De Lima: Maguindanao massacre ‘sacred case’

MANILA, Philippines—The Maguindanao massacre is a “sacred case” that should be left alone with the prosecution of the accused to attain justice for the 57 people who were brutally killed in November 2009, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Friday.

“To us, from the perspective of the prosecution, this is a sacred case that should not be affected by anything even in the name of expediency,” De Lima told reporters as the issue over suspended regional governor Zaldy Ampatuan’s profession of innocence and a possible deal with Malacañang refuse to die down.

Earlier this week, Ampatuan claimed he had nothing to do with the massacre and instead implicated his father, Andal Sr., and brother Andal, Jr.

De Lima, however, dashed any hopes of Ampatuan to be dropped from the list of accused or make him an ordinary or state witness, saying that the prosecution has solid evidence and witnesses that say he was part of the conspiracy to kill all those in the convoy set to file the certificate of candidacy of his family’s political rival, Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, in 2007..

Mangudadatu’s wife and sister, along with at least 31 journalists, were killed in the carnage. He is now the governor of Maguindanao.

Ampatuan had also implicated his former benefactor, former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in alleged anomalous government projects and accused her and her husband, Jose Miguel, of engineering electoral fraud in Maguindanao in 2007.

Then Maguindanao election supervisor, Lintang Bedol, known to be part of the Ampatuans’ inner circle, has recently surfaced to hurl the same accusation against the Arroyos.

De Lima on Friday said neither Bedol nor Ampatuan has formally asked the Justice department for protection and to be allowed to turn state witness.

She said they can be taken into the Witness Protection Program if their testimonies would be sufficient for the successful prosecution of election cases, should there be any that would be filed stemming from their exposés.