Palace open to Zaldy Ampatuan’s offer to be state witness in massacre case

MANILA, Philippines— Malacañang isn’t closing its doors on the offer of suspended Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan to become a state witness in the Maguindanao massacre case.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said on Tuesday Ampatuan’s testimony would be studied and assessed by the Department of Justice and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

“We’re still assessing and studying what he has to offer the court,” Lacierda said during the noontime news briefing at the Palace.

Told of the misgivings that Justice Secretary Leila De Lima and some prosecutors have expressed over the possibility of Ampatuan becoming a state witness, Lacierda said, “He’s the one who offered. You don’t disregard a testimony.”

Lacierda said the government stance would be in “the furtherance of the truth” in the massacre in which 57 people were killed, including 32 media workers. Another media worker remains missing to date.

Zaldy, along with his father, former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr., and his brothers, are among the principal accused in the massacre that happened in November 2009.