CA junks Ampatuan plea vs state witness

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has junked a bid of Andal Ampatuan Jr., principal accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre, to strike down the testimony of a policeman who turned prosecution witness.

In a 10-page decision released yesterday, the CA’s Special Second Division dismissed for lack of merit Ampatuan’s petition questioning the June 8, 2011 decision of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 211 that admitted the testimony of Police Officer 1 Rainer Ebus incriminating him and other accused in the multiple murder case. 

The CA said Ampatuan failed to prove that Judge Joce­lyn Solis-Reyes committed grave abuse of discretion for it to reverse the ruling of the lower court.

In a related development, Solis-Reyes – in an order dated June 6 – denied for lack of merit the respective motions by Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan and Sajid Islam Ampatuan to have the charges against them dismissed.

Akmad is the son-in-law and nephew of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. while Sajid Islam – a son of Andal Sr. – is the brother of principal suspect former Datu Unsay mayor Andal Jr.

Admissible testimony

Through Associate Justice Manuel Barrios, the CA held that Ebus’ testimony “is admissible as evidence for being competent and relevant, and not excluded by any provision of law or the rules.”

The CA thumbed down the argument of Ampatuan’s lawyers that Ebus should not be used as a witness by prosecution because he was part of the supposed “conspiracy” to commit the gruesome murders of 58 people.

In dismissing the claim, the court delineated murder as against conspiracy.

“There is a marked difference when a person is charged with conspiracy as a crime, and when a person is said to have used conspiracy as a means to committing the crime… (Conspiracy) is almost always done clandestinely; thus, direct evidence proving such an agreement is rare,” it stressed.

The CA added that Ebus’ testimony “tended to prove whether or not there was, indeed, conspiracy between and… among the accused.”

Associate Justices Normandie Pizarro and Apolinario Bruselas Jr. concurred in this ruling. 

Ebus, a security officer of Ampatuan, was presented by the prosecution to the trial court as a state witness who saw “how the convoy was stopped and the victims were killed and shot to death by petitioner.” 

Solis-Reyes, however, has already dismissed the motion of state prosecutors to discharge Ebus as accused in the case. Last February, she also junked the bid of prosecution to again present him as a witness in the bail hearings against 26 co-accused.  â€“ With Janvic Mateo