Maguindanao massacre carnage site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–A group of private prosecutors in the Maguindanao massacre case is supporting the decision of government lawyers to rest the case against some of the accused.
In a statement, lawyers from the Center for International Law—Harry Roque Jr., Joel Ruiz Butuyan, Romel Regalado Bagares, Gilbert Andres, Ethel Avisado and Geepee Gonzales—also expressed their concern about the accusations of bribery thrown by private prosecutors Nena Santos and Prima Quinsayas against the state prosecutors.
“We lament the unsubstantiated allegations of bribery that serve no purpose other than to derail the goal of effective and expeditious prosecution. The publicity lamentably generated by Attorneys Santos and Quinsayas in making grave allegations against the public prosecutors unfairly taint the integrity of the entire work of the prosecution considering that the allegations hurled remain bare, naked and reckless even,” they said.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima Wednesday said she would not give in to calls to relieve the panel of public prosecutors as well as its supervisor, Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III.
“Please do not ask me to choose between the private and public prosecutors. If you’re asking me now to choose between them, then I will certainly side with our public prosecutors,” she told reporters.
“This particular case is the case of the whole country, and the whole world is watching. The private complainants do not only own this case,” she said.
De Lima earlier ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct an investigation into the claim of Santos that the public prosecutors may have received P300 million in bribes to compromise the trial, as well as the allegation of a government witness that Baraan also got P20 million to secure the liberty of the suspects.
The Centerlaw counsels said making accusations of bribery without evidence and not bringing it to the proper forum “do not make any sense.”
“Sadly, whether Santos and Quinsayas wittingly or unwittingly realize it, the parties that will benefit most from their baseless allegations and senseless intrigues are the [principal suspects] Ampatuans,” they said.
The accusers should file a formal complaint with the proper forum, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines administrative and judicial criminal proceedings, “where they should present real, concrete and substantiated evidence,” the group said.
The Centerlaw lawyers also disputed Santos and Quinsayas’ opposition to the resting of the case against some of the accused. The two private prosecutors have argued that they still have many witnesses crucial to the case to present.
“We have been hearing about this claim for so long—in fact, long before this controversy came up—and we regret to say that, to the best of our knowledge and after waiting for so long, there is not much that can be staked on such a claim,” the group said.
“We actively participated in the presentation of the case against these 28 accused. With the public prosecutors, we believe there is more than enough evidence presented in court to satisfy the demands of justice,” they said.
The Centerlaw lawyers said the partial resting of the case under the “first in, first out” (Fifo) rule was only fair because it respected due process for both the families of the victims and the accused.