Accused in Maguindanao massacre case seeks release for mistaken identity

MANILA—Claiming his was a case of mistaken identity, a man arrested in February for his alleged participation in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre asked a Quezon City court on Tuesday to recognize and abide by a Cotabato City court’s issuance of a writ of habeas corpus for his freedom.

Talembo Abdulrahman, alleging he had been mistaken for former councilor Talembo Masukat of Mamasapano town who is among 195 persons accused of carrying out the Nov. 23, 2009 slaughter, sought judicial notice by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court’s Branch 221 of an acknowledgment of the error by her counterpart in a Cotabato City court.

He likewise sought the deferment of his scheduled arraignment on Wednesday as “Talembo Masukat” in the court’s annex at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City.

In a nine-page motion, Abdulrahman insisted that there was a clear finding of mistaken identity by Judge Bansawan Ibrahim of the Cotabato City Regional Trial Court’s Branch 13 who issued on February 25 a writ of habeas corpus (order to produce the body) and reaffirmed his directive on March 26. The same court has also issued a certificate of finality on the matter.

Ibrahim in his February 25 order stated, “The court finds that petitioner Talembo Kahar Abdulrahman is not the same person as Talembo Masukat who is the subject of the alias warrant of arrest issued by the RTC branch 221 of Quezon City.” He ruled that the documents submitted by Abdulrahman to support his petition for the issuance of the writ proved his identity.

Abdulrahman argued, “There being a clear finding of another regional trial court co-equal to this honorable court, as regards the identity of wrongly arrested and charged Talembo Kahar Abdulrahman, it is humbly prayed that this honorable court take judicial notice of the order of the regional trial court branch 13, Cotabato City and carry out said order as a matter of comity with a coordinate and co-equal court… and likewise to prevent confusion that might seriously hinder the administration of justice.”

He added that based on the findings of the Cotabato City court declaring his detention as “illegal,” his release must be allowed and ordered by the Quezon City court.

“No amount of argument to the contrary will suffice, considering the rules of court had clearly declared that ‘official acts of the judicial departments of the Philippines’ need not be proved and the Court is mandatorily required to comply with the same,” he added.

Abdulrahman, who the authorities claimed was also known as Talembo Masukat, is the 101st of 195 accused to be arrested for the November 23, 2009 carnage at Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman near Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province, where 58 persons were killed.

He was arrested on February 16 after he and several other armed men allegedly engaged in a firefight members of the Army 45th Infantry Battalion at Barangay Manungkaling, Mamasapano town in Maguindanao. The Army soldiers turned him over to the custody of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao based on an alias warrant of arrest for Talembo Masukat. He was then committed to the Quezon City Jail Annex at Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan in Taguig City.

Talembo Masukat, who carries a P300,000 bounty, was a trusted aide of Mamasapano town mayor Bahnarin Ampatuan, another accused in the massacre and grandson of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. He also worked as a driver for the ex-governor’s eldest daughter, Rebecca Ampatuan.

Masukat was identified by Datu Abdullah Sangki town councilor Mohammad Sangki as the person who relayed to him the alleged plan to block the the convoy of a local candidate for governor and who deployed on November 19, several days before the massacre, a dozen members of a civilian auxiliary unit to a checkpoint at Crossing Saniag in Sitio Masalay, Ampatuan town.