Justice Secretary Leila de Lima (left) rejects an offer by suspended ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan to turn state witness in the Maguindanao massacre trial. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice has rejected an offer by suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan to turn state witness and testify against his father and siblings in the Maguindanao massacre trial.
“We are already in the thick of things. As things now stand, no, not possible, it’s really a rejection,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told a press conference Tuesday.
At the same time De Lima said that the ARMM governor was not needed.
She said that “to become a state witness, one has to have some participation to the crime and to be discharged as an accused and become state witness, he must not appear to be the most guilty.”
De Lima added that the offer of testimony could be supported by other evidence.
“Here, he [Zaldy] is not admitting participation… especially he is saying that he is not part of the planning,” De Lima said.
“What he is saying is contrary to our witnesses who are saying otherwise,” De Lima said.
Zaldy Ampatuan on Monday said he was willing to testify in the Maguindanao massacre trial where he and most of his family members were charged as principal accused.
At least 57 people, including 32 journalists, were killed in November 2009 in Maguindanao in the run up to the 2010 elections.
The Ampatuans, close allies of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and some of who were candidates in the polls, were tagged as the main suspects. Their trial is ongoing.