High court denies Ampatuan son-in-law’s petition against arraignment

Former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court won’t stop the August 7 arraignment of a nephew and son-in-law of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. who, like his uncle and father-in-law, is one of 196 accused in the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre case.

The high court’s third division on Wednesday denied the petition of Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan Sr. for a status quo ante order to suspend the proceedings at branch 221 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, which included the Ampatuan patriarch’s arraignment as well on August 7.

“The denial of the status quo ante order means the arraignment will proceed,” the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office said in a statement.

Ampatuan filed an urgent manifestation and motion last July 3, asking for the issuance of a status quo ante order against his arraignment, which had been rescheduled by the lower court for the last time next week.

Ampatuan had asked the high court in December last year to review the decision of the Court of Appeals which had affirmed the Department of Justice’s finding of probable cause to charge him for multiple murder.

Ampatuan is a former mayor of the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao, which members of the Ampatuan clan controlled from 1986 until they were dislodged from power in the province in the wake of the November 23, 2009 slaughter of 58 persons, including 32 media workers, at Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in the municipality of Ampatuan.