'Private lawyers' bribery claim may derail Maguindanao massacre trial'

MANILA, Philippines - Private lawyers representing the families of the 15 victims in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre on Tuesday said the bribery allegations by two private counsels of the other victims in the carnage are "unsubstantiated."

In a statement, private counsels from the Center for International Law (Centerlaw) said the bribery allegations by lawyers Nena Santos and Prima Quinsayas will only "derail the goal of effective and expeditious prosecution" of the multiple murder cases against the members of the Ampatuan clan.

The Centerlaw counsels also defended the state prosecutors handling of the cases from the claims of bribery by the two private lawyers. They said that instead of airing complaints through the media, the two private lawyers should file complaints before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

"The publicity lamentably generated by Attorneys Nena Santos and Prima Quinsayas in making grave allegations against the public prosecutors unfairly taint the integrity of the entire work of the prosecution considering that the allegations hurled remain bare, naked, and reckless even.

"If Attorneys Santos and  Quinsayas have good faith belief in the worth of their cause, we are the first to encourage them to correctly ventilate them in the proper forum of IBP administrative and judicial criminal proceedings, where they should present real, concrete and substantiated evidence, the Centerlaw counsels said.

The CenterLaw lawyers said they were the ones who proposed the First-in-First-Out Rule (FIFO) so that the Quezon City Regional Trial Court may render judgment on the case of any accused over whom all evidence – for or against – has already been heard.  

"The rationale is that the families of victims and the accused do not have to wait for the evidence concerning 194 accused to be heard by the court to achieve justice, which could take a long, long, long time," Roque's group said.

"This is why for lawyers of the Center, without evidence of bribery presented before the proper forum, the charges raised by Santos and Quinsayas do not make any sense.

"Sadly – whether Santos and Quinsayas  wittingly or unwittingly realize it -- the parties that will benefit most from their baseless allegations and  senseless intrigues are the Ampatuans," they added.