Faces of the News: Jocelyn Solis-Reyes

For almost ten years, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 kept a low profile while she studied the multiple murder case against members of the powerful Ampatuan clan for the brutal killing of 58 people on Nov. 23, 2009, in Maguindanao in what used to be the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

But on Thursday, Reyes received public accolades for personifying the moral force of “Lady Justice.”

The judge convicted 43 suspects on 57 counts of murder, including principal accused Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. and his brother Zaldy.

The Commission on Human Rights praised Reyes for “deciding on the case based on the merits and evidence presented” despite the risks to her security.

Since the trial opened in 2010, Reyes had painstakingly heard 357 witnesses in the trial of 100 accused, which resulted in a 761-page decision.