Palace says justice will prevail for Maguindanao massacre

Malacañang on Thursday assured that justice will prevail for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre even as the country’s justice system is slow.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the remark a day before families of the victims commemorate the ninth year of the gruesome killings.

“We’re not surprised that the wheels of justice in this country grind so slow,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“Many cases take so long, but what is important to us is justice will prevail – the rule of law will have to be observed regardless of who are the persons involved in any particular case,” he added.

Curiously, Panelo once served as a lawyer of the alleged masterminds of the country’s worst election-related violence which left 58 people dead.

In 2014, Panelo, who is also President Duterte’s chief legal counsel, was hired as defense lawyer of Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr., one of the principal accused in the case.

He withdrew as legal counsel a year later citing “personal reasons.”

Nine years since the killings, no convictions have been made. However, the Department of Justice recently said the verdict on the case may soon be promulgated.

READ: Maguindanao massacre decision out soon

Out of the 58 victims who were mostly beheaded and mutilated in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009, 32 were journalists covering the filing of the certificate of candidacy of the Ampatuan clan’s fierce rival, Toto Mangudadatu.

Mangudadatu, then vice mayor of Buluan town, was then running for governor, challenging Ampatuan Jr., son of the then incumbent Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan. /ee

READ: Kin of Maguindanao massacre victims ‘confident’ of favorable court decision