Fiscals’ appeal on Ampatuan bail ‘won’t prosper’

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of former Maguindanao officer-in-charge Sajid Islam Ampatuan believes that an appeal on the court order that granted his bail petition will not prosper should it be filed before the Court of Appeals (CA).

“I don’t think it will prosper,” Ampatuan’s lawyer Gregorio Marquez told The STAR.

He said the prosecutors were given over four years to present evidence against his client, but failed to convince the court that there is strong evidence against Sajid Islam.

Marquez was reacting to a statement of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who said state prosecutors would question the judge’s ruling before the appellate court.

Citing the testimonies of witnesses, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes said Ampatuan was merely present in the meetings but did not utter any word while matters about the supposed crime were supposedly being discussed.

“Taking into consideration this silence and non-participation, notwithstanding the fact that he gave P2,000 to a witness for the latter to buy fish, the court finds, in its exercise of sound discretion, that the totality of the circumstances presently fails to reach the threshold of strong evidence of guilt,” read the order.

The judge, however, reiterated that the findings of the court on the bail petition are not related to a finding of guilt or innocence, which would be adjudged in a full-blown trial.

She allowed the release of Ampatuan on P11.6 million bail earlier this week.

Despite the granting of the bail plea, the court said the prosecution can still present additional witnesses to strengthen the case against Sajid Islam.

Lawyer Nena Santos, representing Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, said they have additional witnesses that they would present to strengthen their case against Sajid Islam and the other Ampatuans.

Mangudadatu’s wife, Genalyn, led the convoy that was stopped and ambushed by more than a hundred men in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009.

She was supposed to file the certificate of candidacy of her husband, who was set to challenge a scion of the Ampatuan clan for the gubernatorial post.

A total of 58 people, including 32 media practitioners, died in the incident.