Court exempts kin of massacre victims from fees in suit vs. Arroyo

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA—A Quezon City court has finally allowed two relatives of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre victims to sue as indigents without having to pay any fees in their P15-million suit against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Judge Catherine Manodon of Regional Trial Court Branch 104 said she was inclined to grant authority to plaintiffs Zenaida Duhay and Noemi Parcon to litigate their action as indigent parties, exempting them from the payment of docket fees.

The judge noted that Duhay, widow of victim Jose Jhoy Duhay, earns P3,800 a month from a part-time teaching job, P8,000 from running a dry goods store and receives a P5,000 allowance from her son but nothing is left over after expenses for court fees.

Parcon, widow of victim Joel Parcon, averages a take-home pay of P10,000 to P12,000 a month which she augments with P4,000 from running a sari-sari store.

“From the evidence adduced, this court is convinced that plaintiffs Parcon and Duhay are incapable of paying the docket fees in this case,” Manodon said in a three page order dated June 21.

The judge added that to rule otherwise would deprive the plaintiffs’ access to the courts due to poverty, a violation of their constitutional rights.

Last October, the court allowed 12 other relatives of the Maguindanao massacre victims to sue as paupers. These were Ramonita Salaysay, Juliet Evardo, Ma. Cipriana Gatchalian, Arlyn Lupogan, Catherine Nunez, Editha Tiamzon, Erlyn Umpad, Alejandro Reblando Jr., Ma. Reynafe Momay-Castillo, Glenna Legarta, Mary Jean Merisco and Stephanie Lechonsito.

The court then allowed Duhay and Parcon to submit additional evidence to support their bid to litigate as indigents.

The plaintiffs lodged the damage suit against Arroyo in 2011, asking the court to award them P1 million each – P500,000 for moral damages and P500,000 in exemplary damages. They said Arroyo, as president at the time of the massacre in 2009, was civilly liable as well. The massacre has been blamed on members of the Ampatuan clan, who were closely allied with the former president.

Clan members by Andal Ampatuan Sr. face 58 counts of murder before Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes.

Section 21, Rule 3 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, states that “a party may be authorized to litigate his action, claim or defense as an indigent if the court is satisfied that the party is one who has not money or property sufficient and available for food, shelter and basic necessities for himself and his family.”

Court records showed that the plaintiffs do not have sources of income or properties registered in their names.