Agra says Ampatuans were elsewhere that day

CASE REVIEW: Like countless others enraged by the massacre last Nov. 23 of 57 individuals, 31 of them media workers, I was taken aback by news that two members of the Ampatuan clan blamed for the mass murder had been cleared by Justice Secretary Alberto Agra.

I was riled enough to start writing a piece assailing Agra’s reversing a recommendation of state prosecutors finding enough evidence to support charges in court. But when I read the secretary’s explanation, I held back, presuming that his appreciation of the facts and evidence was fair.

We all sympathize with the fatalities and their families, whether journalists, politician or plain collateral victims. But we cannot let emotions rule when the facts of the case point to a possible miscarriage of justice.

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NO CONSPIRACY: Cleared by the secretary of multiple murder charges were Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Mayor Akmad Ampatuan of Mamasapano town. Agra was acting on a petition for review by the two accused.

The justice secretary said, however, that the charges against former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. remain.

Among other things, Agra said that conspiracy, which would have made all the accused jointly responsible, was not established. “Being relatives and having similar surnames does not mean there was conspiracy,” he said.

Documentary evidence was submitted, he added, to prove that Zaldy Ampatuan was not at the crime scene at the time of the massacre. The accused showed plane tickets, cell phone records and a witness’ testimony to show that he was not in Maguindanao at the time.

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ALIBI: In asking for a review of the prosecutors’ findings, Zaldy’s lawyer said a witness’ testimony that the governor was at the scene was a lie since he was in Davao City Nov. 20-22, then took a flight Nov. 23 from Davao to Manila for a meeting in Malacañang.

The lawyer submitted used plane tickets and receipts from telecommunication companies indicating that the governor made calls in Davao City around the time that the prosecution witness said he was in Shariff Aguak.

As for Akmad Ampatuan, the justice secretary said he was cleared because (1) the witness, Kenny Dalagdag, failed to identify him, (2) he was not in the charge sheet of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police, and (3) he showed that he was with a medical mission elsewhere at the time.

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WHOSE ORDERS?: It is perilous to blindly go along with the easy speculation that Agra moved on instructions of his superior, President Arroyo, or that he was bribed to clear the two Ampatuans.

It is so facile to say that, but under our system, allegations of misdeeds must be proved.

Still, it is an established fact that 57 individuals were rounded up that day in Ampatuan country, massacred and thrown into a mass grave, by scores of gunmen acting in concert.

It defies human behavior and logic that each of the gunmen, who belong to the same or allied operating units, was acting on his own. The more reasonable assumption is that the gunmen went on a rampage on orders of their superiors or benefactors.

To overcome the presumption of innocence of the accused, investigators must establish the conspiratorial link among the gunmen, as well as between them and their superiors who must have given the order to kill and bury the evidence.

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SEX CASES: With Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church having to explain ugly sex cases, we find relevant these excerpts from an article by non-Catholic Sam Miller, a prominent Jewish businessman in Cleveland:

“Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?

“Do you know — the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday at the cost to the Church of $10 billion, and savings to American taxpayers of $18 billion. The graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92 percent.

“The Catholic Church has a non-profit system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of one out of every five people — not just Catholics — in the US.

“Let me give you some figures that Catholics should know and remember.

“For example, 12 percent of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38 percent acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church; 41.8 percent of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17 percent of lay women have been sexually harassed.

“Meanwhile, 1.7 percent of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia, compared to 10 percent of the Protestant ministers. This is not just a Catholic problem!

“The Catholic Church is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. You have been hurt by a small number of wayward priests.”

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BIBLE STUDY: Back here, Atty. Batas Mauricio, wants laws passed mandating the teaching of the Bible to Christian youths in or out of school, and the Koran to Muslim children.

This is one reason why Mauricio wants a seat in Congress as nominee of the SAGIP party-list, number 174 on the ballot. He said a return to the Bible and the Koran — thus bringing God back into our lives — is one way of earning the blessing, guidance and protection of the Lord, and solving the problems of poverty, disorder and hopelessness.

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