Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu will take the witness stand anew in the 2009 massacre case during which he is expected to be questioned by the defense on the matter of the 57th victim.
A Quezon City court has issued a subpoena for Mangudadatu, whose wife Bai Genalyn was among those killed in the Nov. 23, 2009, carnage.
In a two-page order, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of QC Regional Trial Court Branch 221 summoned Mangudadatu and five others to appear on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
The other witnesses are Abdulkadir Pasandalan, Maguindanao provincial board secretary; Abdulwahab Tunga; Debualeg Utto, provincial development and planning officer; Linda Chio, provincial personnel head and lawyer Udtog Tago, provincial election supervisor.
Mangudadatu is a former Buluan vice mayor whose wife and other female relatives were killed while on their way to file his candidacy papers for governor when gunmen believed directed by the Ampatuan clan stopped their convoy.
Their bodies, along with those of 31 journalists and several lawyers, and vehicles were later found by the roadside in Maguindanao.
Bring phone records
In its order, the court also directed Globe Telecom representative lawyer Melchor Latina to bring to court Bai Genalyn’s phone records of November 2009 as he was unable to do so during previous hearings.
The six called to testify were among the prosecution’s witnesses against the bail petition of Andal Ampatuan Jr., the primary accused in the election-related killings.
The defense is set to cross-examine Mangudadatu again, this time on the matter of the 57th victim, UNTV reporter Victor Nuñez.
The defense has finished the cross-examination of the first 56 victims, Nuñez’s case being the last to be filed.
As this developed, lawyers of Zaldy Ampatuan, suspended governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), yesterday asked the court to defer their client’s arraignment anew until the Court of Appeals had decided on their pending petition for review.
Probable cause
The defense has been questioning the justice department’s findings that there was probable cause to charge Zaldy with multiple murder.
“The rules do not prohibit the suspension of arraignment due to the pendency of petition for certiorari questioning the findings of the Secretary of Justice in finding probable cause despite overwhelming evidence showing accused’s innocence,” the petition read.
Zaldy was set to be arraigned on April 26 at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan but this was deferred after defense counsel Sigfrid Fortun asked Judge Reyes to allow them to file a motion for reconsideration on the arraignment.
Zaldy is the brother of principal suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. His father, Andal Sr., is also among the accused in the Maguindanao massacre.
Members of the Ampatuan clan lead the 195 accused in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre case. Julie M. Aurelio and Daphne J. Magturo
Originally posted: 3:49 pm | Monday, June 4th, 2012