said he prefers that the trial be shown live on television for the people to know what had transpired.

“The more people who are participants in the learning and in the acting phase wherein we correct the situation, the faster and the greater the chances of not having a repeat of it,” he said. 

In Maguindanao, police arrested yesterday a member of the civilian volunteer organization (CVO) that allegedly served as a private army of the Ampatuans.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, Task Force Maguindanao commander, said Manny Ampatuan was one of the 100 CVO members named in the multiple murder charges.

Estipona said Ampatuan was arrested at around 4:50 a.m. in Sitio Barte, Barangay Capayoran, Pagcawayan, Cotabato province on the strength of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

Solis-Reyes is hearing the case on the ground floor of the detention building at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

Of the 195 accused, 82 are now in custody, including seven members of the Ampatuan clan. Police are hunting down 113 more accused, including 78 more CVO members. – With Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Mike Frialde