De Lima to discuss new guidelines on massacre trial with DOJ panel

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Wednesday welcomed the new guidelines set by the Supreme Court to speed up the trial in the Maguindanao massacre case.

She said once she receives the copy of the guideline, “I will take it up with our panel of prosecutors handling the Maguindanao massacre trial.”

“But I am sure that the Supreme Court would not have thought of coming up with those guidelines if the same would not be helpful in terms of expediting the proceedings,” De Lima said.

In its new guideline, the high court has appointed a third assisting Judge for Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes. The judge will handle all non-trial incidents in the Maguindanao massacre case such as the arraignments, pre-trials as well as motions that are not essential to the merits of the multiple murder case.

Other guidelines include:

–         Reyes and the third assisting Judge can resolve the other motions despite pendency of some of it before the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court;

–         The judge is allowed to hold, upon her discretion, separate trials on accused which the prosecutors believe that there is no need to present further evidence and submit the case for decision without prejudice to applying other modes of terminating a case in advance of a full trial;

–         The lower court can issue separate rulings on matters in any of the 58 cases of murder without waiting for the completion of evidence for all the accused;

–         The high court also allowed the use of judicial affidavits for the remaining witnesses and attached exhibits (evidence) at least 10 days before the scheduled date of testimony and provide copies to the public prosecutor or lead counsel for the accused.

“Like in any other criminal case, the Executive acts thru the prosecutors and the prosecutors handling the Maguindanao massacre case have been doing their job diligently and are not at all engaging in dilatory maneuvers. The prosecutorial interest and goal is to secure convictions without delays,” De Lima said.

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