Gov’t urged to speed up Maguindanao massacre trial
The Aquino administration must do something to speed up the prosecution of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre because the trial has been moving exceedingly slow four years after the killings, said Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher Belmonte.
Belmonte has filed a resolution seeking to direct executive agencies not only to speed up the prosecution but also to instruct law enforcement bodies to capture other suspects and to protect the remaining witnesses.
He said the Department of Justice (DOJ) and law enforcement agencies must list all media killings and the status of the corresponding cases, as well as identify the actions that need to be done to speed them up.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development must provide adequate assistance to the victims’ families, he added.
The massacre cost the lives of 58 people, composed mostly of members and supporters of the Mangudadatu clan and 32 media personnel who were waylaid by armed men in Maguindanao province before being shot to death and buried in mass graves.
The group was on its way to file a certificate of candidacy for a member of the Mangudadatu clan.
The Ampatuan clan, political rival of the Mangudadatu family, was accused of being behind the massacre.
Besides the slow pace of the trial, a growing rift between private and government prosecutors has alarmed and saddened families of journalists killed in the massacre.
Grace Morales, secretary general of Justice Now Movement, said the rift, which reportedly had caused a deteriorating working relationship between private and public prosecutors, could further slow down the trial.
“We are getting worried that justice may not be obtained. DOJ prosecutors play a vital role in our pursuit of justice,” said Morales, who acts as spokesperson for the relatives.
Only 8 Ampatuans
Since the 2009 killings, only 104 out of 195 accused have been indicted, including only eight members of the Ampatuan political clan accused of masterminding the carnage, Belmonte said in his resolution.
“Thus far, the multiple murder charges against the accused remain tied up in petitions for bail, countless motions and countermotions, and tactics deliberately intended to stall the proceedings,” he said.
Three important witnesses, according to him, have been killed, while the victims’ families are being pressured to agree to settle the case.
Belmonte said that since the massacre, many members of the media, especially those from the provinces, continue to be killed, attacked or threatened.
Perpetuating impunity
According to him, this dismal scenario results from a system that allows corruption to thrive and warlords to run free.
“The majority of the media killings in the country and the failure to convict a single mastermind in the Ampatuan massacre is the offshoot of a system of governance that has allowed warlords and corrupt politicians to thrive in our regions and provinces in exchange for their support, thus perpetuating the impunity with which press freedom, and human rights as a whole, continue to be attacked,” he said.
To help, Congress must fast-track the approval of legislation that would strengthen press freedom and freedom of expression, he added.
Belmonte also said in his resolution that he wanted executive agencies to conduct an investigation of the correlation between corruption and media killings.
Rift
In General Santos City, Morales said she learned that the rift was the result of the acts of some government prosecutors, which were viewed as pro-Ampatuan.
“Distrust has started to set in way back during the time of former Justice Secretary Alberto Agra. Then, here comes the report that three [high-ranking] officials of the DOJ are trying to manipulate the Ampatuan massacre case,” she said.
Agra himself came under fire for absolving on April 16, 2010, two members of the Ampatuan clan—Zaldy Ampatuan, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor, and his cousin, Akmad Ampatuan, former Maguindanao vice governor—of responsibility in the massacre.
Agra reversed his decision two weeks later when criticisms mounted.
Prosecutors’ petition
Recently, at least nine government prosecutors signed a petition, asking Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis to discharge Bong Andal as a prosecution witness for his alleged reluctance to give his testimony.
But an Inquirer source, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said what was unusual was that government prosecutors wanted to dismiss Andal, who was being questioned for the past three months, when they spent three years to get a testimony from Insp. Rex Diongon.
Nena Santos withdrew as one of the private prosecutors out of disgust, the source said.
“I just hope and pray that there are public prosecutors who are sincere and committed in doing their duty,” Morales said.
In Davao City, the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) said no one had been convicted four years after one of the worst election-related killings in the country.
“Of the 197 suspects, no one has been convicted since the hearing began on Jan. 5, 2010. Until now, the case remains in the arraignment stage,” NUJP Davao chair Jessie Casalda said.
Less celebrated killings
Casalda said if justice remained elusive in such a controversial case as the Maguindanao massacre, there would be no hope that justice in less celebrated killings of journalists would be served.
Many of these killings occurred even before the Maguindanao massacre, he said.
But Casalda said the slow grind of the wheels of justice should serve as an inspiration to fight impunity instead of being discouraged by it.
“If we stop, we can never find justice for the victims,” he said.
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