GMA testimony to focus on meeting with Zaldy A.

MANILA, Philippines - The testimony of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the Maguindanao massacre murder trial will center on a meeting in Manila that supposedly included the former president and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan on the day of the killings, a defense lawyer said yesterday.

The meeting was that of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party in Malacañang on Nov. 23, 2009, the same day 57 persons, mostly journalists, were killed in Ampatuan town.

“It’s more for RG (regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan),” said Gregorio Narvasa – who represents Zaldy’s father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and brother, Andal Jr. – on the sidelines of the pre-trial conference held yesterday on the multiple murder charges.

Zaldy is represented by lawyer Redemberto Villanueva.

During the pre-trial conference held on Wednesday for the case of Andal Sr. and 31 others who filed petitions to post bail, Narvasa manifested to the court that among the witnesses they intend to present is the Pampanga congresswoman.

There are a total of 196 accused in the multiple murder charges being heard by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221.

Also during the pre-trial conference yesterday, the defense panel presented for marking their prospective evidence that included news clippings about the massacre case.

“We’ll see if it (news clippings) can help us in any way,” Narvasa said.

According to Narvasa, these included news stories discussing a whole gamut of subject matters on the massacre from the time the killings happened in November 2009 up to the present.

In a related development, Regional Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Medalle said a recent freeze order on the questioned assets of the Ampatuan clan will not have any effect on the pending multiple murder charges.

Private prosecutor Harry Roque said while the Anti-Money Laundering Council has finally obtained the freeze order on the questioned assets of the Ampatuans, they are afraid there may be no more assets to freeze more than 500 days after the massacre.