Court of Appeals orders Andal Sr.'s wife: Produce massacre witness' sister, children

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the wife of murder suspect Andal Ampatuan Sr. to produce before a Quezon City court the sister of the primary witness in the Maguindanao massacre and her two minor children.

Associate Justice Angelita Gacutan of CA’s 23rd Division issued the order, granting the petition for the issuance of writ of habeas corpus filed by Ampatuan town Mayor Datu Zacaria Sangki whose daughter, Amina Sangki-Ampatuan, and her two minor children are allegedly being held at the Ampatuan mansion in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.

The eight-page resolution was forwarded to the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221, which is hearing the multiple murder charges against Ampatuan and several others.

The petition named as a respondent Rebecca Ampatuan, wife of Andal Sr. and mother of Bahnaran Ampatuan. Amina, on the other hand, is the sister of former Ampatuan mayor Rasul Sangki, who is being eyed as a state witness. Sangki implicated members of the Ampatuan clan in the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in which 58 people were murdered.

In an eight-page resolution, Gacutan ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to serve the writ of habeas corpus to Rebecca to compel her to present Amina and her two children in court on May 27.

Rebecca was also ordered to show why and under what authority Amina and her children are being detained.

“It is the observation of this Court that the instant petition is closely interrelated with the multiple murder case pending against the Ampatuan clan. Amina’s brother is already a witness. There is also a possibility that Amina may be used by the prosecution as a witness in said criminal case,” Gacutan said.

Rasul Sangki, in his petition, claimed that to get back at him, Rebecca immediately got hold of Amina and her children upon her arrival from a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

“At present, Amina and her kids are intently languishing in the hands of respondent who seeks retribution against them for her perceived betrayal of the Sangki family against the Ampatuans, as evidenced by Amina’s letter to her parents, beseeching them to take her and her children away from respondent’s clutches,” Rasul Sangki said in his petition.