Another mistaken identity in Maguindanao massacre case

The names of the victims of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre are written on markers at the carnage site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—An accused in the Maguindanao massacre case has asked a Quezon City court to set him free claiming he was mistaken for another man and, therefore, was wrongly arrested.

Rene Matuti said he was not the Dexson Saptula named on the arrest warrant and charge sheet, an assertion supported by the prosecution and, belatedly, by the arresting policemen.

Matuti’s lawyer, Laguindab Marohombsar, asked Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Regional Trial Court Branch 221 to drop the charges against his client, saying a Mohammad Adam who was arrested in November 2013 was the real Saptula wanted by the authorities in connection with the massacre of 58 people on Nov. 23, 2009 in Maguindanao.

The motion to dismiss came a week after Reyes ordered the release of a man mistaken for another suspect, who was subsequently arrested.

Matuti was arrested on July 19, 2012 in Sarangani but the court learned of his arrest only on February 20, 2013. No affidavit of identification was attached to the spot report on his arrest, although one Nestor Dialangan had identified him as Dexson Saptula.

Marohombsar argued in his motion that both the prosecution and the arresting officers from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are also now pointing to Adam as the real Dexson Saptula.

Earlier, the prosecution lodged a manifestation asking for Adam’s prosecution in the case.

The officers who arrested Matuti on the belief he was the wanted man have also submitted a report to the judge saying “the real Dexson Saptula charged is Mohammad Adam and not Rene Matuti.”

Records showed that Matuti had been arraigned as Saptula and is detained at the Quezon City Jail-Annex in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

Last Jan. 22, Reyes ordered the release of Jun Aliman who was wrongly arrested and identified as accused Sahid Guiamadel in December 2011.

The court ruled that the real Guiamadel is Arnel Abdullah, who was apprehended in February 2012 for another case. He has not yet been transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa.