No more conviction deadline in massacre case

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) is no longer confident of securing the conviction of at least one primary defendant in the Maguindanao massacre before President Aquino’s term ends next year.

Leila de Lima, before quitting as justice secretary to run for senator, had said she expected the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 221 to hand down its verdict on the multiple murder case against Andal Ampatuan Jr. and brother Zaldy before Aquino steps down on June 30.

On the sixth anniversary of the massacre yesterday, however, DOJ Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa could not give the same assurance.

DOJ Undersecretary and spokesman Emmanuel Caparas said the prosecution team has no control over the pace of the trial.

“Whether that target will be met is not an easy question to answer. We don’t know how counsels for the defendants plan to present their defense,” Caparas said. “The trial is not over yet and we have to let it run its full course.”

Caparas assured the public the prosecutors would oppose any dilatory tactics of the defendants.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda defended the President from criticisms his administration lacks political will to pursue justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre.

Lacierda said the resolution of the case is beyond the control of the executive. 

“At the end of the day again, it’s the judge herself who will decide when – how she decides the hearing of the case. The conduct of the case itself has to be decided by the judge,” he told a press briefing yesterday.

“We can voice our concerns, but it is the Supreme Court. It is the court itself – the (RT) court branch 221 – that has the final say on the Ampatuan trial,” he said.

Lacierda said it is unfair to blame the President for the slow pace of the case.

“We do want to see a decision before the President leaves office… We’re just stating what is the reality on the ground,” he said.

Conviction

De Lima remains confident there will be a conviction before June next year, saying the prosecutors were able to prove the involvement of the Ampatuans in the massacre.

“The prosecution has ably done its job of presenting a case for conviction… I think there will be a major action on the case before President Aquino steps down next year. Hopefully this would be the conviction of all the accused,” she said in a statement issued yesterday.

De Lima earlier admitted the case is difficult, considering the number of victims, the almost 200 accused, 147 prosecution witnesses and 300 defense witnesses.

One of the principal accused, former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., died last July. Hernanie Decipulo and Sukarno Badal died in detention.    

The Supreme Court said it has adopted measures to expedite the resolution of the Maguindanao massacre case, including the designation of RTC Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes to exclusively hear the case.

The SC also designated a third assisting judge to handle all non-trial incidents, such as the arraignments and pre-trials.

Continued impunity

The NUJP and National Press Club along with the relatives of some of the victims held various activities yesterday to commemorate the massacre.

NUJP chairman Alwyn Alburo said it was a promising start for the term of Aquino in 2010 when he pledged justice for what was dubbed as the single worst incident of journalist killings in history.

“Several, if not all, of the victims’ families even campaigned for him, so much did they believe in his promise of justice, just as he had vowed a return to good governance, just as he had vowed transparency and the enactment of a Freedom of Information (FOI) law,” Alburo said in a statement.

“But here we are six years later, and Aquino also on the eve of winding up his own six years, with no justice, no good governance, no FOI, in probably worse straits than when we started,” he said.

The NUJP said that the trial of the accused “is barely out of the starting gates,” noting that clan patriarch and primary suspect Ampatuan Sr. is now beyond reach of earthly justice after dying while in detention due to liver cancer in July.

“One of his sons is out on bail and running for mayor because the prosecution incredulously failed to prove his participation despite his presence at the meeting where the slaughter was decided and planned,” added NUJP, referring to suspect Sajid Islam Ampatuan who was allowed to post the P11.6 million bail.  – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Alexis Romero, Janvic Mateo, Evelyn Macairan, Ramil Bajo, John Unson