Maguindanao backhoe operator seeks stop to arraignment
Site of the Maguindanao massacre. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The backhoe operator in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre is asking a Quezon City court not to push through with his arraignment and transfer to a jail at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
Accused Bong Andal urged Judge Joselyn Solis Reyes of the Regional Trial Court’s Branch 221 to reconsider her earlier order, saying his life would be at risk.
The four-page pleading was filed by Andal through lawyer Romarico Ayson.
In his motion, Andal said he has not yet divulged all he knew about the massacre, fearing that the Ampatuan clan would harm members of his family working for the political clan.
“The order of this court ordering his transfer to the Quezon City Jail Annex would put his life at risk as he is willing to testify against the other co-accused,” the petition said, referring to the accused in the third person.
Andal is currently detained at the Custodial Center in Camp Crame following his arrest on November 24, 2012 in an entrapment operation.
The prosecution had originally asked that Andal be removed from the charge list and be designated a state witness. But in a motion last week, the prosecution said it no longer wished to present Andal as a witness since his testimony was already covered by the testimony of Sukarno Badal.
The court ranted this motion and ordered that Andal be detained at Camp Bagong Diwa and arraigned on March 13.
Andal, however, argued that he was still under the Witness Protection Program and that the prosecutors were still required not to include him on the charge list.
“The (prosecution) motion does not include an attachment terminating the Witness Protection Program coverage of Bong S. Andal, therefore, his exclusion as accused is legal and proper,” the motion said.
The accused added that the recent arrest of fellow suspect Talembo Masukat strengthened his resolve to testify in the massacre, in which 58 people, including more than 30 media workers, were killed on November 23, 2009.
