2 'Maguindanao massacre' cops want charges dropped

MANILA, Philippines - Two policemen indicted for 56 counts of murder in connection with the “Maguindanao massacre” want the charges dropped, citing a technicality in the case.

Chief Inspector Abdul Gapor Abad and Police Officer 1 Michael Macarongon jointly filed their motion to quash the information, saying it did not conform to the prescribed form.

“There should only be one information for multiple murder, not 56 separate informations,” they told the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QCRTC) Branch 221 in a motion filed Aug. 13.

Each of the 196 accused faces 56 counts of murder, one for each victim, before QCRTC Branch 221. A 57th count of murder was recently added.

In their motion, Abad and Macarongon said “a single criminal impulse requires singularity of occasion, time and place. There must be no series of acts. As compared to this case, the alleged crime is also committed on one occasion, at a single given time and at the same place. There is no question therefore that a single solitary criminal impulse pervaded in the minds of the perpetrators when the act was committed.”

The policemen said since the prosecution cannot determine which particular accused was responsible for killing which particular victim, “only (a) single complex crime of murder can be filed.”