Ampatuan ex-ally now a state witness

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City judge hearing the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre case has granted the bid of government prosecutors to turn a former political ally of the Ampatuan clan into a state witness.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced yesterday that Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes has approved the prosecution’s motion to discharge former Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao vice mayor Sukarno Badal as an accused in the multiple murder case and have him as a witness.

“We consider this as a victory for the prosecution because of his important, damaging testimony,” she told reporters in an interview.

The order came almost two years after the prosecution panel filed on May 30, 2011 the motion seeking to convert Badal into a state witness.

De Lima stressed that the testimony of Badal, who was admitted to the witness protection program (WPP) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) last December, is very damning and crucial to the prosecution’s case.

“He is one of the most vital witnesses we have. He has personal knowledge of the planning, execution and cover-up of the killings,” she said.

After the RTC ruling, Badal was immediately placed on the witness stand for direct examination by prosecutors in a hearing yesterday.

Badal is one of the 197 people implicated in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre that claimed the lives of 58 people, 32 of them media practitioners. Among the suspects are members of the Ampatuan clan, including patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons Andal Jr. and Zaldy.

Badal surrendered in 2010 after almost a year of hiding from authorities and tagged the three prominent Ampatuans in the crime.  

The defense said Badal appeared to be the “most guilty” in the crime as witnesses Rasul Sangki and Rainer Ebus both said that he led the attack and fired upon the massacre victims.

In resolving the defense’s claim that the prosecution failed to present evidence supporting Badal’s discharge from the list of the accused, Solis-Reyes said it was not necessary as the prosecution was using a different mode to discharge the accused.

Under Republic Act 6981 or the WPP law, an accused’s admission to the program as determined by the DOJ may be used to petition for his discharge from the list of suspects. This is different from the other mode under the Rules of Court, which gives the court the full discretion to discharge a witness, she said.