Ampatuan spouse breaks silence, calls for speedy, live trial

COTABATO CITY – Breaking her silence over the Maguindanao massacre for the first time since the infamous incident took place, the wife of suspended Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said she favors the live airing of the trial on national television.

“It’s better that way so that we will know who is lying, and who is telling the truth. The people can see the facial expressions of the witnesses,” Johaira Ampatuan told the Inquirer in Filipino.

Johaira said more than a year after the massacre – in which 57 people were killed, mostly journalists – she still could not understand why her husband would be implicated.

For one, she said her husband was not present in any of the meetings that allegedly took place prior to the incident, as they were in Davao City.

Zaldy Ampatuan also later flew to Manila, as evidence would show, including his plane ticket, she said.

“I strongly believe that my husband, and perhaps the others, who are also linked to these charges are innocent,” Johaira said.

She said the Ampatuan clan also wanted the trial speeded up because it would be for the benefit of everybody.

“Just like them (relatives of slain victims) we, too, want not only justice but swift justice,” Johaira said.

“Just like them, my appeal is for a speedy trial and unquestionable dispensation of justice,” Johaira added.

She said the Ampatuan clan had only one wish : that the judge handling the case be firm and prudent, and would not be swayed by emotional and sympathetic calls.

“Let justice takes its course. With more than a hundred implicated suspects, I don’t think the whole basket of tomatoes is rotten. Rid the spoiled ones and spare the innocents,” Johaira said.

She said she understood the quest for justice of the families of the victims.

“As a mother of four, I know how the families of the slain victims feel. It hurts and like them it also hurts for the families of the accused who are innocent but still languishing in jail,” Johaira said.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu also renewed his call for swift dispensation of justice, saying there can never be real peace and reconciliation without it.

Mangudadatu, in his speech before Rotarians gathered here Tuesday, also urged civic organizations and civil societies to rally behind the side of truth and justice without concession.