Massacre suspect refuses to enter plea

MANILA, Philippines - The last detained suspect who has yet to be arraigned for the Maguindanao massacre refused to enter a plea during his arraignment yesterday before the special Quezon City court handling the case.

Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes entered a plea of not guilty for Talembo Masukat, who claims to have been mistakenly arrested for the massacre as his supposed real name is Talembo Kahar Abdulrahman.

Masukat’s lawyer, Andres Manuel, tried to block his client’s arraignment with a motion to defer, which he filed past office hours on Tuesday.

In his motion, the lawyer said he will not be available for the scheduled arraignment as he is set to leave for abroad with his family from April 9 to 14.

He said that his client does not want to be assisted by a different lawyer.

“Talembo Kahar Abdulrahman humbly manifests that he filed his motion for reconsideration to the adverse resolution issued by the Supreme Court as regards the petition for certiorari he earlier filed questioning his continued inclusion in the present case,” read the motion.

Manuel, or any other lawyer from his firm, did not attend the hearing yesterday in Camp Bagong Diwa.

Solis-Reyes did not grant the motion and instead appointed a defense lawyer from another firm to assist Masukat during his arraignment.

A court staff said yesterday’s schedule was eighth scheduled arraignment for Masukat, who recently tried but failed to secure a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court. He has appealed the ruling from the high court.

Masukat is one of the three arrested suspects who have not been arraigned for the multiple murder case. The other two, PO1 Johann Draper and Sukarno Badal, will not be arraigned as the charges against them have been dismissed.

The three are among the 108 suspects arrested for the massacre who have been arrested by authorities. A total of 197 people were initially tagged in the massacre, which claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 media practitioners.