Court denies bail for PNP exec tagged in massacre

MANILA, Philippines - The Quezon City court handling the Maguindanao massacre trial has denied the bail petition of a police official tagged in the Nov. 23, 2009 bloodbath.

In a seven-page order, Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes denied the petition for temporary freedom of suspect Superintendent Bahnarin Kamaong, then director of the regional mobile group of the Philippine National Police in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PNP-ARMM).

But in the same order Solis-Reyes, granted the bail petition of Police Officer 1 Sandy Sabang, a member of the PNP-ARMM at the time of the massacre. His bail was set at P200,000 for each of the 58 counts of murder, or a total of P11.6 million.

According to Solis-Reyes, the prosecution panel was able to provide sufficient evidence to show that Kamaong participated in the three meetings wherein the plan to commit the massacre was allegedly planned to prevent then Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu from running against a scion of the Ampatuan clan in the 2010 polls.

His wife, Genalyn, led the ill-fated convoy of 58 people – including 32 media practitioners – who were stopped and murdered by more than a hundred men.

Kamaong was among the 197 suspects, including prominent members of the Ampatuan clan, who were charged for the massacre.

In her ruling, Solis-Reyes said the court is of the view that the police officer, given his position, pitched in to promote the commission of the crime.

 “He purportedly gave instructions to the police officers to bring out the firearms coming from the vehicles of Andal Ampatuan Sr. (during an alleged meeting a day before the massacre),” added the court.