Slain witness to testify for Andal Jr?

MANILA, Philippines - Was Denex Sacal, a potential witness in the Maguindanao massacre trial who was killed in an ambush on Tuesday, supposed to testify in favor – and not against – primary suspect Andal “Datu Unsay” Ampatuan Jr.?

Salvador Panelo, Ampatuan’s lawyer, said yesterday Sacal was supposed to testify on the whereabouts of his client at the time of the massacre.

“It’s the other way around. The one killed is my second witness for Datu Unsay,” Panelo told The STAR.

Panelo said he arranged for Sacal to travel to Manila next week for him to get his judicial affidavit.

Private prosecutor Nena Santos, however, said Sacal – a former driver of Ampatuan – was a potential prosecution witness.

She decried Panelo’s claims that Sacal was being pressured to turn against the suspects, saying he voluntarily offered his testimony for the prosecution panel. She said Sacal was one of the witnesses who were set to meet Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Sacal was with another potential witness, Butch Saudagal, when they were ambushed. Saudagal was woundeded in the attack.

In a phone interview, Panelo readily admitted that Saudagal was a potential prosecution witness. Asked why “his witness” was with a prosecution witness, Panelo reiterated that Sacal was being pressured to turn against the Ampatuans.

The ambush on the potential witnesses in the Maguindanao massacre trial happened less than a week before the fifth anniversary of the Nov. 23, 2009 bloodbath.

Gov’t asked to apologize

Meanwhile, the relatives of some journalists killed in the Maguindanao massacre are asking the government to apologize, saying the state failed to provide an effective remedy and reparations to the victims.  

Noemi Parcon, wife of slain reporter Joel Parcon of Prontera News, criticized deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, who reportedly said the government should not be held liable for the massacre.

“Aquino, as head of state, has the duties and responsibilities to look at this case,” she said during a video conference yesterday with David Kaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression.

During the event, held at the University of the Philippines College of Law, Kaye said “given the scale of the massacre… it is important that there is some responsibility taken by government as a whole.”